A beautiful reel seat is like Hans Christian Anderson's autobiographical allegory, Tale of the Ugly Duckling. While waiting for the blank to arrive, there are some things I can do and today I will describe the process of turning this;

into this...

First, you need to find the raw product. There are many articles on the internet on how to spalt wood, but unless you have a special species of tree you want to use, go out in the woods along your favorite fishing hole and find the nastiest piece of wood you can carry. Typically, you will want a wood that was originally a hardwood, and at 4"-10" in diameter. Smaller than that and you will struggle find a length suitable for even a reel seat, longer than that and it is hard/unsafe to cut with regular equipment. Furthermore, the spalting is best found when you can quarter the wood near a burr in the tree. I have one particular stream I fish often, I guess you can call it my home water. I decided I wanted I wanted to turn down a piece of wood from a branch that had fallen in the creek, was submerged and became spalted. This creek has many different great trees to choose from, Burr Oak, White Oak, Red Oak, Osage, and Persimmon being found. While fishin-...er, I mean while researching for a good piece of wood, I found a nice log that had been washed out of the mud and lying on a flat. As you can see, the wood is lightly spalted pecan. If you want more aggressive spalting, find a tree in the forest that has fallen over and become buried in the dirt, covered with leaves and mushrooms. This is ideal! Do some research on wood before selecting, some wood is inherently easier to use than others. I find such reclaimed lumber adds a special personal feel to the rod.
     Due to the conditions under which wood becomes spalted, it has to be handled correctly or it will likely crack as it dries. I cut the wood into 1 3/16" x 5" sections and insert each one individually in a sealed plastic bag. As the moisture evaporates from the wood, the bag will become wet on the inside, so everyday, remove the pieces out, turn the bag inside out and repeat for about a week. The next week I would leave the pieces out in the open air for a couple hours, then return them to the bag. For the piece above, this took about 3 weeks. When you check the bag at the scheduled time and there is no moisture in the bag, leave the pieces out to complete the drying. This will take another few weeks but that's ok, your still waiting for the blank to be made.
     I then carefully inspect all the pieces for holes to big to fill, and ordered them by attractiveness. The Kate Winslett's on one end, the plain jane's on the other. Select the top three pieces and the bottom three pieces. The bottom three pieces will be used for practice.
     After the wood is completely dry, the pieces need to be as perfectly square as possible.
!!!THIS IS VERY DANGEROUS, AND CAN LEAD TO SERIOUS, AND I MEAN SERIOUS GGGGRIEF IF NOT DONE CAREFULLY. IF YOU ARE UNSURE HOW TO DO THIS SAFELY, DO NOT DO IT!!!! 
Using two push sticks, one holding the piece down onto the table, the other holding pushing the piece through the saw. Very carefully trim each side down until you get a 1" square. Now, go have a drink of your favorite adult beverage and count your fingers. Once all fingers are accounted for and in their correct place, cut about 1/8" off each end to ensure the block ends are square to the length. This will make it easier to drill the hole.
     To drill the hole, you need to find the exact center. If you have a combination with a centering square, it is easy. If not, it is not that difficult to make one.

     If your block is not perfect, no big deal. As you see above, there is a tiny offshape square in the center of the block, that would be the center. I then use a 3/16" drill bit on a press (if you can free hand drill this perfectly center, your better than I am), Swap ends and drill from the other side. They should match. Then drill a 1/4" hole as far as the drill press will allow. I do not use long shank drill bits on the press because my drill press chuck is a bit out of wack. Then I use a hand drill and a long shank 1/4" drill bit to follow the hole out the other side. It is a good idea to use a back stop of wood to avoid run-out.
     The next preparation for the wood involves rounding off the edge to make the turning easier, minimize splintering of the wood, and save on wear and tear on the chisel. Before doing this, you need to have your reel seat in hand to measure the amount of wood the spacer will require. When rounding the edge make sure not to go to small or the pooch is proverbially screwed. I used a disc sander such as this delta

 for this purpose, but other folks are comfortable cutting the edge with a table saw.










So, I have a spalted piece of wood ready for to be impregnated....