MOUNTINGAND FINISHING 61 



tings, and some of these are the best I have 

 ever seen. Being unable to purchase steel tops 

 for my single-hand and salmon fly-rods, I per- 

 suaded a fellow angler to make several steel 

 tops for me, and these have proved very satis- 

 factory in tournament casting, He has also 



Fig. 23. Steel Fly-rod 

 Top, with Loose Ring and Fig. 24. Steel Fly-rod 

 Wires. Top, with Tube. 



made steel guides and tops for all his fly- and 

 bait-casting rods, and his work shows what a 

 novice can do if he has access to machine tools. 

 I prefer phosphor bronze for the fly-rod tops. 

 Agates are too easily broken. 



Perhaps the best glue for use in the making 

 of split bamboo rods, and for gluing corks and 

 forms for handgrasps, is French glue, obtain- 

 able in paint shops. Place the glue pot in a 

 kettle of water over a slow fire. The glue pot 

 should have wire legs or be elevated slightly, 

 else it will rest on the bottom of the kettle 

 and, the water being excluded from under the 

 glue pot, the glue will burn. 



Russian isinglass is also very good, but it 

 should not be used a second time. Instead, 

 clean the pot and prepare fresh glue each time 



