If art fiber cord is used, little or no splicing will be required; if necessary it can be knotted under the seat, or neatly spliced by flattening the two ends and gluing the overlap together, the splice being secured with a tight wrapping of thread. For easy handling, the endless cord can be wound upon a short length of У2 or j4in. dowel, or looped and held together with rubber bands. Since modern chair seats are seldom constructed in a rectangular shape, the weaving of a standard flarefront seat of the type described in Chapter 2 , will be described step by step. Once mastered, it is a simple matter to apply the final weaving operations to any square or rectangular stool, should the need arise. As indicated in Step One, Figure 6.27, the initial "weaving" consists of short windings around the front corners to reduce the irregular opening to a rectangle. The beginner can accurately mark off a width on the front rail equal to back rail (B) by placing a framing square against the front rail so that the blade will ¦ Step One Fig. 6.27. Rush weaving. butt against the inner edge of the corner of the back rail. By dividing the remaining distances by the thickness of the fiber cord, in this case 3Ae in., the number of short strands required to fill in the flare can be determined in advance. As shown in A of Step One, the ends of the first strand and all succeeding strands are tacked to the inside of the lefthand side rail (L) a short distance from the front, then wound over and under front rail (F), and carried over and under side rail (L). These loops should be pulled tight and pushed firmly against the left chair leg before the cord is brought across to the righthand rail (R). Here it is looped over and under side rail (R), then above the horizontal strand and over and under the front rail (F), before it is pulled taut, cut off, and tacked to the inside of (R) at the same distance that its starting end was tacked to (L). As illustrated in В of Step One, this procedure is followed with succeeding 380 FURNITURE MAKING AND CABINET WORK strands of fiber until the last strand reaches the marks on the front rail parallel to the back rail (B). For illustrative purposes, the short strands shown in Step One have been omitted in Step Two, Figure 6.28. Step Two, as shown in the sketch, consists of a rectangular weaving of a continuous piece of cord in the same manner in which the short lengths are wrapped. Commencing at either rear corner, the right rear in this case, the cord can be tacked under or knotted around the back rail (B) and brought down and over the front rail (F), then over and under side rail (?), and so on. By examining the diagrams it will be obvious that the basic technique of rush seat weaving is nothing more than an overandunder winding of the chair rails at each corner, in succession. Analysis of the drawings in Figures 6.27 and 6.28 will show that the cord always leaves a rail from underneath and passes over the top of the next rail, whether right or left.