Simple Secrets

To follow up on David's secret tips, here's another:

After gluing and binding a rod, we typically tie a loop on one end of the section and hang it to dry.

I've taken to putting tension on my hanging sections, to "encourage" them to dry straight. The trick, then, is to fix the loops you tie on each end of the section so that when they pull on the rod, they pull evenly on at least 2 opposing sides of the section. If not, when you put tension on the rod, the loop pulls on one side of the section more than the other sides, and it puts a bend in that end of the rod. This is particularly true with the small end of the tips. I gave up on finagling with those loops (while you are wearing latex gloves, and racing drying glue!)

Now, and here's the secret, I go to the electrical section of the hardware store and buy a selection of heat-shrink tubing used for wire insulation. Now, when the section is glued up and bound, I slip a 2-3 inch section of the tubing half-way over each end of the section. The tubing shrinks 50% so i pick a size that will shrink and hold the section tightly - smallest for the tips, largest for the butts. I "hit" it with the heat gun for a few seconds, the tubing shrinks, and grabs the end of the section, evenly from all sides. Then I pierce the part of the tubing that is not pinching the rod section, and slip a paper clip through it. One end gets hung from a hook in my drying box, and a weight gets hung from the bottom end. This process, plus reducing my binder tension to the minimum, has done more to produce straight sections than anything else I have tried.

Lee