The Pioche record. [volume] (Pioche, Nev.) 1908-1925, 1920-03-12

II Il Countless Dfnn
uets which formerly had
been imported from Other
countries. notably Ger
many. In the majority OF
eases these h0me-m manufactured prod.
uc's were just us good as the imported
products had been. while I'm nor a fo,v
Instances they exceIled them by a wide
hlargin In point of merit and the
'neaphess and speed with which they
could he turned out. One of the lat.
EST Illustrations of what American on
teFprise and ingenuity can accompIish
mas Just come to light in the announce
,nent 'hat Chicago tapidary has per-
iected method of manufacturing
agate guides for fishing rods which
",e not only far superior to those
wnich Formerly came from GERMANY
mat being practically the only conn.
Try TO make them before the war. but
which can be turned out in a fraction
Oh the time required by the German
methods.
Fishing rod guides made of apata
have long been considered nv exnort
hsnermen to be the best for the pur-
pose; they give fine appearance TO
the rod' are practically indestructible,
an" permit or such smooth finish that
the wear on the line is reduced to n
minimum. The Germans were the
iirst 10 discover these merits of the
agate guides and soon had a virtual
monopoly of the trade throughout the
world. Once having established this
ana after creating the belief that good
agate guides could not be made in anv
other country. they grew less partic-
uiar about the quality of the goods
they turned out. AS a matter of fact.
during the last decade they were un.
able to keep pace with the demand
IN this and other countries where fish
ing Is much in vogue because of the
very siowness of the methods they
employed.
Inc guides were all made up in the
mountain country Of Germany. where
IL was really a family proposition. n
whole family drilling and grinding
guides during the winter months bv
the crudest hand methods and then
IN the spring selling their winters ont.
put to the commercial buyers, through
whom 1t finally reached America
Uniformity of size and style, and uni.
formity Of finish and degree of ac-
curacy could not be maintained by so
many different hands OF more or less
experience. especially under pressure
OF large demand, and the result was
that much inferior work began to be
foisted upon the American market
To hide the inferiority of their work.
manship and the many blemishes in
their guides the German makers
dyed them a deep dark red color nv
boiling them in an iron solution. This
practice also enabled them to slip
through many imitation agate guides.
which were made Of nothing but hard
glass. and this was the more easily
done because buyers had been led 70
believe that genuine agate guides
should be red in color.
This was the situation when a Chi.
cago lapidary Of many years experi-
mce, whose father and grandfather
had been lapidaries before him In
Amsterdam and familiar with the Ger.
man methods of making guides turned
his attention TO their manufacture ON
a modern scientific basis. The result
of his efforts was the development OF
a remarkable cutting drill by means
Of which he Is enabled to turn ont
large quantities of mechanically per-
feet guides in comparatively short
time. each guide being left the natural
color of the raw agate.
This drill not only works with alb
sOlute precision. but win bore hole
Of any desired size through a one
fourth inch slab Of agate In from
fifteen to twenty minutes. AS against
this. it took the German guide max
ers from fifteen to twenty hours to
bore similar hole through piece
Of genuine agate, using for this pur-
pose sO-called "bow" drill. This
drill was operated entirely by hand
and consisted of a stout piece OF wood
bent into the shape Of bow by means
nj leather thong. which In turn, was
wound several times around wooden
spool four or Ave inches in length and
half an inch in diameter.
In the lower part of the spool was