After some suggestions I have updated the pdf to reflect some small changes, They include Erisian's suggestion to use Filter/render/clouds/solid noise in step 5 and use a Gaussian blur instead of a motion blur in step 10. Essentially the tut is the same.

Thank you wbool, very well written. I will give it a try. PDF added below.

I gave this a try Wbool, This is the best I could get it cuz I was a bit confused on which layers I am supposed to be working on

Thanks wbool63. That filter looked rather intimidating so I'm glad you posted this. Nice tut BTW. Glad to see someone else getting some use out of the Metallic Gradients.

@ Molly , your image is great . Thank you for trying out the tutorial :-)

@ Drac, I must admit , I have not found much else use for the filter, but I am still exploring.
Yes the metallic gradients are nice , thank you

Thank you Wbool and thank you Molly for the pdf. I like your results (both)

Thanks Erisian..
@ Graechan thank you for the offer of scripting this . The step I forgot to write down because it was self evident to me is to turn off visibility after you create a final displacement map (usually the clouds layer), Step 5. Step 10 could probably be modified to a gaussian blur to give more flexibility. I think it will be a difficult script with all the possible variables. Anyway thanks again!
cheers
Wbool63

The result of this tutorial is very beautiful

Nice tutorial. Just one thing Wbool, step 5 - difference clouds won't do a thing on a new layer. Do you not mean solid noise clouds?

Nice texture Erisian.

I stipulated a white background in the first pic and I used and assumed a new white layer to Filter/render/clouds difference clouds. You are right I should have stipulated make a new "white" layer . Thanks for the pick up. I'll wait another day perhaps to see if there any more things I have overlooked and I'll change it. Most people will realise my omission when they cant apply the filter. But I agree your way is simpler and fool proof and renders the same image
Cheers

I love the wood pattern I am getting with this tutorial! I'm missing the metal gradient you are using and the gradient I tried didn't look right. I'm going to keep trying because I really love the wood grain pattern. I like throwing in bump mapping for grain detail, too.

I found that using a mixture of "Sharpen by Synthesis" and regular "Sharpen" makes for a grainier look.