Wave, happy Thanksgiving Brother!

Rot or Campy can help you with this...  Never had to do it myself, every time I bought a new handguard it had a tube installed.

linx310.nothingbutguns.com/furnitureremoval.htm

put a wrench on the flat spot at the back of the tube and hold the wood with your hand and twist. the wood will turn 180 degrees then come rigth off.

Hello Wave,

FYI, made a heat shield for the lower on one of my AKs with plastic furniture.  Here is what I did:  went to Home Depot and picked up a small sheet of aluminum (found it in the hardware section).  Used aluminum because it was easier to work with than sheet steel, but think you could use either one.  Cut the aluminum sheet to the lenght of the lower handguard and simply "pressed" it into the handguard.  Marked the alumimum with a pencil at the top of the handguard, removed and then cut with tin snips.  Sanded all edges and then applied J-B Weld at the "high points" in the lower handguard.  Reinstalled handguard.  This has work very well over the past eight months or so, but rifle still gets hot when you bump-fire  ! !