When wood is cross-grained it cannot be planed very well and must be finished with a file and rasp. To hold the rod while being worked, get a piece of hard wood about three-quarters of an inch thick and about four inches wide; in one edge have a groove made a quarter inch wide and three-eighths deep. Rest the rod in this groove, holding it at one end with a hand vise so as to turn it while filing, and reduce first with the rasp and then finish with a file. To finish easily with sand-paper, wrap the sand-paper around a piece of wood shaped like a file, and use as if filing. Pieces of broken window glass may also be used to advantage in reducing rods, and then finish with fine sand-paper. [Illustration: FIGURE 62.] _How to make a Wiping Rod._—Take any straight rod, a ramrod for instance, but be sure that the wood be strong and tough, and cut one end like the form shown in Fig. 62. By folding a rag over the end, doubling it so as to fill the bore of the gun, it will be found that it can be used in muzzle-loading guns without pulling off when the rod is being withdrawn. The rounded end prevents the end of the rod being pushed through the cloth, and the deep notch receives the folded sides so that it presents no inequalities to the bore of the gun. The square shoulder prevents its being pulled from place on being withdrawn from the gun. An iron rod may be made in the same way, but a rod made of good hickory wood has no equal. A wiping rod may be made of an iron rod having a slot or mortice cut through one end, and through this a rag is drawn. It may be used in breech-loading guns where it can be pushed in at one end and drawn out at the other, but in a muzzle loading gun it cannot well be withdrawn on account of the rag being folded upon itself in attempting to withdraw it. If a wiping rag be put in a gun and cannot be withdrawn, it may be sometimes relieved so as to be withdrawn by turning a little warm water down the barrel so as to saturate and soften the rag. Wiping brushes should not be thrust down the bore of a muzzle-loader as they cannot be readily withdrawn, and in instances where they are of larger diameter than the bore, the gun must be unbreeched to have the brush taken out. These brush wipers are very nice for that class of breech-loaders where they can be inserted at one end and withdrawn from the other. In using them in this class of guns, insert at the breech and remove from the muzzle, and then there will be no dirt or debris thrown among the breech mechanism. CHAPTER XXVII. ON BULLET MOULDS. _Joints for Bullet Moulds._—Simple as it may seem, the joint of bullet moulds, unless produced by the manufacturer, who has ample tools at his command, is not often well done. The want of the proper knowledge how “to lay out” such a joint may be the excuse for ill-fitting work. Yet it is easy enough, only “know how.” [Illustration: FIGURE 63.]