That will work decently. I'd take it a little farther. Are you doing this in photoshop? If so, try working with a layer with layer mode set to burn or similar. I found that it can produce pretty nice effects for something like wood. Play with layer modes to find the right one.
Be careful not to lose control over the pixel level when using automated tools. Your last edit seems fine, but if you go too far, you'll just lose detail. Usually, the problem with automated filters lies in the highlights, so I found that after the filter is done, you can best go back and reestablish those.