I bought a 2006 XJ6 Jaguar a couple of years ago after I sold my Cobra. All the timber work in the Jag is Walnut with the exception of the gear stick knob, which is just a very plain blond wood.
At my Men's Shed where I work on making Holding Crosses which use off cuts of Spotted Gum (an Australian hardwood) floor boarding. Some of the pieces have a very nice grain and I thought if I glued 3 bits together it would make a nice knob. With nothing to lose I chopped up some bits and made a brass threaded insert to suit the gear lever (M8 x 1.25).
I do know that some members of MEM would cringe at turning wood (the brown stuff) on a metal lathe, but it does not bother me as I always clean all the wood swarf away and re oil the ways afterwards.
The finished article is much closer to the Jag woodwork and makes it look more "posh". I put a post of this story on another forum (Jaguar based) and the next thing that happened is that some members wished me to make one for them. So now I have a bit of a home industry which is interfering with my model making.
