Justin,

When I started building about 10 years ago, I built a hand wrapper from some cheap lumber and hardware from Lowes. It was simple, effective, and served me well.

That said, the CRB hand wrapper from Mud Hole is quite nice. I picked one up with the aluminum track at the ICRBE this winter. Even without the track, the unit is very effective at a fair price. The nice thing is that it is capable of growing with you as you advance in the craft. The CRB dryer uses the same supports, and I just bolted on my drying motor with a PVC chuck onto a spare support, and it's good to go. It's just as easy to add a sewing machine motor to turn it into a power wrapper. I've been quite impressed with it, and it meets my needs quite well.

Starting out, I would highly recommend Tom Kirkman's book, Rod Building Guide, a nice set of reamers like the Batson Dream Reamers (or at least make your own using sanding belt and old rod blanks), and a drying motor. Turning rods by hand during the drying process works well, but limits you to finishing at times when you can babysit the rod for a couple of hours. Once I moved from rat tail files to reamers, my reaming became much more consistent.

Good Luck and enjoy the craft!

Hi Justin

The CRB HWS-1 hand wrapper probably offers the most functionality and only costs $43. The tension rod and other design features really make it stand out from the rest. You can browse the features here:

[www.mudhole.com]

You can also use it if you choose to upgrade to a rod building system - like the RBS system from CRB - so future proofs your investment.

We should also mention we have a great value in an all in one supply kit - where you get everything you need to build a rod (hand wrapper, rod dryer, tools, supplies, epoxy, finish, thread, etc...
You can browse that here:

[www.mudhole.com]

Wish you the best of luck - if you ever have a question be sure to call one of our 10 customer service reps - we'd love to hear form you.
Call Mud Hole Toll Free 1-866-790-7637 or 407-447-7637

Regards.
Team Mud Hole Custom Tackle
Web: [www.mudhole.com]
Email: sales@mudhole.com
Toll Free Phone #: 1-866-790-RODS (7637)

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