600 The Split Bamboo Rod. 



In January, 1857, the third edition of "The Practical Angler," 

 by W. C. Stewart, was published in Edinburgh. On page 33, Mr. 

 Stewart, in speaking of rods, says : 



" The strength of bamboo lies in the skin, and in order to turn this to best account, 

 rod-makers lay two or three strips together so as to form a complete skin all around. 

 Rods are sometimes made entirely of bamboo, but they possess no advantage over 

 those in common use to compensate for the additional expense, a twelve-foot rod of 

 this material costing £5 to ^4." 



At that time, bamboo rods were all made in three sections, with 

 the enamel on the outside. I know that Mr. Wilkinson says the 

 rods made by Alfred & Sons were put together with the enamel on 

 the inside ; but I think this must be a mistake, unless he means that 

 the enamel was on one side of the longitudinal section extending 

 from the apex to the base of the triangle, and when glued is from 

 center to circumference. But put the outside of the bamboo on 

 the side of the triangle or apex, then the enamel is all gone, no 

 matter in what number of sections the rod be made. 



On the whole subject of enamel, there is much misunderstanding. 

 No split bamboo rod ever was, is, or can be made with the enamel 

 intact, no matter what number of sections or form of its construction, 

 for the following reasons : 



Calcutta bamboo (Bambusa arundinacea ) , which is the bamboo 

 used for making rods, is one of the most useful and important of the 

 grass family, and consists of a culm or cylinder (except at the nodes 

 or joints, . which are about ten to fifteen inches apart) and a solid at 

 the nodes, with a projection on the outside of one-fiftieth to one- 

 thirtieth of an inch all around, except at the axil, where the branches 

 grow on alternate sides. This projection has to be taken off in 

 making the rod; then going through the thickness of the enamel 

 from five to eight times, for the space of from one to two inches at 

 each node, of which there are three in each of the six sections 

 (which is the best number of sections from which a split bamboo 

 rod can be made). These nodes being the weakest spot in the 

 bamboo, in gluing up the sections they are never put on a line with 

 one another, but one is moved up, say, two inches ; the next down 

 two inches, so as to make six less weak spots in the circumference 

 of the joint and eighteen in each joint. 



