ROD-MAKING: WINDINGS AND GUIDES
The silk windings (wrappings or whippings) of a split-bamboo rod, in
addition to securing the line-guides in position and serving as a
most effective reinforcing bond for holding together the individual
strips of which each rod-joint is composed, are generally considered
a factor in adding to the rigidity of the rod. In commercial practise
the joints are held in a lathe-like apparatus while being wound,
but this is not at all necessary for the limited operations of the
amateur. Authorities on practical angling nearly all believe that
closer winding will stiffen a rod appreciably. From this it might be
inferred that a rod solidly wound throughout its whole length would
be very much stiffened; however, solid winding does not work out this
way in practise, making the rod logy rather, and it is not in favor
with experienced rod connoisseurs. In fact, some of the very finest
modern rods have no windings except those that attach the guides and
overlap the ferrules.
As already has been mentioned, the writer regards silk windings
as very much superior to any form of metal wrappings; but, when
he uses them at all except for guide lashings, he applies the
silk--differently from the usual method of a series of individual,
narrow circular bands--in the form of a continuous trellised or
diamond-patterned whipping which extends the whole length of the
joints. And he whips with unwaxed silk, just as obtained from
the drygoods store. For this method he claims the following very
practical advantages, wholly irrespective of its highly distinctive
appearance: It makes a good holding-ground for the varnish, the bare
outer skin of bamboo offering, in this respect, a surface not much
more acceptable than does glass or steel; it supports or stiffens the
rod to a greater degree than could the closest practical individual
bands, a good idea of its effectiveness being obtained by comparing
the “backbone” of a top-joint thus wound--and even before any varnish
is applied--with its unwound duplicate; it materially assists in
preventing set; it reduces to a minimum the number of invisible-end
fastenings necessitated in the complete winding of the rod.
Unwaxed silk is preferred as offering the varnish a better chance to
penetrate, shrink it, and glue it down onto the wood. And we do not
use the more brittle white shellac, white French lacquer, or thin
white glue or mucilage as a preliminary coating for the windings, to
prevent a darkening of the silk, which we do not regard as at all
objectionable. (Equal parts of collodion and banana oil is used for
the same purpose.) On the other hand, if the proper colors and shades
of silk be selected, our personal taste approves this increased
depth of color as imparting a less flashy, richer, and altogether
more elegant appearance. But restrain your preference from running
to delicate, weakly-defined shades, as you will be unpleasantly
surprised to see how they will lose character under the effect of
varnish. If you do not want the diamond whipping to contrast with the
color of the bamboo, select for this a light orange or a yellow shade
and it will be almost invisible except on close inspection. If you do
use white shellac in alcohol for the primary coat, to preserve the
original shade of the silk, make but the thinnest application of it.
The most satisfactory colors for windings are black, a bright green,
or red, yellow, a good brown, or purple--neither of the latter in
too dark a shade and all these used either in one solid color or in
various combinations. Yellow and red, yellow and green, or green and
black are good used together.
We employ the size A silk, commonly used in millinery and
dressmaking, and thus readily obtainable at any drygoods “emporium.”
This is about the thickness of what the tackle-dealers grade as
medium or coarse; for the finer silk-thread in colors you must apply
either to them or to jobbers in the trade, as you will not find it
on general sale, though perchance on occasion at the “art-embroidery”
counter of one of the larger department-stores. To be sure, you
can split the A silk and make use of only a part of its strands;
this, however, hardly without waxing. But if your ideal in rods is
represented by a good serviceable article, not much under five ounces
in weight, the A size is none too heavy. Rods are made much lighter
than this and they are very exquisite; and may be very efficient,
too--_for the expert under the usual conditions prevailing in the
smaller streams_. Yet we have seen a sixteen-inch brown trout, _Salmo
fario_, in a four-foot-wide stretch of water; and even though the
size of the fish in the small streams may average seven to nine
inches in length, the fisherman never knows when that whopper will
grab his fly, nor in what difficult situation he may be obliged to
control him promptly if the prize is to be creeled--and where is the
angler who would not gladly sacrifice all his smaller catch rather
than _lose that chance big fellow_?
