Reply To: NEW HANDLES
Thanks Tom, Tried my 9mm brush, really tight, but got it thru, didn’t help. With old rods when I first got them, I taped threaded end of rod and used a drill motor to spin rod on a cloth with Flitz on it. Might try on new rods just to clean, smooth. I will eventually purchase all new hones, Glass Blanks, Leather Strops with new handles for the Gen 3 Pro. Only ones im waffling about is the ceramics. I think they work good, but I see others on here say get away from them. The new sound of the handles sliding on the new rods I liken it to running your finger nails up and down a nylon jacket. Might Let my son get real familiar with the old WE130 setup
Hi Floyd:
Spinning the rod in the bore with some form of lapping compound is exactly what I did to my handles with bushings, but I suspect that trying to lap a soft plastic is a no-win situation. Compared to the Flitz paste, the plastic is self-lubricating. For lapping, both materials need to be hard. Even sandpaper doesn’t work well on plastic.
If you have access to a set of machinists’ drill bits, try running a letter-size F (0.257″) bit in from both ends. That having failed, you can move up the chart to a “G” drill (0.261″) or even to a 17/64″ (0.2656″). As with the Flitz, the plastic will resist the bite of the drill bits, so you won’t actually open up the bore all that much. In an attempt to avoid opening up the orifices at the handle ends, try to push the drill into the center of the handle before spinning it. After spinning it at low speed for a while, stop the drill before withdrawing it from the bore. Hopefully, you’ll reach a point where the rods slide easily.
All that having been said, you might want to ask Clay for a replacement blank handle. If he’s not inclined to give you a new one, a pair of the new ones cost only $25 and you’ll know that it’s the right size. The color may be wrong (red & white) but you can pretend to be color blind. 🙂
