I bought a book by L A Garcia years ago, "Hand Crafting a Graphite Fly Rod" or something like that. It is a great book and it took me about a day to get the rod completed. Maybe 8 or 10 hours of labor. He tells you how to build your own stand and you don't need a rotating device to make the glue come out beautifully smooth. I have built about a dozen rods now and they are very easy. I just bought an 9 ft/8 wt kit from J Stockard and am very happy with the components and finished product. You will be "hooked" on building your own rods from then on. Saved a lot of money and got a very nice rod for under $200.