Further On

While I haven't written anything in over a month, there has been a bit of progress made, some of which is rather mundane. I spent a good while straightening strips and dressing nodes in bits and spurts. In between the bits and spurts fishing beckoned, and so progress has slowed significantly.

Although I had already dressed the nodes while the culm was whole, more accurate attention can be given to each one as part of a thin strip.


I used my trusty 8" mill bastard file to flatten the nodes. This was a bit of an experiment for me. In the past I have used heat and pressure from a vice to squish the enamel side of the node flat. This method has given me fits, and I suspect that in an effort to preserve power fibers I am compromising the structual integrity of the node by applying so much pressure. So for these rods I am carefully addressing each node with the file instead of heat and pressure.


After dressing each node I straightened every strip using heat from a heat gun in preparation for another experimental process: the beveller.

Here's a preview of things to come