Tommy is carefully applying abrasives to the front edge of the flap to get it close. We then used sandpaper to clean up the edge and take it down the last 0.5 mm or so. This allowed me to get the gear handle into the up-lock notch. The gear handle was still difficult to move smoothly. We determied that the micarta (tufinol) rub-block was causing the drag. Further application of abrasives to the block greatly reduced the drag and effort required to operate the landing gear lever.