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experience is the most important tool, the one I don't have
Jobst Brandt's The Bicycle Wheel is a fine substitute for experience; with a bit of sniffing around you should be able to find the epub for free (Brandt is no longer with us, so IMO it's cool to stiff the copyright parasites).
Sadly, he didn't make it to the point where advancements in materials allowed for durable 16/20h on light rims; I'd have been interested to see if that development would have altered his preferred spec
You are correct, but I like tools, so I treated myself for Christmas.
And yes experience is the most important tool, the one I don't have. I already cocked up some of my prep so couldn't start my wheel on Saturday (was convinced the spare open pro I had was 36h, turns out it's 32h - though I remember checking but eh - so now I need to find an equivalent ERD rim as I've bought spokes :/ )
I had a different stand when building my first and only ever 3 wheels years back, I seem to remember it helped though. My dishing tool is homemade, adjustable so I potentially could do a Brompton wheel, the smallest wheel I have... Hope I get to use that one day...