84 AMATEUR RODMAKING 



At this stage I take a strip of paper the full 

 length of the rod and draw two parallel lines 

 on it, each 65^ inches in length. The upper 

 line I mark " rough calibers," and the lower 

 line " final calibers." Marks are placed on each 

 line to indicate the place where the taper of 

 the handgrasp is to be, then every six inches 

 to the tip end. Lay the rod beside the upper 

 line on your paper, caliper it at every station, 

 and set these figures down on the correspond- 

 ing mark. Note them carefully, for if the 

 wood has been planed properly in the square, 

 the tapers will be nearly uniform from hand- 

 grasp to tip-end, but the wood will not, in this 

 form, be properly proportioned for use. 



If you were working by rule-of-thumb, with- 

 out a rod to copy, the only thing would be to 

 put a top and guides on the rod temporarily, 

 fasten a reel on the butt with cord, run the 

 line through, attach a quarter- or half-ounce 

 weight, and try a few casts; but the formula 

 in Fig. 29 will save time. These calibers were 

 taken from several bethabara rods that have 

 seen long use in fishing and practice casting. 



If the wood is dagama or greenheart, add 

 1-64 of an inch or a trifle less to each diam- 

 eter given. Try the rod before deciding, for 

 the action varies with different pieces of wood, 



