So I tried an experiment of the process I described above.
I used a large piece of ebonite, and turned it between centers to get the ends trued to round.
1. I drew a circle on each end leaving about 1/16 of an inch from the outer diameter.
2. Using the center of the rod as reference, I placed my calipers length wise along the blank, each end of the caliper disected the exact center. On each end, I made a mark, imagine looking directly at the face, this mark is 12 on a clock.
3. I divided the circle into 3 even segments. At the intersection of each segment and the circle, I made a small hole for my dead and live centers.
4. I labeled each hole A, B and C. Remember, if A is noon on one end then a has to be noon on the other end too. Make sure to mark the holes in a clock wise fashion while the end you are marking faces you.
5. I placed the piece between centers, A to C. I turned the piece until the shadow line was parallel with the lathe bed.
6. I the proceeded to turn the other 2 points, B to A and then C to B, each time turning until the shadow line was parallel with the lathe bed.
7. I placed it back between centers and turned down a tenon on each end.
8. I chucked the tenon into the collet chuck faced off the other tennon.
9 I drilled a hole into the blank, starting with a centering bit, then moving to 29/64ths, 15/32s mostly all the way into the blank. I drilled 31/64s about 1 inch in. Then I tapped that part m13x.8.
10. I chucked it on my cap mandrel and turned off and shaped the tennon on the other end.
11. I sanded and polished it.
It isnt perfect, I must have gotten off on my holes because one side is thicker, but the experiment was successful in my opinion.
More refinement is needed, but it was fun to play.
It took me about an hour and a half total.