164 AMATEUR RODMAKING 



carefully and see that the pith sides come to- 

 gether throughout, and that no strip sinks 

 below its proper plane, as it will do if its 

 taper is not the same as that of the other 

 strips. In this case a new strip must be made 

 to replace it. Cheap rods are often corrected 

 for this fault by winding a narrow piece of 

 paper spirally around the imperfect place in 

 the strip, then removing the paper from the 

 surface after gluing, but this is not to be rec- 

 ommended, as you would regret it later on, 

 perhaps by the seam opening. Gauge care- 

 fully the taper of the assembled strips and 

 mark all places that need further reducing. 



In a preceding chapter I said that double 

 enamel rods are excellent if carefully made. 

 In working thin-walled cane this system has 

 some points of excellence, and the amateur 

 who is skilled with the plane and the file can 

 work it nicely, especially for butts and middle 

 joints. 



Square up the rough stock and match two 

 strips with reference to the knots. Decide 

 which is to be the surface strip and plane it 

 to rectangular section, with the rind on the 

 bottom. Do not touch the rind. Now plane 

 the second or inner strip to match, but file off 

 just enough of the rind in the center to make 



