At first sight most of you will think 'HUH?'
But maybe darken it a tad (-10 or so.) and skin it, adjust contrast and brightness after that, and the texture! (like in photoshop/filters>sharpen>sharpen) 1 or two times.
You could get some really neat looking metal of this base.
(I however use a slightly different one, skinners secret
![Wink ;-)](./images/smilies/icon_e_wink.gif)
Here;
![Image](http://img218.imageshack.us/img218/7752/metalbasert2.jpg)