Technical Best wood to use for shift and dash knobs? What type of structural wood did early manufactures use?

It is hard to think of a wood that would be ugly for a shift knob.

 

My 31 coupe’s original wood was ash.

 

base on how many ash trees are going away due to the Emerald ash borer, if you are planning wood replacement in the future-better stock up now.

 

I have kiln dried white ash slabs from Connecticut, used to make custom furniture.

 

a good piece of ash has always been hard to find.

 

LMAO!!

 

Supposedly Myrtle trees are only grown in the holy lands and in Oregon. Both have legalized pot. I do not vouch for the accuracy of this statement but it makes it's use unique I would think. Unless you build your entire car out of it. Which has happened. It is pretty hardwood.

 

Larry Andersens "Knotty" built not far from me in the late 70's/early 80's ?

 

As mentioned any good hardwood will work, even soft woods will work but he key is they need a proper finish. For automotive applications I paint my wood accessories with catalyzed clear urethane. Not only permanently seals the wood, it provides a great surface to sand and polish to perfection, just like a car body.

I carved this table from cherry and stained to walnut. Should have used mahogany or walnut but had a ton of cherry to get rid of. finished in furniture urethane varnish which is a very durable finish too for interior projects but I like the auto paint better for car parts.


Carved this End of the Trail statue from walnut. Urethane varnish finish too.


Tigerwood (tropical decking wood so is really durable and very HARD!!!!) bed for my grandson's '59 El Camino with clear catalyzed urethane.


Panther high school mascot carved in very durable mahogany, coated with fiberglass and painted with automotive urethane paints.


I carved this reproduction of the famous Illoins American Beauty carousel horse from softer basswood, painted with enamels then over-coated with 3 coats of again, clear catalyzed urethane.


Point is, the finish is actually the most important part of a wood project. Any wood will work if finished properly.

 

Ipe, also known as ironwood is sold as decking too. It is a really unique wood. It is tropical of course and grows in jungles, grows to be really tall and really large in diameter. It is extremely dense (it sinks in water!) and has the same fire rating as concrete. It is loaded with a resin that is a very effective insecticide. It is so indestructible that when the indigenous people clear the forest to live in, the only thing they can do with these trees I bury them, or now sell them to businesses in the US to turn into decking. It is VERY hard so you won't be carving it but it machines with carbide power tools very nicely. It is pretty abrasive so carbide is necessary.

I built the bed for my '53 Chevy pickup from this stuff. I figured if it is this durable it has a fighting chance of lasting in my bed a bit better than yellow pine or oak. It finishes like really dark walnut, very attractive. I coated it with an oil sealer that claims to be filled with silica and will last into the next eon. I expect it to turn weathered gray like all wood but hope it won't crack and rot like most other woods.

Here is a piece of the wood on my table saw. Note the lemon yellow sawdust it generates. LOADED with insecticide resin!!

Here is the finished bed. Time will tell how well it weathers.

 

Yep, ^^^ most aftermarket wood wheels were made from walnut or mahogany. The ones that we could afford (generally speaking) are walnut.

Walnut is usually pretty straight grained and easy to work with. White oak is an option also.

They say that Henry used White Oak in the early fords, but I have found them with sycamore and popular over the years; could be that some mid westerner made his own wood replacement.

 

Hopefully, Mike (saxman) will see this post and comment,he makes a lot of Knobs and has made several different designs for the Hamb. HRP

 

North Coast of Calif has some ash groves or had. But Oregon is where it is known to be from and there is a reason that its called Iron Wood. Once cured its harder than a brick bat.

 

I don't have any of it but my dad love the stuff. He was Coast Guard at Winchester Bay in Oregon, met my mom at a dance in Reedsport during the war. Every time we went back down there we would go to the myrtle wood store.

Come to think of it, maybe I should build me a shift knob

 

I haven't seen it in a couple of years, it was a regular at Beaches cruise in every Wednesday night. Was that just a carbureted SBC under the fake wood flathead and blower covers?

 

If its cured you are probably going to use metal tools on it. LOL
My granddad like Myrtle wood, he was forever turning out a bowl or something. It is beautiful wood.

There is a place on the North Coast, I can't remember the name of the town but it is between Tillamook and Astoria called The House of Myrtle. Been there all my life. I do not recall ever driving or riding past there that I didn't stop just to look and touch stuff.

 

Yep , passed it a million times hitting the coastal cruise ins. I had a cool idea of making a shift knob out of the stuff and setting a 1922 silver dollar I found among my dad's things when he died (his birth year). But I would hate to have some crack head steal it.

 

Not sure what you remembered but Mr. Google lists House of Myrtlewood currently as being in Coos Bay.
Waaay south of Newport.

 

Seemed like it was up north but I have been wrong before.

 

I dont know about that BB, but that was a popular thing back then.
A good friend of mine knew Larry but he has passed.
I'm pretty sure I have a photo of it at a local event but will take a bit to find it.

 

Here, I included a map for you

All I'm saying is there is a waffle house like this in Odessa! (And a myrtle wood store in Garibaldi).

 

Try to find old growth hardwood, barn beam or something with very tight grain. Itll be cured/ dried/ stable.

If it came from the barn the car was stored in, even better.

 

I know I get turned around pretty easy but those two towns are opposte ends of the state.

 

LOL that would mean I would have to use pine or asbestos in my old heap, it was stored in a basement.

 

Zebra wood is beautiful when used in a car, I have a custom Wabbit's Zebra wood dash in my A coupe. I also made a Zebra wood dash and shifter knob for Pop's T-bucket from wood I purchased locally.

 

Carved this End of the Trail statue from walnut. Urethane varnish finish too.
View attachment 3793467

the walnut carving is very nice.you are very talented

 

That "Ironwood" I think you are talking about is actually called Lignum Vitae, at least that is what I learned from an older machinist when I first started out in the 70's.
He said it was used in the early/mid 1900's as bearing/bushing material for use when submerged in water.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lignum_vitae

 

Thanks for the plug, Danny. Unfortunately I haven't really done any knobs out of wood so it's a little out of my area of expertise.

 

Great responses, there are some talented people on the HAMB!!