72 AMATEUR RODMAKING 



square stock can be made nearly uniform at 

 first, in the rough. 



Take a piece of cardboard and draw two 

 straight lines 4^ inches long, 15-32 of an 

 inch apart at one end, and 7-64 of an inch at 

 the other. This represents a uniform taper 

 from the handgrasp to the top of a 5^ -foot 

 rod. Mark off spaces every half inch to rep- 

 resent every six-inch station from handgrasp 

 to top, and number them 6, 12, etc., up to 54. 

 The distance between the horizontal lines at 

 every mark will give the caliber of the rod at 

 that point; that is, the length of the mark 

 numbered 24 will be equal to the diameter of 

 the rod 24 inches from the handgrasp, if the 



Fig. 27. Taper Gauge. 



taper is uniform. Fig. 27 explains the method. 

 To make the diagram handier, let the horizon- 

 tal lines be 9, 18, or 36 inches long, dividing 

 the total into nine spaces of equal length, the 

 result being alike in every case if the distances 

 at the ends are exactly what the rod is to be 

 at taper and top. 



