I picked up this Terry reel at the first ORCA Convention I attended about 15 years ago. Being a newbie at that time and eager to score a deal on an old reel, I picked up this Terry reel that was offered at a relatively low price because the grasp had been replaced with a piece of roughly shaped cork. The rough condition had been bugging me for years and I was reminded it was on my shelf when David Lehman came to visit a few weeks ago. So, now that our weather is warm enough to get into the garage I finally decided to do something about it. I made a nicer looking grasp on my lathe using some African blackwood. Of course it cracked as soon as I peened it back onto the crank arm

but the cracks aren't that noticeable and it looks kind of authentic that way. I may make another just for practice.
New grasp assembled onto reel:
Before:


Taken down:
On the lathe:
My process was to secure a wood blank in the headstock, turn it into a cylinder, drill a hole for the pin, then start shaping from the base up to the tip, sanding well before it got to the tip. The central hole makes it part off a bit too soon so additional hand sanding is required after it comes flying off the lathe

. I ended up re-mounting between centres and shaping some more as my initial attempt resulted in a grasp that was a bit too short. I guess it is still a hair too short which is why it cracked when I re-peened.
New grasp made:
