This is the flesh ring that goes around the top of the drum and serves the
purpose of locking the drumhead in place. I show it here because this is my last
chance to use the groove on the bottom of the drum to help me shape the metal. I
use ¼” cold rolled steel for this and the tensioning rods. This is fairly
easy to bend and manipulate into shape. I made this curve this far by bending it
around the bottom groove on the Drum shell… This ring needs to be about ¼”
bigger than the outer width of the drum shell. It must be able to move freely.
Notice how it matches the curve of the shell with out touching. Bending
around the bottom groove did this. Again that was the last chance for this,
because now I am going to be sanding the drum for finishing. I use the pneumatic
sander to 180 grit. This creates a very silky smooth finish. The wood grain
begins to “glow” and become translucent in a way at this stage. When I have
it sanded to 180, I use 220 grit and block sand the shell with the direction of
the wood grain. This removes any swirl marks left by the pneumatic sander, and
really polishes the wood. It will begin to shine now. I use the compressed air
to blow the dust out of the wood grain and out of the inside of the shell and
wipe the whole shell down with acetone, lacquer thinner, or something similar. I
do this to remove any dust left from sanding and any oils left from the skin on
my hands. Now it is ready to coat with wood finish. I use spray polyurethane. It
will dry to a hard, shiny, glossy finish. There are a bunch of other things that
you can use for this, but keep durability in mind. You can rub in a finishing
oil like boiled linseed oil, or gun oil, or such. You can use a lacquer. You can
even paint the shell if you are using a wood that is not to be the focus. Here
is the first coat of poly…
Notice the color change on the purpleheart. It will begin turning more and
more purple as it is exposed to light and the resins in wood begin to oxidize.
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