202 AMATEUR RODMAKING 



waxed silk will adhere nicely when it will not 

 on hard varnish. Provided the silk is treated 

 with absolutely colorless wax in clean hands, it 

 will keep its color fairly well, but after the 

 first two or three windings are put on and 

 coated with shellac, the tyro will understand 

 why dark shades of silk cannot well be used. 

 For example, dark green silk, waxed but not 

 shellacked, will turn almost black under the 

 varnish, and red turns a dull shade. Wax 

 causes the silk to grip the wood firmly and it 

 waterproofs the wood in places where there is 

 only one coat of varnish. Still, there is no 

 necessity for waxing the silk. 



A split cane rod, properly made and ce- 

 mented, can be used without windings, pro- 

 vided it is not exposed to actual soaking. Fol- 

 lowing this line of reasoning, some rodmakers 

 hold that winding a rod does not strengthen 

 it materially. This may be true of rods whose 

 windings are spaced 1^2 or 2 inches apart, 

 but if these are placed one inch or less apart 

 they do strengthen the rod. A rod that is 

 soft in action may be strengthened by close 

 windings or by winding continuously from end 

 to end in spirals, provided the latter are spaced 

 about one thirty-second of an inch and not 

 put on solidly. 



