214 AMATEUR RODMAKING 



suitable lengths and wax and separate the 

 strands before beginning to wind. This is 

 more tedious than employing silk direct from 

 the spool, but you have the advantage of pre- 

 paring the material for several windings at 

 one time, and a little experimenting will deter- 

 mine how much to cut for certain work. A 

 strand fifteen inches in length will make four 

 or five narrow windings for a fly-rod tip, but 

 for the joint and butt much longer strands will 

 be necessary. 



Because of the flat, ribbon-like form of the 

 separated strands, fewer turns to each wind- 

 ing will be the rule than if OO were used; 

 but the silk is so thin when tightly wound that 

 no objections can be raised to its bulk. Given 

 a coat of shellac on the silk only, and the en- 

 tire rod then coated with the best light coach 

 varnish, put on while warm, the rod will be 

 a work of art, and a finger rubbed over its 

 length will barely feel the windings. 



Finally, the thinner the silk employed in 

 windings, the less will they be cut and frayed 

 by the fly line. A great many of the hard 

 enameled fly lines break, or, rather, the enamel 

 breaks in places if much used, so that the line 

 is not smooth and wiry as when new, and such 

 lines wear the windings rapidly, particularly 



