After whacking off the end of the tiller, I needed to add a piece for a bulbous end so a piece of mahogany was glued and clamped on the end.
After the glue dried, it is now ready for shaping. I am not really fond of hand sanding so much material so I will use my new 4" angle grinder with 25 grit to made short order of shaping.
After getting this far, I switched to 100 grit on the grinder to take down some material on the handle and reshape, paying attention to the change in the lamination pattern.
After hand sanding with 60 grit, 100 grit and then 220.
Here is the newly sized tiller handle with the remnants of the 8" I chopped off. I'm hoping that 8" less will allow for easier mobility around the cockpit and still have enough leverage to handle steerage. Lamination can sure come out cool looking. Notice the safety glasses on the workbench. I wear these because they make me look really cool.
The mounting bracket broke at the pivot and using it any longer would surely get me in a situation with no rudder.