2 Snare drums

Dave Black

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638
Location
Central PA
Here is the start of 2 snare drums my drummer friend and I are doing. They are both made of cherry. Both drums are stave style. One is going to be a 10" x 6" deep "popcorn" snare, the other is going to be a 13"x3" piccolo snare. So far I only have the staves glued up. The previous drums I built I rounded the outside on the lathe and used a roller jig with the router to round the inside. These drums are too small to get the the router inside to do that. I am unfamiliar with "hollow form" turning, I'm not sure if this would fall into that category or not. Whats the best way to go about rounding the inside while keeping the wall thickness consistent?
 

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Assuming you've already figured out how to hold it to the lathe, smoothing the inside should be relatively straightforward. It's more like turning the inside of a straight-walled bowl than a hollow form. Depending on your lathe experience and what you're comfortable with, you could use a bowl gouge, a scraper, or even a carbide-tipped tool like the Ci1 from Easy Wood Tools. (The Ci1 would probably be my choice, but I'd be comfortable doing it with a bowl gouge, too.)

For keeping the wall thickness consistent, I think I'd just rely on calipers and careful cutting, then using 80 grit sandpaper on a sanding block or pad to get to the final dimensions. You could use a captive hollowing rig with a laser pointer arranged to indicate your wall thickness, but since you'll be able to see and feel the thickness anyway, I don't think the laser would make things any easier or more consistent.
 
Wow, I don't think I can help, but I can't wait to see the results.

I've been hanging on to an article about making drums for years, but have never gotten around to doing it.

I'm sure one of our resident turning experts will be around shortly...

:lurk:
 
Its going to be a few weeks till I get them on the lathe, My friend wants to see how its done so I have to wait till his schedule clears, And I just cut down 3 red oaks that need milling so I will be doing that for a little while.
 
Fascinating process. Staved construction keeps haunting me, but Im resisting that project for a while. Please continue posting pics of the process. I think many of us would like to see this become a musical instrument!
Thanks,
mj
 
Fascinating process. Staved construction keeps haunting me, but Im resisting that project for a while. Please continue posting pics of the process. I think many of us would like to see this become a musical instrument!
Thanks,
mj

Have you used a different process to make drums before?
I made 2 staved snares already, out of walnut, one was a 14"x7.5" the other was a 14"x4". When I made those I essentially made a 14"x 13" shell then cut it into 2 shells after it was glued up. I took the 14x7.5 to the local drum shop and they seemed impressed so I guess that I did something right. Right now that drum is being used in the youth building at my church.
 
I can't help on the turning either, but also looking forward to see the final.... can't say making a drum is on my bucket list.
There's a young man at the Farmer's Market that I do on Saturdays that makes a cone shaped drum that's play like a bongo... his are made from staves about 30 inches long and range from about 18 down to 12 inches at the top and cone down to about 6 to 10 at the bottom. He uses some pretty exotic woods in the drums and uses goat skins for the drum heads.... they sound really good when he demos them in his booth...
 
I turned one of the drums yesterday, it was coming out nicely till I caught the skew chisel and took out a 3/8" deep chunk, soooo I had to glue up a new drum. I felt like the angle for the tool rest wasn't good. Would I need a taller rest to do these.:dunno: This was 10" diameter. What would be a good way to attach the drum to the lathe to turn the inside of it.
 
I'm not a spinney person, but I'd think you could glue the body onto a flat board to connect a bowl turning attachment and turn it like you would a bowl, then cut the board lose after turning and sanding.
 
Dave, when I made (well not finished yet) a Stave bowl, I used a Termite tool to hollow out inside. In my case, the staves were longer and thicker. Any end grain hollowing tool should work. I like Termite tool. I have never had a catch with it.

http://www.oneway.ca/tools/termite.htm

Here is a picture of the staves during glue-up:
 

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