I’m trying to put a tip or foot on a walking stick. I have the stick I want and I have the tip I want. The cross-section of the stick is oval and the tip is round.
I don’t have a lathe or access to one. Before I start just whittling at it, I thought I’d see if anyone here has a better idea.
Thoughts?
I would use a drawknife followed by sanding. Preferably a belt sander.
So if no drawknife, whittling isn’t a bad way to go.
Diameter (start and finish)? How much are you willing to spend to make it round?
Well as suggested by whittling, I’m hoping to do this pretty cheap.
Not sure of the exact dimensions. I was just going to carve/sand it by eye.
You could drill into the end with a hole saw of the diameter of the cap:
Then you would just whittle or otherwise cut the remaining shroud off, and be left with a perfectly round end.
Having done that job too many times, (mostly with a three wheel belt sander) my prefered tool is this,
a Shinto rasp.
But I was going for sharp shoulders and was fitting metal to wood which makes getting the diameter right easier.
Before better tooling; a knife, a rasp or file and sandpaper was what I used.
Maybe one of the various solutions for making dowels could be adapted to your needs
I’ll probably get that hole saw set just to have. Looks like it might be what I need for this too.
And I like the rasp idea. I actually have one - just didn’t think of it.
Thanks.
Thanks for that link.
Just to be clear, that was just a random inexpensive hole saw set I found in 5 seconds. I am in no way endorsing that particular product.
But come to think of it, I don’t have a set of those either…
This would be my go to tool for the job,
https://www.leevalley.com/en-us/shop/tools/hand-tools/dowel-and-tenon-cutters/42299-veritas-power-tenon-cutters
but its $100! 
Belt sander can do the whole thing. Helps to have one where the backing plate can be removed, allowing the belt to conform somewhat to the curvature of the workpiece, helping to avoid flat spots.
Coarse-grit belts can remove bulk material, fine belts can help with final profile matching between the tip and the cane.
Look around you–maybe you can fashion a rudamentary one.
I’ve worked square stock into round quite a bit, without using a lathe, by planing the corners (and the resulting ones) off with a hand plane, until the piece is effectively round, then sanding. I’ve also used the same procedure with a large belt sander, creating equal, ever-smaller facets.
I’ve made a stail engine/rounding plane for turning down the ends of walking sticks that are too big to fit in my rudimentary lathe. https://www.leevalley.com/en-gb/discover/what-is-it-articles/whatisit-witch
But just for a one off, whittling it down with a knife is the easy thing to do. Keep trying to fit the end on and cut off the bit where it gets stuck.
Unless you have a large amount of material to remove, sandpaper and time is your best option.
You might want to look into knocking together a primitive lathe. See the YouTube videos for “bow lathe”.
If you have a power drill, try this:
3 in 1 Homemade Lathe Machine. Part 1 - Drill Powered Wooden Lathe - YouTube
By Grabthar’s Hammer, you shall be avenged @Lucas_Jackson
I would be careful searching for lathe videos online. There are some pretty gruesome ones involving industrial lathe accidents.