SPLIT BAMBOO RODMAKING 159 



same fashion and so on until the six strips 

 are ready for the finer work. 



Turn the block over and bevel the strips 

 for the tips in the shallow groove, then lay the 

 block aside. Some amateurs finish their strips 

 in grooves of this sort, but it is so difficult to 

 make a perfect groove of this length, and to 

 prevent the strip from rolling, that the follow- 

 ing method is the better one for begin- 

 ners: 



For this purpose procure a block of hard 

 maple, birch or beech, two inches thick, 2^2 

 inches wide and 6 inches long. Make it fast 

 in the vise and with a pencil draw four par- 

 allel lines from end to end. With a saw cut 

 shallow grooves on these marks. Take up 

 your three-cornered file and cut the first groove. 

 Its bottom will be slightly round, as the edge 

 of the file is rather blunt, but you can true 

 up the groove with the point of /your steel 

 gauge (Fig. 49). Cut the first groove 15-64, 

 the second 13-64, the third 11-64, and the 

 fourth 9-64 inch deep. In ,this work the ut- 

 most care must be exercised to keep the top 

 side of the file level with the surface of the 

 block, to keep the 'angles of the groove per- 

 fect. 



Turn the block over, draw four or five lines 



