There is much written about splining the rod. Unless I am missing something very important, I just don't find it too technical . . . so, I MUST be doing something wrong! I place the butt straight down on my cement garage floor, set my finger on the tip and apply pressure. The rod bows. I turn it 180 degrees and repeat the process to make sure it flips around and I get the same result. Then, I run a grease pencil down the inside of the curve/ bow and I've marked the center line for spinning guides or, use my buttwrap layout tool to transfer the mark to the opposite side of the blank. Am I over-simplifying the process?

No, you're on the right track. The only thing you may wish to do is change your point of reference to coincide with what most others do (but only for conversation or discussion). Most mark the outside of the curve as being the reference for the effective spine. But marking the inside is fine, as long as you know what blank position it references (the spine is not a physical thing, just an effect).

There is no wrong place to orient the guides with regard to rod spine. You can read the FAQs page here for a very simple treatise on spine and the three most common orientations and their possible effect on your rod.


............

Jim,

I roll mine on a hard even flat surface (work bench) and do it that way. Some folks like to do it the fancy way I guess.

Dave