The brands of silk-thread found usually in the stores are either
the Corticelli, Belding, or Hemingway. We have no choice, but can
indicate by the numbers stamped on the respective spools the shades
in the Hemingway brand that will work out effectively. These are:
purple, number 794--or very dark, 1044; brown, number 484; green,
891; and red, 633. There is a shade of green in the Corticelli brand
very like the Hemingway 891, but having a yellower glint, that is a
bit better.
[Illustration: Fig. 1--Silk winding]
Start the continuous winding at the butt-end of the rod-joint, by
making a few circular turns of the silk away from you; the end is
caught beneath these initial turns (Fig. 1), and wetting the end of
the silk will prevent it from slipping when you commence. You now are
holding the joint in your left hand and its butt or male-ferrule end
is directed to the right. To ascertain the exact point of starting,
A, you must measure off from the joint-end, B, a sufficient distance
nicely to clear the other end of the ferrule, at C, as _the ferrule
winding is to be a separate affair_.
Next, turn the joint butt-end to your left; hold the circular turns
with your left thumb while cutting off short the silk-end, D, with
a _sharp_ knife; and start to wind a spiral toward the smaller
end, rotating the joint away from you between the fingers of the
left hand, while you hold the silk (E) taut between the thumb and
forefinger of the right hand, pulling toward you and to the right
(Fig. 2). The spool-end, E, is rendering from the spool as you hold
the latter in your hand, or as it rests in a convenient receptacle to
prevent its rolling away.
[Illustration: Fig. 2--Silk winding]
The symmetrically-graduated spacing of this first spiral-winding
is guided entirely by the eye. For butt-joints, the writer starts
the turns spaced from three-quarters to five-eighths of an inch,
and gradually runs them down to one-half inch apart at the smaller
end; on middle-joints, the turns are spaced one-half inch at butt,
gradually diminishing to one-quarter inch; and for the top-joint,
they run from one-quarter inch down to one-eighth inch at the rod’s
tip. On the _butt-joint he lays up three courses of windings to each
spiral, side by side, two courses similarly on the middle- and a
single-thread course on the top-joint_.
[Illustration: Fig. 3--Silk winding]
[Illustration: Fig. 4--Silk winding]
To know when to terminate the spiral-windings at the female-ferrule
end of the joint, you previously must have noted the spot (A,
Fig. 3) by a pencil-mark, after measuring from the ferrule-end,
B, a sufficient distance both to clear the ferrule and to allow
space for the line-guide, D, that is to be located here. End the
spiral by a few close turns at A; then turn the joint so that the
end B is again directed to your left, and start the return spiral.
For all spiral-windings _returning over the same course_ you must
reverse your _thread_ by looping it and catching the loop with a
few circular turns that are cast over it, as illustrated in Fig. 4.
Do not mind any bunching of circular turns here, as both the loops
and these circular turns are but temporary, and all will be _cut
away later, when a smooth, permanent circular-winding takes their
place_. This looping maneuver is necessitated in laying the second
and third courses of each spiral-winding on butt-joints, and for
the second course on middle-joints. To produce the diamond-whipping
on top-joints, in single-thread spirals, it is not necessary; you
then continue to wind ahead without reversing the _thread_, till the
four spirals are finished, simply by crossing your thread--after
completing one circular turn which terminates each spiral
course--and by reversing the _joint_, end for end, which starts
you back all right when a succeeding spiral is to be wound in the
same direction _around_ the joint, but _lengthwise_ of the joint in
a direction opposite to that taken by its immediate predecessor.
Complex as this may sound, it really is the acme of simplicity in
operation, as you will learn at the very first attempt.
[Illustration: Fig. 5--Silk winding]
In order to have the spacing of the second spiral conform to that of
the one first wound, it is necessary only to see that the threads of
the two spirals _cross at the same angular side of the rod-joint_,
which you select in preference to a flat surface, for more accurate
guidance (A, Fig. 5).
