Salmon- Fishing. 409 



The split bamboo rod is an instance in which nature is success- 

 full}- improved. The cane in its natural growth has great strength 

 as a hollow cylinder, but it lacks the required elasticity. The outer 

 surface or enamel is the hardest of vegetable growth, and is made up 

 largely of silica. The rod-maker, by using all of the enamel possible, 

 and by his peculiar construction avoiding the central open space, 

 secures great strength with lightness, and nearly the elasticity of 

 steel itself. 



In making a rod, some ten or twelve* feet of the butt of the cane 

 is sawed off and split into thin pieces or strands. These pieces are 

 then beveled on each side, so that when fitted together they form a 

 solid rod of about half the diameter or less of the original hollow cane. 

 This beveling is done with a saw, or a plane if preferred, but more 

 expeditiously by having two rotary saws or cutters set at an angle 

 of 6o° to each other, in case the rod is to be of six strands. The 

 strip is fed to the cutters by means of a pattern which, as the small 

 end of the strip approaches, raises it into the apex of the angle 

 formed by the cutters. This preserves a uniform bevel, and still 

 narrows each strand toward its tip end so as to produce the regular 

 decrease in size of the rod as it approaches the extreme end. These 

 strips can also, if desired, be filed to a bevel by placing them in trian- 

 gular grooves of varying depths in a block of lignum-vitae. The 

 pieces are then filed down to the level of the block, which is held in a 

 vise during the operation. 



The six or twelve strips as required, being worked out, and each 

 part carefully tested throughout its entire length by a gauge, are 

 ready for gluing together, a process requiring great care and skill. 

 The parts should be so selected and joined that the knots of the cane 

 "break joints." The parts being tied together in position at two or 

 three points, the ends are opened out and hot glue well rubbed in 

 among the pieces for a short distance with a stiff brush. A stout 

 cord is then wound around the strands from the end glued toward 

 the other portions, which are opened and glued in turn, say eight or 

 ten inches at a time. A short length only is glued at one time so 

 that slight crooks in the pieces can be straightened, and this is done 

 by bending the rod and sliding the pieces past each other. During 

 the gluing all inequalities and want of symmetry must be corrected 

 or not at all, and so the calipers are constantly applied to every side 



