CHAPTER II 



FERRULES AND FITTINGS 



HAVING chosen a rod of suitable timber, the next 

 consideration is the ferruling. Fishing rods, in the 

 main, are in either two or three parts, connected by 

 ferrules, interlocking, and on the way in which the 

 ferrules are fitted is going to depend the strength of 

 the rod, for nine times out of ten when a rod breaks 

 it is fractured at the termination of one of the ferrules. 

 This is the reason why all rods of the better type have 

 the ends of the ferrules serrated or toothed, in order 

 to distribute the strain which falls on the timber 

 immediately after the straight length of tubing, and 

 on no account should the rod timber be undercut or 

 reduced in diameter to take the ferrule sufficiently to 

 cause weakness, but the ferrule should be made to fit 

 the wood. 



The short tongue or projection called the tener has 

 its object in distributing the internal strain or end 

 play of the counter-ferrule and preventing a swelled 

 or buckled joint. In the case of built cane rods this 

 tener is often let into a solid brass socket inside the 

 ferrule, which preserves the sections inside the ferrule 

 from wet or damp, for if once wet g'ets inside the 

 ferrule the moisture is rapidly absorbed by the cane 

 and travels down the fibre below the ferrule, and in 

 the case of a built cane rod causes the sections to 

 become uncemented. Should your rod set up a faint 

 creak at each movement, you may safely diagnose the 



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