(Also posted to rec.music.makers.percussion)
I recently finished up another drum I've been working on. This one is a
20"x15" bass drum constructed from Black Walnut:
That's a sweet looking drum, Steve. Nice job! Seems a shame to beat on it though... ;)
R
Astonishing work, Steve. I hate you. :-)
Very, very nice. I saw some of your other drum work, months ago, and liked them as well. I sent the links (then and now) to my brother, who plays and appreciates nice drums... but he ain't worth a poop for woodworking.
Smart jigs, too. ^5
Sonny
Looks very nice!
I don't know anything about building drums. Is this the usual way of doing things? Or is there a much cheaper, simpler way of doing things?
. . LOL....awesome!
That is gorgeous! As is your trim plane. And thanks for the jigging ideas. I'll never make a drum (probably), but I'll bet sooner or later I come up with some project that could use those ideas.
No, the vast majority of modern drums are built using multiple plies of thin veneer, laminated with heat and pressure in large cylindrical presses that are far beyond the means and capabilities of the average woodworker. The level of quality achieved by most modern manufacturers is actually quite impressive; probably an order of magnitude better than the best quality baltic birch plywood that you and I are used to seeing at our local hardwood supplier. Shells built in this fashion can be ridiculously thin (less than 1/4") yet still very strong and durable. Many manufacturers are also doing amazing things with fancy finishes and exotic wood veneers, and I only wish I had the facilities to build drums in this fashion. Still, there is also the air of mass-produced "sameness" about such drums, and there is definitely still a market for drums constructed from solid pieces of wood, and the "stave" method I used is but one of a few. Other methods include:
Steam bending a solid piece of wood, typically using a scarf joint to bring the two ends together into a cylinder. This method is one of the oldest, but is typically only used to construct snare drums, which are relatively small in diameter (13" or 14") and shallow (averaging about 6" deep).
A method probably familiar to most wood turners would be segmented shells, which are probably best described by a picture:
I love you too man!
Thanks! Yeah, the jigs get the job done, but I've been pondering how to construct my "second generation" jigs, complete with offsetting guide rollers to keep the shells firmly in position, and with motors to spin the shells (slowly) during milling so that I don't have to spin them by hand. :-)
Gorgeous work, Steve.
What bit do you use to mill the inside?
You are the master Steve!
How about pedal or treadle driven?
R
I was going to ask him how many hours this one took and if he were selling them/recouping his costs, etc. Nice project, Steve.
P.S: Gonna turn (or metalspin) your own cymbals, too?
-- Threee days before Tucson, Howard Dean explained that the tea party movement is "the last gasp of the generation that has trouble with diversity." Rising to the challenge of lowering his reputation and the tone of public discourse, Dean smeared tea partiers as racists: They oppose Obama's agenda, Obama is African-American, ergo...
Let us hope that Dean is the last gasp of the generation of liberals whose default position in any argument is to indict opponents as racists. This McCarthyism of the left
-- devoid of intellectual content, unsupported by data -- is a mental tic, not an idea but a tactic for avoiding engagement with ideas. It expresses limitless contempt for the American people, who have reciprocated by reducing liberalism to its current characteristics of electoral weakness and bad sociology. --George Will 14 JAN 2011 Article titled "Tragedies often spark plenty of analysis"
Yeah, the plane was actually quite fun to construct. I love using shoulder planes, and I have some old wooden molding planes that I was able to use as guides to constructing this one. It's not perfect, but it gets the job done, which was really all I cared about. I actually searched around quite a bit for some existing tool (most likely from a coopers arsenal) that might do the job, but I came up empty so I just decided to build my own. I'm sure I had a big stupid grin on my face when I saw how well it worked. :-)
Thanks!
Small horizontal crown molding bit:
Well I don't know about that, but I appreciate hearing it from somebody whose work I greatly admire. Thanks Leon. :-)
Nice work.
I'm curious as t o whether the choice of wood matters; i.e. are there preferred "tonewoods" for drums as there are for guitars?
-Zz
------------------------------- IMPRESSIVE, young man, IMPRESSIVE.
.Lew
Thanks! I didn't keep track of my hours, but I suspect I would have trouble selling these drums for anything close to a decent profit unless I could find a niche market among well-compensated hot-shot musicians, and those are few and far between. I would also have to *significantly* automate my processes before I could become competitive, and believe it or not there is a lot of competition out there already. I'm really just doing this for my own amusement, and plus I need a second set of drums. :-)
So many things to do, so little time! :-)
HomeOwnersHub website is not affiliated with any of the manufacturers or service providers discussed here. All logos and trade names are the property of their respective owners.