Two additional spirals are needed to produce the closer trellised
or diamond effect sought, and these are laid so as to halve the
space (as shown by the dotted lines in the illustration) between the
spirals previously wound, the eye alone readily serving here as an
efficient guide.
Intricate as the process may appear from the ultimate result, the
reader soon will understand that it is only the first spirals over
each joint that must be wound with a great deliberation and care as
to symmetrically-graduated spacing. That does determine the outcome,
but the subsequent spirals are wound with increasing rapidity.
Attention is directed also to the fact that even the most serious
mishap to any part of the continuous winding, after the rod is
completed, _in no case necessitates rewinding the whole joint_, but
only of the short interval between two consecutive solid windings,
whether guide- or ferrule-wrappings.
All rod-windings are terminated finally by an “invisible-knot”
ending. Before taking up the question of guide- and ferrule-wrappings
and their location on the rod--the detailed layout--we will describe
several ways of making the invisible knot or whip finish, which,
after all, attain but one and the same result. The winder soon will
find that the particular method which is most convenient will depend
both on himself and on the particular location of a winding, or on
other special conditions under which he is compelled to make the
fastening. The mystery of this is the chief secret of rod-winding,
and it really is no “knot” at all, but a trick of burying the end
under the final turns in order at once to get it out of the way and
to keep the winding from unwrapping.
The illustrations that follow, Figures 1 to 9, show windings made
with a coarse thread instead of the actual winding-silk, for the
purpose of clearer delineation.
[Illustration:
Silk winding: (1) Starting the loose coils; (2) Free end of silk run
under; (3) Loose coils wound tightly over terminal end--awl-point
holds loop; (4) The loop drawn in; (5) Separate-loop method ]
We start a solid circular-winding in exactly the same way that we
started the spiral-winding, that is by catching the starting-end of
the thread under the first few coils. When nearing the end of your
wrapping, hold the last tight coil, A, with the thumb of the left
hand, while--after cutting the silk to allow a sufficiently long
end--with the other hand you make several _loose coils_, B, in the
same direction around the joint as previously, but a short distance
from and winding back toward this last tight coil; insert the free
end of the silk, C, under the coil, A, held by the left thumb;
continue the winding by holding on to the loop, D, which unwraps the
loose coils while at the same time it transfers them into tight coils
laid up against the completed section of the permanent winding and
binds the terminal silk-end tightly underneath; insert a large pin,
point of a finishing-nail, or any similar pointed instrument (a
shoemakers’-awl is most handy for this) through the loop, E, which
holds it taut to prevent it from kinking, then draw the loop up close
to this, drop or pull out the pin (or whatever your bodkin may be),
and at the same instant quickly pull the end, C, up tight; cut off
the surplus free end close to where it emerges from the wrapping,
with a quick sawing motion of a _sharp_ knife.
A modification of the above method makes use of a separate loop of
heavy, waxed linen-thread, for the purpose of pulling the terminal
silk-end under the last few coils, which already have been wound
tight. The loop (A, Fig. 5) is laid in place lengthwise of the
rod-joint as you approach the end of a wrapping, several coils are
carried over it, and then the free end of the winding-thread, B, is
pushed through the loop and pulled under and out, where the loop
emerges at C. In using very fine winding-silk, a fine needle may be
substituted for the loop, and the end of the thread inserted through
its eye.
Another method, that the author frequently adopts, consists in
making the final loose turns both over joint and the tapered end
of a miniature marlin-pin or a lead-pencil point laid alongside of
the joint. The end then is turned back through these coils, between
the marlin-pin and the joint, as Fig. 6 depicts; the forefinger of
the left hand holds the last tight coil against the joint as the
marlin-pin is withdrawn. The first loose coil, B, then is picked
up by inserting under it the point of the shoemakers’-awl; the
thread-end, C, is caught by tightening this coil, and the remaining
loose coils are laid up against the rest of the wrapping, which is
completed in the same manner as described above.
