I have honestly been out of rod building for many years fishing instead of building. I love learning about every little detail in a process and as I research blank manufacturing I am unable to find where they buy the equipment. I see videos of how they do it ect but where are the getting the rolling table? super long mandrels ? celo wrap machine? and I also notice not a single video shows them sanding the blank. Where on earth do you find a machine shop that can turn a tiny mandrel that is 8 feet long and keep it straight?

Most of the blank making equipment is made to order by firms that specialize in that type of equipment manufacturing. Same with the mandrels. There was one company in particular here in the U.S. that was well known as a mandrel manufacturer but their name escapes me at the moment.

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Travis,
Most Pattern Layup blank building equipment in the US is manufactured by Century Design out of San Diego. And most mandrels are ground at Lynco Grinding mandrels are centerless ground not turned.

Regards,

Todd

Regards,
Todd Vivian
Mud Hole Custom Tackle

todd@mudhole.com

Now I know what centerless grinding is

[en.wikipedia.org]

Bill - willierods.com

Ah centerless grinding now it all makes sense. I saw in numerous videos of blanks being made they said their mandrels come from japan. I also noticed that almost every video they all had the same roller to roll them onto the mandrel. Any idea how much a mandrel costs to have ground like that? We have tons of places here in my town that do centerless grinding

Mandrels will have a huge range in price, primarily dependent upon the largest OD of the steel, steel type and tempering. I have paid $30.00 for a mandrel for a Fly Tip and $450.00 for a 15' Surf Mandrel.

Regards,
Todd Vivian
Mud Hole Custom Tackle

todd@mudhole.com

todd do you/mudhole make the CRB rod blanks in house?