Octagonal handles for the drawbore pins

Tonight I pulled myself together and started on making some handles for the drawbore pins.
The weather is incredibly bad at the moment, with forecasts of a hurricane (named Ylva) coming sometime tomorrow on the Norwegian west coast. Wind speeds are predicted to be around 50 m/s (112 mph).
At the moment we are a bit south of the places that are expected to be hit the worst, but guess who is scheduled for sailing north this morning?..

We have already strong winds and high waves, but making a handle isn't the project that requires the biggest amount of accuracy.

I wanted to use a bit of my bubinga, and There was a part left on one of the large pieces that was just the right size for my purpose.
My initial idea was to saw of this end and then rip it to make the handles, but I decided that it was probably going to be a lot easier to rip the part first, and then saw it off. I had decided on a length of 11 cm which is something like 4 and 3/8".

Once I had four small pieces all approximately the same size, I squared one of them up a bit using a plane. two of the sides plane nicely and two sides don't. It is really some strange grain, and I had a bit of tear out. It isn't a plane tote, so I can live with a less than perfect surface, because it is not a tool that will be handled over a long period of time, so the chances of getting blisters by it are close to non existing.

I eyeballed a pleasing taper and planed it without too much trouble. The fat end of the handle is something like 1 1/8" and the thin end is approximately 13/16"

With a square tapered shape, I drew some lines with a pencil on each corner to define the octagonal shape. It is not an equal sided octagonal, but It doesn't have to be.

I planed down the corners and once I was happy with the result, I flattened the end with a file, so the piece stood up straight.
I marked out the center in the thin end and drilled a hole the size of the tang of the drawbore pin.

The edges of the fat end were then chamfered using a chisel, and finally the handle was sanded. When I used my fingers as backing for the sand paper, I was able to smooth down the small pieces of tear out that were left on the sides.

I only made one handle today, but since I didn't find any major obstacles in my course of action, I think that I can make the remaining 3 tomorrow if the weather permits it.

The drawbore pin has not been hardened yet, so I didn't mount the handle.

Octagonal handle next to drawbore pin.

Ripping.

Removing the corners.

Octagonal handle. 

Chamfered end.