[Illustration:
Silk winding: (6) Marlin-pin method; (7, 8, and 9) Method in which
terminal coils are thrown first around joint]
The most ingenious method of all, but not always applicable, is first
to decide under how many coils you wish to bury the terminal-end, and
then to throw these coils loosely around the joint upon _beginning_
the wrapping. The silk is not cut until all is finished and pulled
taut, so none is wasted. It practically is a reversal of the method
first described. Referring to Fig. 7, suppose that it is desired
to start at A and to wind toward the bottom of the page. B is the
spool-end of the silk, C indicates four loose coils, and D is the
loose-end of the silk. The first step is to catch the end, D, under
the first turn of the wrapping, as shown in Fig. 8. You now can wind
ahead, holding the silk at G and rotating the joint to the left, as
far as you like. As the F-end of the loose coils is renewed from the
spool as fast as the E-end unwinds, these four coils are carried
right along throughout the whole wrapping. When ready to end the
winding, passing the spool-end of the silk, B (spool and all), under
the winding-thread, G, catches it as shown in Fig. 9. Continue the
wrapping to dispose of the four loose coils, pull the end (B) taut,
cut it short, and your wrapping is completed.
A hexagonal lead-pencil and a piece of ordinary wrapping-twine are
good materials with which to practise the details of these windings
and endings.
When making solid wrappings, press all the coils firmly together
from time to time, with some suitable blunt instrument, as the edge
of a paper-cutter or back of a table-knife; and when completed,
before varnishing, rub them smooth with the rounding handle of a
tooth-brush--all the better if it is of the old-time genuine bone
variety. Also at this time you may apply a match- or candle-flame
_for an instant_ to any fuzz or thread-ends that may be projecting in
an unsightly fashion; but an alcohol flame is the best, being less
likely to smudge light-colored silk. You readily can detect these
ends by sighting lengthwise along the joint, as you slowly rotate it.
We are assuming, now, that all ferrules have been serrated or split
and are cemented in position, that the diamond-whipping is in place,
and that a preliminary thin coat of varnish has been applied to the
joint and is dry. We have yet to bind on the line-guides and to put
on the ferrule-wrappings. This is done with individual close-laid or
solid circular-windings, and they constitute _all of the windings of
this character that are needed on any rod-joints that previously have
been wound as we have described_.
[Illustration: Guide and winding layout for 10-foot fly-rod]
Naturally, we first must determine how many guides we shall use and
just where they shall be located; also whether these solid wrappings
shall be of the same color as the diamond-winding or of a contrasting
color. To the writer’s taste, all-green windings, yellow touched
off with red or green, or green touched with black make a strong
appeal. Let us suppose that we have agreed upon the latter, and that
we now are at work on the ten-foot fly-rod. Our winding-plan would
be as shown in the accompanying diagram, the figures indicating the
distances in inches from guide-center to guide-center, when the rod
is assembled. The darker windings are those of the black silk,
and these, beginning with the three bands grouped at the rod-butt,
which are a scant one-eighth inch wide, should gradually diminish in
width all the way to the rod’s tip, where they may consist of only
four or five turns of thread. When making top-joints in duplicate
or triplicate, it is a good plan to distinguish them by special
arrangements of bands at their tips; you then can always identify the
particular one in use.
After the positions of the guides are located, bands of black silk
are wound around the joint, over the spiral-winding at each point
where the guide-wrapping will come, and in such a way that each solid
guide-wrapping of green will be set off at its ends with a narrow
black border. When once these are in place, and in addition to the
rest of the joint have had their _preliminary coat of varnish to hold
the silk here, the spiral-winding is cut and unwound between them
at each guide-site_; the guides then are bound on close against the
wood, when their wrappings may receive a first coat of varnish.
_Note that a guide is placed at each ferrule-connection, at its lower
and stronger side._ Some further detail is called for concerning the
guide-windings at the ferrules and the ferrule-windings themselves,
and reference to the accompanying diagram will materially aid in
understanding about this. Before starting to wind on a guide at
the end of a joint or to wrap a ferrule, first we place a smooth,
permanent circular-wrapping (A) alongside and below the lumpy,
temporary circular turns at the ends of the diamond-whipping; _we
then cut away these unsightly coils of the first or spiral winding
that were necessitated in applying it_. We now have a clear space
from A to E, and we use the length of the guide (C), which is to be
located here, as a measure for the exact extent of this space.
[Illustration: Guide and ferrule wrapping]
All guides are wound _solidly_ from end to end--that is, the winding
extends underneath the elevated part of the guide; and the wrappings
at the ferrules _cover in the serrated ends up to and lapping the
solid metal, at_ E, _to prevent access of water or dampness at that
end of the ferrule_. From A to E the winding consists of _three
sections_. It is started at D--the point on the rod-joint where the
shank or foot of the guide meets its standing part; then is carried
to B, when the guide is placed in position and its proximal (lower
or inner) shank is covered in, from B to A; and it ends with its
last coil close up against the band at A. The other shank (distal,
upper or outer foot) of the guide, C, _overlaps about half-way the
ferrule-tooth_ that lies on the flat surface of the joint to which
the guide is applied. The ends both of this shank of the guide and
of the ferrule-tooth have previously been filed down thin with the
little saw-file. The wrapping is completed by the wholly _independent
section_ represented by D–E, starting at D; thus _this section
alone must be removed for the purpose of re-cementing a loosened
female-ferrule_, and the guide is not disturbed in its position.
_Before securing any guides to the rod_, it is most important that
it should experimentally have been jointed up with different flat
surfaces of its respective sections in alignment, in order _to
determine what particular arrangement gives the best results_; and
when this has been accomplished you should _mark the guide surfaces_
of each joint for future identification. However carefully you have
endeavored to center the ferrules on the joints, you probably will
be surprised to find when the rod is jointed up in certain ways that
there will be produced quite a decided angular deflection at least
at one of the junctions, but which a slight rotation of one of the
connecting pieces may correct. If not satisfactorily remedied in
this way, then joint the two rod-sections together in their best
position and hold the union--both including ferrules and the wood
within them--over the alcohol-lamp flame, heat all very carefully but
thoroughly, and then very cautious but firm manipulation between
the hands--one at either side of the ferrule-joint with thumbs
extended--will solve the difficulty.
With due regard to what has been said above, you should try also
to have any rod-joint which may show a slight long bend extending
throughout its whole length, so placed that the flat side most
identified with the convexity shall be the down or guide side when
the rod is held in position of use--with reel underneath, for
the fly-rod. In other words, the guides should line up when the
rod-sections are jointed in the best possible position, looking to
the truest alignment and best action of the whole rod.
It now remains to consider the guides themselves; what kind shall we
use?
[Illustration: Agate angle fly tip-guides]
[Illustration:
“Perfection” steel tip-guide for fly-rod (enlarged) ]
[Illustration: Modern steel snake-guides and old ring- and-keeper
device]
For both bottom- and tip-guides--points of greatest friction--we
should select appropriate agate or phosphor-bronze guides; and some
pretty good imitation-agate guides have been marketed, at a material
reduction in cost from the price of the genuine. Very satisfactory,
and by not a few anglers preferred even to agate, is what is known as
the “Perfection” tip-guide; it is made in Denver, by the Perfection
Tip Co., of file-proof tungsten steel with German-silver tube. It
is light, neat, and practically indestructible and frictionless. It
costs fifty cents. The same concern makes also of similar material
splendidly efficient and durable butt-guides, and reel-guides that
may be attached to a cross-bar. For the other (intermediate) guides
on your fly-rod you want a standing form of guide that is called the
“snake” guide, and these to be of steel and not of German-silver,
which latter soon is grooved by the friction of the line.
