THE FLY FISHER'S GUIDE. 17 



Before wood of any description is cut into 

 lengths, it should be perfectly seasoned; and what- 

 ever number of pieces the rod is to be composed 

 of, between the butt and top piece, they must all 

 be cut from the same log, and not, as is too fre- 

 quently done, the second part from one piece of 

 wood, the third from another, and so on, which, 

 not having undergone the same degrees of season- 

 ing, will never play regularly in the hand. 



The first proceeding towards the formation of 

 a rod, is to plane each length into a four square ; 

 afterwards, by means of a taper wooden set, into 

 an octagon. They are then to be rounded with 

 a common smoothing plane, and finished with 

 different sized hollow planes. The ferrules are 

 to be fitted on whilst the joints are in the octagon 

 form. 



In the formation of a splice, both pieces should 

 be fixed firmly parallel ; by which means, if they 

 be drawn steadily over the plane together, the 

 joint must prove true. They are then to be 

 slightly rubbed with wax or glue, and neatly fas- 



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