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

Lignum Vitae (called Iron Wood but a lot of tropical hard woods are called that) is grown in the Caribbean and is REALLY hard. Tree bears the Jamaican national flower. Comes with mahogany colored heartwood, maple colored sapwood, it isn't that attractive but is REALLY hard! Most common use I know of is woodcarving mallets. I have a couple sizes of those that I have been beating on and abusing for a couple decades and they have very little wear to show for it. Problem with that wood it is on the endangered species list and becoming scarce so is expensive (they now make woodcarving mallets with aluminum handles and urethane heads. Not the same.) and hard to find. There are better looking, cheaper, and easier to find and machine woods out there.

 

Isn't the sawdust from Lignum Vitae poisonous?


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Around here "Iron wood" is a member of the Hornbeam family. I have one growing in my backyard, in 40 years I've lived here it has grown about 1/2" in diameter, while the red oak beside it has grown 6". the wood it white and the grain so fine, you can't count the growth rings.
One place I've seen Lignum Vitae used, is as saw guides on the main saws in saw mills.
Many exotic hardwoods are considered poisonous, but it is not a true poison, but more an allergic reaction to the high amount of resin in the wood. I get a strong reaction to red oak, so I must wear rubber gloves and a good dust mask when working with it.
Curly maple and cherry knob I'm working on now. (hardly can call it a knob) Switches will control headlights and turn signals.

 

LOVE your control center shift module!!!!!

 

Wood hardness chart

 

Henry Ford had his sawmill in the U.P. of Michigan where there was an abundance of hardwood. He later donated it to the Michigan colleges to be used as a forestry school and a sawyer school.
I was studying to be a forestry aide when I got drafted during Vietnam war. Wonder what would have happened to me had I not gotten drafted. Probably would have never became a mechanic and car builder.

 

I think that is what we used to make underwater propeller shaft bearings for boats.



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Jack E/NJ

 

?

 

Ooooh. Sorry, I thought it was recognisable. It's a hardwood india ale tap handle for my top loader. Jack E/NJ

 

Get out your BIG checkbook if you want a piece of Mesquite that big.

 

Faifer & Company, 830 216-4189 in Floresville, TX has 8/4 x 96" at $12.50 per board foot.

 

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Really?! Thanks a bunch for that. I'll give them a call tomorrow.

Roger

 

Osage Orange ? Anyone ever heard of this or is it just a Ky thing ? I have a pair of pistol handles made from this . I have cut and split lots for the fireplace . It is tuff stuff !

 

Dave; Care to share a pic of those grips? Might be nice to see some of the wood in finished condition.

Roger

 

Wood? Knob? And nobody went there? What's the HAMB coming to?


Too hard it's likely to split when you go to bore it for installation, too soft and it'll probably oversize. There's a chain of stores called Woodcraft here in MI (maybe other states too). They have boxes of drops that's like a buffet of woods to get creative with. Amazing what you can shag for less than $10. They also have plastics that are all swirled and trick, normally used for making pens, wine corks etc.

Here's a link, enjoy...

https://www.woodcraft.com/store_locations

 

Okay, I'll play.
Years ago, when the world was young, I had some knobs made out of morning wood that were pretty sturdy.

 

Osage Orange is also known in the Texas-Oklahoma area as Bois d'arc, pronouncd bodark. Indians used it for years to make hunting bows. It's an extremely tough wood used by a lot of old timers for fence posts. They didn't rot out. I read an article a couple of years back that there was a student at one of the North Carolina colleges who built an all wood sports car from a variety of woods. He used Bois d'arc for springs. I'll try to find the article and get back to you.

 

Wooden sports car update. Article was in NY Daily News, December 3rd, 2015.

 

I recall in my youth very hard wood having a high janka rating. "Off" the charts...

 

While you guys state your wood preferencesI'll just settle for just a simple piece of ash.!!!

 

Might as well pop some cherry while I'm at it.

 

No matter what wood you get, there's always some nice figuring in the crotch.

This is snowballing rather quickly.

Roger

 

Guys are barking at the wrong tree

 

Let's knot get too sappy in the pith of the matter, branch out into other forests of thought.

 

Snowballing is exactly what's needed to cool things down

 

Very interesting thread.Thanks for posting.Please keep the posts coming.The Osage Orange was also used for arrow shafts.
Good luck.Have fun.Be safe.
Leo

 

Ash knot what your wood can do for you, ash what you can do with your wood.

 

No one in the 50 used wood shift knobs, Plastic dice and Aluminum skulls were the thing, both made in High School Shops. Grabowski started the wood knob thing and was the only exception out here in So Cal. Mirror muffs and angora dice was big and showed that you had a girl who cared.

 

None of y'all mentioned cypress, which is of the cedar family, and has an insect repellent oil in the wood. It doesn't absorb moisture (Up to a point). Wood dashes seem to be out of style in most automotive applications, with the exception of luxury cars. And, in them, they are only decorative. Wabbit's dashes are wonderfully over the top. I have always thought it would be a nice element in a hot rod, just to thumb your nose at the consensus. If not his, one of wood. Incidentally, the heart wood of aromatic cedar is purple, but fades unless coated clear. I was once mugged in NYC. Because of a prior commitment, when I returned I brought a staff hewn out of the yellow heart of Boys d' arc, or Bodock as we call it in Alabama and Mississippi. I got the idea from Moon Dog, the blind poet, musician --- a fixture in the City who wore a robe and carried a large staff. Mine certainly warded off evil spirits, though I missed the oil on the head bit. This is just an additional thought, but some rifle stocks are being made of dyed and laminated wood. Perhaps this method would result in a similar look as the laminated plastic but would be warmer to the touch if it was only oiled. A similar approach might allow a more sculpted form in order to create better ergonomics. Then again perhaps I am straying from the traditional. Please excuse my zeal. Wood is so darn good. And, yeah, wood steering wheels have been around for a real long time. Taste for them comes and goes. The Thirty Two Chevy I once owned was followed by a swarm of termites. They won. I was just a kid. It ended up in a junkyard. The wood was all munched up.