WTB Wood Veneer for shift knob

mulberryworks

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The top of my shift knob has suffered from years of sunlight and the veneer has deteriorated. I'd like to restore it rather than replace it with something else. Does anyone who's restoring their dash have a few square inches of walnut veneer they can sell me? Three inches square would be plenty

Thanks,

Ian
 

dave v. in nc

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Happy to send you a few pcs to choose from (plain flat grain, figured, etc)...is this an automatic knob? Most of the knobs I can think of have a rounded or dome top and are solid wood. Anyhoo, send me a pm with your info. Love to see a pic of what you do have...
Dave V. in NC
 

Dohn

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If this is a manual shift knob it will be solid wood, not veneer. If the wood is still good but the finish bad you could remove the logo or shift pattern plate, then strip the wood and refinish it, like you would furniture. If it's too far gone, I had Elihu at http://customwoodshiftknobs.com make a new shift knob in the same wood as my dash. He would probably be able to use your old logo or shift pattern plate, if you want that original look.
 

mulberryworks

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Hmm, no. There is no logo or shift pattern plate. This is a 1970 2800cs and the knob does look like what I've seen in the sales ads. That's why I'd like to restore it. While I suppose it's possible that it's a replacement, it's clearly been with the car a long time. It looks like the veneer was placed on top to keep the end grain from showing. I'll post a few photos so you can see.

Looking at the photos and some of the other shift knobs available, it looks like mine is mahogany. I'll have to compare to my dash wood and see how close they are. I've added a shot of the dash by the radio grill for comparison.

I have a chunk of Monkey Pod wood that I picked up on Maui, where I bought the car, and I might make a shift knob from it as an homage to the islands, but for now I want to restore the car to stock appearance, if possible.

Ian
Shift knob side view 3 IMG_0545.jpg
Shift knob top IMG_0546.jpg

Dash Radio Grill wood.jpg
 
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Bert Poliakoff

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Find a friendly wood worker, maybe an artist type that does wooden bowls and has a lathe. Supply the wood you want to use and he can probably knock it out in 15-20 minutes. You might google wood turning in your area.
 

Dohn

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Hmm, no. There is no logo or shift pattern plate. This is a 1970 2800cs and the knob does look like what I've seen in the sales ads. That's why I'd like to restore it. While I suppose it's possible that it's a replacement, it's clearly been with the car a long time. It looks like the veneer was placed on top to keep the end grain from showing. I'll post a few photos so you can see.

Looking at the photos and some of the other shift knobs available, it looks like mine is mahogany. I'll have to compare to my dash wood and see how close they are.

I have a chunk of Monkey Pod wood that I picked up on Maui, where I bought the car, and I might make a shift knob from it as an homage to the islands, but for now I want to restore the car to stock appearance, if possible.

Ian
View attachment 29036 View attachment 29037

Ian,
Wow, that has seen better days! I've never seen veneer applied on a compound curve like that, which may be part of the reason it delaminated. You would have to steam the veneer to get it to curve, and then find a good glue that would hold it until it dried. Worth a try, if you are intent on saving it. Just for reference, here is a mahogany shift knob from the site I mentioned earlier, in a similar shape. It's shown with a shift pattern insert, but can be done without.

Bert's suggestion also works.
M501-2.jpg
 

Bert Poliakoff

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To me that looks like a very old style knob. i am guessing it is kind of "door knob" shaped and never had a shift pattern on it. The one in my E24 is leather but Identical in shape. It came out of a 77 E24
 

mulberryworks

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Here are two shots from sales brochures in the tech section of this site. Both are for 3.0 cars. So it's not than uncommon a shift knob, I'll bet that it was an easy customization that owners did over the years. And if they were built like mine, the veneer failure would be an excellent reason to upgrade to one with a shift pattern or BMW logo.

Anyway, it's a minor challenge to repair mine and I'm wanting to do that as a prelude to the major effort of taking the car apart and fixing the rust before a thorough repaint.

Thanks for your input.

Ian

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