Gear Shift Knobs

BCCC Gear Shift Knobs

If you were at the January 2022 Monthly Meeting, thanks for coming. It was a cool day but we moved the picnic tables into the sun and it wasn't so bad. At the end of the meeting I gave out some club regalia that we've had for a while. A few days earlier when I was going through the regalia, I noticed we had a ton (36) key fobs from the 30th anniversary of British Car Day. They were graciously donated by Susanne and Wray Lemke. So I thought of something else to do with them. I turned a couple gear shift knobs.

The knob on the left is made of Bloodwood and the right Zebrawood. There seemed to be a lot of interest, so I asked if anyone would like one and took a few orders. So I made a few more. The two at the bottom left are Zebrawood. The one on the right came from the wood with the label on it. The one on the left was a leftover piece of wood I had, so I'm not positive if it is also Zebrawood. The third from the left at the bottom is made of Leopardwood. It came from the wood behind it with the label on it. The one at the bottom right is made of a piece of hard wood I had but don't know what it is. The one on the top left is made of Bloodwood, the piece of wood behind it. Lastly, the two at the top right are made of Cocobolo, the wood behind them with the label.

There is a hole in all of them that will need to be drilled larger to accomodate a threaded insert, shown below. The out of the insert gets threaded into the wood. There is a thread inside that must be the same as your gear shift. My MGA gear shift has a 5/16-24-UNF. Peter Steeles is 5/16-18-UNF.

Put the 2" by 2" by about 4" long wood in the 4 jaw chuck

Turn it until is round

The key fobs are ground down.

Turn the wood to the desired shape. Turn the place for the key bob metal.

A hole is drilled through the entire length for the insert at the bottom.

The turning process

Watco Danish Oil was applied to all the knobs. It really brings out the grain and gives it a great finish. Above is before and after.

Below are other exotic woods I have
For a gear shift knob, a piece 2" x 2" x >3" is needed
I have other burl wood but it is in larger blocks that I would rather not cut up