You lost me on your question Roy. A handle on a wheel? The outer edge of the wheel is thicker so gripping the outer edge is easier. As far az the knock-out rod goes, its the one that came with the lathe. I just took the tiny ball off the end and screwed on my larger sized one. It was just 1/4 x 20 threads. I think its steel as i did not see any sign of brass even one the cut threads.