depend upon worth-while lines, then 
most assuredly I would want to have 
about three or four, fifty to one hun¬ 
dred foot horse-hair lines. I know that 
I could depend upon them, where I 
could not upon others; and I know 
that I could hold some mighty big fish 
on them. 
I am going to tell in the following 
how to make an eight-strand line. This 
line will hold a twenty-five to thirty- 
pound fish. That will give you an idea 
of its strength. 
If you wish to 
make heavier 
lines, then you 
can add strands 
as you desire. 
Selection of 
hairs for such 
lines depends 
somewhat, I im¬ 
agine, upon the 
animal it is taken 
from and its vi- 
t a 1 i t y . The 
healthier the ani¬ 
mal, the stronger 
the hair, and vice 
versa. The color 
of the hairs and 
the line, if you 
will, is probably 
one of some mo¬ 
ment. For a 
general purpose 
line there is 
nothing to equal 
the black or some 
shade of black. 
But if you have 
not access to 
such, then a 
lighter color is 
all right. I have 
not tried dyeing 
horse-hair lines, 
but I imagine 
that it could 
easily be done. 
The thickness or 
caliber of the 
hairs to be used 
in this line is a 
matter of some 
concern. Do not 
select the heavier 
outer hair, the 
longer ones of the tail. Rather select 
the inner ones, those that are most 
flexible and medium fine. These, 
when made into a whole, provides the 
best line of the lot. 
OW with a hank of horse hairs you 
are ready to begin, first having 
your “tools” on hand. I have in my 
drawings sought to carry out very 
carefully the various details necessary 
and I am sure that they will readily 
Page 307 
be followed. Figure I shows the wind¬ 
ing or twisting stick. It is cut from a 
tree, the arm (A) being three inches 
or so in length, the body of the stick 
being thicker and some seven or eight 
inches in length. You will need three 
of these, one a little heavier in diameter 
than the other two, the reason for 
which will be seen later. With this 
stick ready, cut a slit at the tip of the 
arm. Now select four strands of horse 
hair; tie them together, twist them 
FlG-t. 
MrfnuttuntT,’'' 
STEPS 
IN 
MAKING 
THE 
HORSE¬ 
HAIR 
FISHING 
LINE 
and then insert them in the slit of the 
twisting stick. The letter (B) will 
show what is meant. Now notice that 
the four hairs are not of the same 
length. The hair (C) is the short¬ 
est; the hair (D) is next, and so on. 
With the hair in place, start to turn 
the twisting stick as shown in Figure 
IV holding the ends of the hairs be¬ 
tween the thumb and the forefinger 
in a very tight pinch. You can twist 
this as mush as you desire. By glanc¬ 
ing at it you can tell just about when 
it is twisted aplenty. Then the line 
that is twisted is removed from the 
slit and is wrapped around the stick 
and tied. Then the line is again in¬ 
serted, the twisting is continued, when 
twisted, is lifted and wrapped around 
the stick and so on. 
We now come to the matter of in¬ 
serting the hairs as the various lengths 
give out. The hair (C) will give out 
first. Select another hair now, which 
will be (G), and 
insert it in the 
twisted portion 
of the line just 
forward of (C) 
as shown in the 
inset. Start now 
to twist again, 
being sure that 
(G) is caught in 
well and that it 
actually twists 
around and a- 
round as you 
turn the stick. 
After you have 
twisted f or a 
ways pull the line 
to see if (G) 
pulls away. If it 
pulls away then 
it is not securely 
in place and it 
will have to be 
inserted again. 
In this manner 
keep on, inserting hairs when needed; 
twist the line, lift it out of the slit, 
wrap it around the stick. That is the 
. simple process of it. 
V^fE will suppose now that you want 
a line of some fifty feet. With 
this in view make sufficient line to 
cover that length and in the end you 
will have it wrapped around the stick. 
It can then be laid aside. Now another 
stick (the second one) is brought into 
use, and another line of four strands, 
fifty feet in length is made on that. 
You will then have two sticks with line 
on them as shown in Figure V, ready 
then to be twisted into another single 
line, the two lines of four strands each 
making a line of eight strands. You 
will now select the third winding stick 
(H) of Figure VII. Into the slit of 
this, the two lines as shown in Figure 
V, are inserted, the two to be tied to¬ 
gether at the end. On can have a 
second person, if this is convenient, to 
hold the stick (H) while the other two 
are twisted. Take hold of these two 
twisting sticks as shown in Figure VI, 
and turn then around, both the same 
way as denoted by the arrows. The 
peculiar twist will cause the two hnes 
(Continued on page 326) 
