186 AMATEUR RODMAKING 



or slivering, it is just as well to discard that 

 piece for something more promising. Any- 

 way, this is a case of selection, and not of 

 making the available material serve the pur- 

 pose. In making the butt of a salmon rod I 

 split twenty-three pieces of good cane, but 

 finally discarded every one of them as not 

 quite up to standard, and finally split out 

 twelve more strips of thinner material and 

 after working them to shape, glued them in 

 pairs and made the joint double enamel. 



Thus far we have accomplished something, 

 but have really not yet started to work, for 

 we have no plane to work with. Any old 

 plane will do? Not at all. There is only one 

 type that is worth using, and it is worthless as 

 it comes from the hardware shop, where the 

 price is fifty cents for the plane, and about 

 half as much more for an extra iron, which 

 will come in very handy. 



In 1889 Norman E. Spaulding contributed 

 a very workmanlike article on rodmaking to 

 the American Angler. In it he referred to 

 the method of altering the plane iron to 

 which I refer below. This impressed me, but 

 it was not until many years afterward that I 

 began to count Mr. Spaulding as one of my 

 friends. Since then he has given me many 



