Rod-making. 361 



creases, the width of your keeper may correspondingly di- 

 minish. Next point all your keepers thus 

 with scissors. Next lay each point on a ^ 



piece of iron, and thin it with a small 

 hammer to obtain the result shown in an exaggerated 

 manner in the following figure, in which an edge view of 



Pig. 48. 



a keeper so treated is shown. When this is complete you 

 are prepared to attach the rings. 



Use such colored silk as you may fancy scarlet is 

 most usual but of the very best sewing-machine quality. 

 Nothing is more disgusting than to encounter a knot or 

 other imperfection when a winding is almost complete, 

 and thus be forced to undo your work and begin again. 

 The size indicated by the letter A is best for butts and 

 middle joints ; that known as O for tips. 



There are three ways of treating the silk, each having 

 its good and its bad features. The first materially 

 lightens the labor of winding, and the silk retains its 

 color fairly well, but it does not have the hold on the 

 rod of the others. 



Take an empty spool, place it on the winding attach- 

 ment of a sewing-machine, and reel the silk off from the 

 spool on which it came on to the empty spool, drawing 

 it through a piece of white beeswax while so doing. 

 When this is completed, re- wind the silk on to its original 

 spool in the same manner, waxing it a second time. It 

 may require a 100-yard spool of A and a 50-yard spool of 

 O silk to a rod ; and though some surplus will usually re- 

 main, it will not be safe to begin with less, for fear a new 



