SPLIT BAMBOO RODMAKING 169 



screw-cap on the bottom end. Being thicker 

 than tin, it retains the heat longer. 



Remember that no matter how perfect your 

 glue joints are, if your gluing is badly done, 

 your work will be wasted. It is folly to at- 

 tempt to glue strips in pairs, then glue and 

 assemble the three pairs. As your object is to 

 get all the glue possible into your joint, then 

 get all of this out that can be excluded by 

 winding tightly with cord, the best way is to 

 glue and wind, glue and wind, until you finish 

 the joint, always heating the applied glue be- 

 fore winding. Thick glue simply cannot be 

 used. I found this the most difficult part of 

 split cane rodmaking at first but I prac- 

 ticed on short pieces until I mastered the work, 

 and in this way learned how to properly glue 

 the longest strips. Tips are the most difficult 

 to glue, as they are so small that it is at first 

 hard to prevent twisting them in gluing. If 

 this occurs, however, or if the joint be crooked, 

 correct it, after the windings have been re- 

 moved, by heating and twisting or bending 

 until the joint is straight. 



When the stock is dry the double spiral 

 windings are taken off and the surplus glue 

 removed, then the bamboo is rubbed very 

 lightly with the finest sandpaper and the cor- 



