On Thu, 7 Jul 2005 09:32:00 -0700, "Phil Anderson"
wrote:


Prometheus writes:
Hello all,

Since I spend so much time in the car during my daily commute, I was
thinking that I'd like to turn a knob for my stick shift out of a nice
hunk of cherry I've got sitting in the garage. snip

Way back when, I had a 1978 Chevy Luv with a wooden shift knob that was
purchased at an auto parts store. It looked really cool and felt good to
the touch, but it transmitted transmission noise. As I recall, it had a
metal insert in the top of it that said "Luv" or something like that. It
may have been the metal that was the cause, but I remember it was a really
irritating sound because it would change when you would grip the knob and
then let go. However, I love your idea and hopefully you won't experience
that noise. Let us know how it goes.

No noise that I noticed after I got it installed, but I did kinda
screw up- I turned it out of oak burl instead of cherry, and got
impatient witj the drying time of the spar polyurethane I put on it.
So the first time I drove it, I wore some of the finish off, and got a
bunch of little cracks and deformities where the wood was exposed.
But, the experience of turning it was fun, and it worked really well
well, so I'm just chalking that first one up to practice, and plan on
making another one out of that cherry I had in mind in the first
place. This time I'll wait the billion+ years for the poly to dry
before I install it, though.

I'll toss a picture or two of the knob (installed) in ABPW. I'm not
an excellent photographer, so they're the best I can come up with. As
a matter of taste, I think the cherry will actually go better with the
interior anyhow.