WWA Info Exchange

Well, it's been many years since I posted here (told you I was taking a little hiatus ), so I figured it was time to come back and hang out for a while and share some of my recent stuff.

I am a drummer, so I figured that rather than spending $600-800 on a really nice snare drum, I'd make my own. This is a 14x5.5" stave drum made from Ipe. No finish, just polished down to 10,000 grit paper.

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Being nice gets you stuff, so wag more and bark less.
Peter

WoW Peter! That is a great work sequence.... those jigs are ingenious! Why did you choose ipe ? I've used that stuff for outdoor projects like mailboxes/posts and planter boxes but the damage it does to my tool edges is horrendous.... I imagine even those router bits were pretty much spent after that exercise. Great job! How does it sound?
Glad you're back!!
Don

Wow that awesome nice work

Super job on the coopering! Until I realized it had to be a glue up I was prepared to be amazed that you found an Ipe log that big (grin)!

I've done a couple projects with it and once I found that after a lengthy sanding session it somehow turned my (white) beard pink! Outside my dust mask that is. Took a couple days to wash out.

Very impressive job!

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Nullum Gratuitum Prandium

Cheers - Dennis

Really cool! Haven't seen any of these on any forum before. Enjoy!

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"To all those who work come moments of beauty unseen by the rest of the world." Norman Maclean

That is a really nice job!

It is always refreshing to see something new on here.
Zulu

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Zulu's website
http://www.jmelledge.com

The jig for smoothing the insider with a router is fairly obvious. How does the outer jig work? Are you cutting that on your table saw, or are you just using the saw table to hold it for the photo? If so, how does the OD jig work?

drstrip, The outside jig holds the drum just above a router bit on my router table. I raise the bit up to take a little off, spin the drum slowly, then slide the whole jig 1/2" or so for each pass.

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Being nice gets you stuff, so wag more and bark less.
Peter

Hi Don!

I chose Ipe because A) that's what I had available in the shop, and B) I wanted something very hard to see how it would sound. I was wanting a wooden drum that had some of the sonic characteristics of a steel or copper drum. Not sure if I achieved that or not, but it does sound fantastic.

As for the tools, I haven't really noticed an issue with it, and I've done a lot with Ipe in the past. However, I've also heard that there are several different subspecies sold commercially as "Ipe", so it may be a difference between what you got and what I got.

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Being nice gets you stuff, so wag more and bark less.
Peter

Yep, could be just different species...the stuff I got many years ago was extremely hard and the grain was not nearly as beautiful as is yours. Great Job you did there. My son is a drummer, too.....was one child I was a little too happy grew up! Hard to be in the house with a teen learning to play drums I helped him build a snare drum out of maple....he still has and uses it....says it sounds better than any he has ever owned.

Don

I thought that might be the case. It's just that it looks like it's sitting on your tablesaw and I was wondering if you were doing a similar trick using a sawblade instead of router bit.

Looks great, regardless of how it was made.