Welcome to the forum. There are a few work in progress threads and a few tutorial threads. The what are you working on thread is a great place to post and banter about the details. Pinning does take some practice. There are a couple of people selling collars for replacements. ajkenne is on ebay as well as a member here. Many people use his collars and he has rod too. Many small taps with a tiny hammer and keep your pins quite short. If they are too long you will bend them before they tighten. Basically you are creating a mushroom on the end of the rod and it is the outer edges of the mushroom that tighten and hold it all together.