Snake-guides were once an English innovation but long have ceased to
be a novelty, being almost universally used today on all makes of
the highest-class rods; both in appearance and utility they are a
great advance over the old ring-and-keeper device. The line is not so
likely to foul them, and it renders much more freely through them,
so that the cast as well as the length of life of the line both are
thereby influenced favorably. There is one remaining convenient use
for the ring with keeper--that is to attach one at the butt of your
rod just above the handgrasp, _to hook your fly into when not in use_.
[Illustration: Agate (German-silver mounted) light “Tournament”
casting-guide]
Our illustration shows how these snake-guides are numbered according
to their gradation in size, from 3/0 up to 5. They may be purchased
from almost any tackle-house for about twenty cents a dozen.
Reference to a previous illustration, “Guide and winding layout,”
will show that the fly-rods of nine feet and over carry twelve of
these guides; and from butt to tip we use them in this order and in
about these sizes: 4, 3, 2, 2, 2, 1, 1, 1/0, 1/0, 2/0, 2/0, 3/0.
For eight-foot rods, use two guides less and space them as follows,
beginning at the butt-end: Bottom-guide is 17¼ inches from butt of
rod; from its center to center of bottom intermediate-guide, 9½
inches; next space, 9 inches; then 8½, 7½, 7¼, 6¾, 6½, 6⅛, 5⅝, 5, and
4½ inches respectively.
[Illustration: English agate angle fly tip-guide for winding on]
For the bottom-guide on the fly-rod, the author uses the light
“Tournament” agate-guide, as pictured, which vom Hofe cataloged as
size number 10, and which used to cost thirty-five cents (there was
a smaller size, number 9); and for the agate tip-guide, vom Hofe’s
tubular form, 5/64 inch in diameter, costing thirty cents.[7] Another
neat English device is an agate angle tip-guide, with two legs, made
to wind on instead of to be cemented. Abbey and Imbrie, 97 Chambers,
New York, have carried these, at fifty cents. The same firm had also
a similar device in a larger size, but all in bronze, the guide-ring
turning within its encircling wire loop, which they sold for forty
cents; they are nice for mounting bait- or trolling-tops.
[Illustration: Fig. 1--Guide layout for short, bait-casting rod]
For the short, bait-casting rod, we have adopted the layout shown
below (Fig. 1), all of the guides being attached to the top-joint.
The bottom-guide is of the same style as that selected for the
fly-rod, but in the larger size, number 12. The agate tip-guide is
vom Hofe’s “Western offset” style, 7/64 inch in diameter (number
2/0), priced at forty cents. The same size in the “Dowagiac” pattern
was sold at thirty-five cents. The two intermediate guides are the
same maker’s “Improved” or one-ring casting style, numbers 1 and 0
respectively; price nine cents each. Abbey and Imbrie used to stock
phosphor-bronze revolving-center guides mounted like these one-ring
casting-guides; the idea of the revolving-center feature is that the
line will draw equally against all sides of the ring and so will
eliminate grooving. They are quite as effective as agate-guides and
much less liable to breakage.
[Illustration: Agate “Western” casting tip-guide]
[Illustration: “Dowagiac” pattern agate casting tip-guide]
[Illustration: German-silver “Improved” one-ring casting-guide]
Some anglers would prefer to locate the bottom-guide of the
bait-casting rod a few inches ahead of the ferrule, rather than at
the ferrule as shown in Fig. 1 above; and they would use only one
intermediate guide between that and the tip, placing but three guides
on this rod, in all.
[Illustration: Agate stirrup-pattern casting tip-guide]
In order to permit equalization of the strain on two sides of the
top-joint, the guides may be attached in pairs, after the usual
manner employed in the heavier, surf-casting rods (Fig. 2); in this
case the tip-guide should not be offset but should be one of center
alignment, stirrup pattern, as shown. Abbey and Imbrie sell it,
size number 3½, for sixty-five cents, in agate; in imitation agate,
thirty-five cents.
[Illustration: Fig. 2--Paired guides]
ROD-MAKING:
HANDGRASP AND REELSEAT