GUT KNOTS. 45 
to, in which the objectionable features of the old method of 
splicing are got rid of, whilst a very great additional strength is 
obtained. To tie it—lay the two strands side by side and 
proceed in exactly the same manner as already described for 
tying the single fisherman’s knot, wth the exception of the final 
drawing together of the two separate half-hitches. Instead of 
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SS SS 
pemnea === 
a Pa 
FIG. 9.—THE BUFFER KNOT FOR SALMON GUT. 
drawing these two half-knots /ogether and lapping down the 
ends on the outside, as was the old manner, draw the knots 
only to within about three-sixteenths or one-eighth of an inch 
of each other, as shown in the engraving at a, and lap between 
them with light waxed silk, or, still more artistic, with very jine 
(soaked) gut. This ‘between lapping’ relieves the knot itself 
of half its duty, and on any sudden jerk, such as striking, acts 
as a sort of ‘ buffer’ to receive and distribute the strain. Tied 
in the old-fashioned way I find that, on applying a steady pull, 
a salmon gut casting line breaks a@/most invariably at the knot. 
Tied in the manner I suggest it will probably break at any 
other point in preference. 
Major Traherne, whose almost unequalled experience as a 
salmon fisher entitles his opinion to the utmost weight, wrote 
as follows on the buffer knot for salmon casting lines :— 
‘Not long ago I fondly imagined I had invented a plan for 
uniting the links of a casting line without knots, and was on my 
