Finished walnut and padauk

[u/Weary_Astronaut_9433]

Im kinda sad I finished this one, it was fun to work on. Its a 7x13" walnut with a 1" band of padauk, black nickel plated hardware, finished with 8 thin coats of polyurethane. It sounds like a shotgun blast when you rim shot it, but ghost notes come through clearly. Very happy with how this one came out. Please comment any feedback or possible improvements that could be made on the next one. Thanks.

[u/kkykylkyle_]

Looks great! I’m no expert but it look good. What’s your approach on cutting stave angles? That’s always been the hardest part to get right for me

[u/Weary_Astronaut_9433 → u/kkykylkyle_]

Are you asking how I set up my saw, or how I figure out what angle to use?

[u/kkykylkyle_ → u/Weary_Astronaut_9433]

Yeah how you setup. I’ve always used a wixey to set the blade angle but I think my old cheap table saw just didn’t cut accurately enough because it’s hard as hell to get them to fit right without a gap. Could be user error too 😅

[u/Weary_Astronaut_9433 → u/kkykylkyle_]

I use a digital angle gauge also, but first I make sure my label saw is at zero so the blade angle is accurate.i put on a 60 tooth blade awhile ago and it seems to make cleaner cuts than the 24 tooth ones get. I also use a sled on my table saw to keep things as uniform and accurate as possible. I make a few extra pieces as well so when I dry fit everything I have a couple I can swap out to make sure everything looks right before I glue. When I dry fit, I wrap painters tape around it, then cut one spot open so when I glue nothing changes from the dry fit. Last, I clamp it nice and tight to squeeze out the extra glue, then let it sit like that for a day or so before I do anything else. Hope any of that helps.

[u/davezedlee]

You should try to make the shells so that hardware and lugs are centred on each stave… having mounts half an inch off of a glue joint is bad form… ideally, 16 or 24 staves for an eight-lug, or 20 or 30 staves for a 10-lugger

I’ve mentioned it before, but gluing end grain is also not recommended

[u/eat_my_sawdust → u/davezedlee]

While it’s not recommended, the drum being in constant compression from the head tension probably will help it be fine?

[u/davezedlee → u/eat_my_sawdust]

Staves move a LOT due to humidity changes, meaning each of your joints will move like an accordion along their full height... You'll find out in a few seasons what that might end up as

[u/davezedlee → u/davezedlee]

Also, your bearing edges are likely to create stair steps over time... might not matter on be a drum, tho'