540 
FOREST AND S T R E A M 
October, 1919 
AN INGENIOUS LIGHT 
A CARBIDE light for use in spearing 
fish at night has been made by Jay 
Smith from an old coal scuttle, a syrup 
pail, tin can and a piece of rubber hose. 
The supply of water is regulated auto- 
matically. It gives a fine light. 
Port Austin, Mich., Herald. 
THE STRENGTH OF GUT 
I T has long been my intention to find 
out for myself what is the ultimate 
or breaking strain of gut, such as is 
used in dry-fly fishing, but, as anyone 
who is familiar with the testing of ma- 
terials knows, these things have to be 
done in a very thorough and careful man- 
ner and any idea of economy with time 
must be totally disregarded. 
Testing the strength of materials is 
not a thing to be approached lightly or 
with a spirit of levity; if the figures are 
to be worth any more than the value of 
the paper they are written on. The op- 
erations must be performed with the 
utmost care and attention to detail that 
is humanly possible. Another point to 
consider is this: you propose to deliber- 
ately destroy a number of best quality 
leaders in order to obtain certain infor- 
mation, consequently, unless we are pre- 
pared to take the greatest pains possible 
we are not only wasting time, but also 
throwing away a lot of perfectly good 
leaders which are not the cheapest things 
in the world or the easiest to get hold 
of these days. 
The accompanying table of results 
gives the bare, bald figures, but without 
a few additional notes, even those figures 
are not of very great value. 
The common loop knot 
The first and most notable thing dis- 
covered was, that the strongest of all 
the guts was the “Treated” gut. This 
gut has a strength equal to that of un- 
treated and undrawn gut of an area 25 
percent greater; but when once this 
“treated” gut has been subjected to a 
breaking strain, the initial stress seems 
to have utterly destroyed the original 
strength of the gut. In fact, after the 
first break at 3.70 pounds the strand 
broke repeatedly at about 2 pounds. 
On the other hand both drawn and 
undrawn gut seemed to preserve their 
original strength to a great degree no 
matter how often they were subjected 
to a breaking strain. We must also note 
that undrawn gut has a strength about 
14 percent greater than drawn gut of 
equal diameter. 
This proves pretty conclusively that 
there is a certain virtue in preserving 
undamaged the extreme outer skin of the 
gut, which must necessarily be removed 
or destroyed in the act of drawing. 
E are depending upon the 
friends and admirers of our 
old correspondent Nessmuk to make 
this department worthy of his 
name. No man knew the woods 
better than Nessmuk or wrote of 
them with quainter charm. Many 
of his practical ideas on camping 
and “ going light ” have been 
adopted by the United States 
Army; his canoe has been preserved 
in the Smithsonian Institution; and 
we hope that all good woodsmen 
will contribute to this department 
their Hints and Kinks and trail- 
tested contrivances.- — [Editors.] 
Real gut is from 15 to 25 percent 
stronger than substitute gut of the same 
diameter. When we come to the knots 
used for attaching the eyed hooks to the 
gut I find that a knot that I shall here- 
after call the “loop knot” is the best 
of all. 
If we put the efficiency of this knot 
at 100 percent the “Turle” (not “Turtle”) 
knot has an efficiency of 87 percent, and 
Mr. Hall’s “Jamb Knot,” 85 percent. 
The loop knot is made by first of all 
tying a small loop at the end of the 
leader. Slip this loop through the eye 
of the hook; then put the other end of 
the leader through the loop and pull 
through and work the knot into position 
on the hook. 
The disadvantage of this knot is that 
it cannot be used on very small flies, but 
it can be used tj very great advantage 
with flies like the green drake, large 
sedge or grasshopper fly. 
In the majority of cases the gut broke 
at the point where it was attached to 
the eyed hook, but in a few cases the 
strand parted in the open, between knots. 
Ultimate Breaking Strength of Gut 
Description 
Exact 
Diameter 
of an Inch 
Approximate 
Strength 
Pounds 
Medium 
0.0137 
6.25 
Fine 
0.0102 
4.25 
Finest undrawn.. 
0.0096 
8.75 
Drawn * 
0.0097 
3.30 
Drawn ** 
0.0086 
2.80 
Drawn *** 
0.0076 
2.50 
Drawn **** .... 
0.0065 
1.90 
Substitute Gut 
No. 5 0.0132 4.65 
No. 6 0.0097 8.10 
“ Treated ” Gut 
Reinforce ** .... 0.0086 8.70 
R. L. M., California. 
BELT AXE CASE 
■^HIS case is for my belt axe. In- 
A stead of the loop being riveted on 
one side of the case I sewed on the top 
open edges (there being no flap, as none 
is needed) a strap and buckle, and when 
buckled on the belt it forms a 4-inch loop. 
Unless one takes two belts on an outing 
the axe scabbard with a one-piece loop 
is a nuisance. My axe case can be 
buckled anywhere on my belt and when 
wanted is quickly unbuckled. Around 
camp the axe is always in its case hang- 
ing up somewhere. I have visited some 
camps where the outer would have his 
knife and axe sheath on his belt and 
very probably the tools stuck in a tree 
or log — very picturesque, but at the same 
time very easy for every Tom, Dick or 
Harry to pick up and either hurt them- 
selves, the axe, or some tree. To pro- 
The axe case, loop and protector 
tect the stitches from the axe or knife, 
edge I sewed an extra piece of leather 
in between. I don’t like rivets as a 
stitch guard. A Subscriber. 
