FISHING ROD MATERIALS 35 



English rodmakers call green washaba ; but the 

 brown washaba, the grade that does not, is 

 much harder and has a closer and longer grain 

 in the perfect pieces, although it seems more 

 difficult to get perfect pieces in this grade. 

 Hence it is well to stick to the green or dusty 

 grades, which run nice as a rule and can be 

 planed from both ends and on all sides with 

 impunity. Some dealers sell other varieties of 

 imported woods for bethabara, and some try 

 to supply very poor greenheart instead; but reli- 

 able men may be depended on to give you what 

 you ask for. 



The fine shavings from bethabara are so 

 wiry and tough that a handful of them can be 

 used for a long time in polishing finished joints. 

 They cling together totally unlike those from 

 greenheart, which are short and very brittle. 



Bethabara logs are sawed into planks which 

 go to the rodmakers in thicknesses of seven- 

 eighths of an inch, sometimes more. Generally 

 the lumbermen cut logs into pieces seven- 

 eighths by one inch and three feet long, but you 

 can get other lengths. These pieces must be 

 ripped. If, however, they will cut the material 

 to your order, it will be well to have the butt 

 five-eighths of an inch and the tips three-eighths 

 for a two-piece rod. There is a good deal of 



