Re: Drum finishing

a few questions, what was the previous finish? what effects does the finish have on the sound production quality? are there specified finishes recommended by oem specs?

Re: Drum finishing

You may start off with a poly sealer and then color stain with a suitable poly stain by spray. When you have the right color tone seal it w/ another coat of poly sealer then topcoat with your preferred sheen. If the shell comes with a base sealer, you may have to ask what base they've used for it coz some finishes have restrictions with inter-marriages like using poly over lacquer etc.

Re: Drum finishing

i am sure the drum shell has some finish on it post factory unless its a custom..

and usually a lacquer..satin.

will a paint remover do the job?

i miss my Ludwigs..

Re: Drum finishing

a few questions, what was the previous finish? what effects does the finish have on the sound production quality? are there specified finishes recommended by oem specs?

the drum shell will come as raw wood with no finish whatsoever, it is presanded as per the distributor.

Re: Drum finishing

You may start off with a poly sealer and then color stain with a suitable poly stain by spray. When you have the right color tone seal it w/ another coat of poly sealer then topcoat with your preferred sheen. If the shell comes with a base sealer, you may have to ask what base they've used for it coz some finishes have restrictions with inter-marriages like using poly over lacquer etc.

I do not have a spray gun sir. would this method allow the grains to be seen through the finish? can you recommend a good color stain and where to get it. Thank you

Re: Drum finishing

Wipe on polyurethanes are usually imported. MINWAX and a couple of other imported brands are your only option. They have them in color tones like walnut, maple, etc. Poly sealer first then then wipe on color based coat and lastly topcoat clear of the same brand. Take extreme care not to mix different brands and bases as the whole effort might be wasted.

Re: Drum finishing

You use these as your spring boards >>MINWAX website<>Wood Finishing 101<<

Please do also read the FAQs and instructions before proceeding, research well before you acquire. Also, I have seen some MinWax at Ace but most could be found at True Value shop but there is no guarantee on the availability of stocks per branch as this is a limited product being sold here.

Try on a scrap wood first before you proceed on the actual item. Good luck on your drum project! 😀

Re: Drum finishing

Wipe on polyurethanes are usually imported. MINWAX and a couple of other imported brands are your only option. They have them in color tones like walnut, maple, etc. Poly sealer first then then wipe on color based coat and lastly topcoat clear of the same brand. Take extreme care not to mix different brands and bases as the whole effort might be wasted.

Thanks for the tip I'll keep that in mind.

Re: Drum finishing

Please do also read the FAQs and instructions before proceeding, research well before you acquire. Also, I have seen some MinWax at Ace but most could be found at True Value shop but there is no guarantee on the availability of stocks per branch as this is a limited product being sold here.

Try on a scrap wood first before you proceed on the actual item. Good luck on your drum project! 😀

Thank You sir, I'll head to true value later today after work and check them out.

Re: Drum finishing

I got me some scrap maple from a friend, here are 3 finishes I made all with dye (jobus) and bosny clear on top.

I'm leaning towards the last one. I'm just waiting on the shell to apply this to it.

Re: Drum finishing

Very nice! *thumbs up*

Re: Drum finishing

why dont you take that piece of maple out in the sun and take a photo rather than ruining the pic with unwanted flash.

get the natural light by all means so I can appreciate further what you have done.

it looks good from here btw but it could look best.

and...do not forget to take a photo of the unfinished material.

Re: Drum finishing

Good day everyone, Im new here and new to wood working in general.

Basically I have a Keller Maple drum shell coming my way, I wanted to stain it with a nice dark and rich brown/walnut/teak color. Unfortunately here in manila aniline dyes and water based stains are almost impossible to find. The only dye available here are food dye and textile dye. Long story short I got an oil based stain, branded KONIG. I tried it on the small strips of maple that my friend gave me, initial coat was fine. When I tried to go for a second coat to darken the color, I found out that it seals on each coat thus making the 2nd coat ineffective. Then I tried Tung oil, I've had three coats already with the oil as of this writing and honestly im not seeing any sheen that isn't already there before.

The question is do all oil based stains seal as well? or is it just this one brand? My choices in stains are very limited here in manila the other brands I see are local paint brands and zar.

What I'm trying to achieve is first darken the maple while having the grains pronounced. And then have a nice glass like top coat on top of it.

process is (i think):
sand maple to 220
stain
tung oil finish
seal
top coat with multiple layers of tung oil or poly but we dont have pure tung oil here so I might aswell opt for the poly

attached is the look im trying to achieve, the picture is of a walnut shell (hence, walnut stain), I know I wont get the same dark shade of this walnut. I just wanted that deep brown shade with the grains sticking out under a glassy finish.

edit: that finish by beebeenator in this work: http://pinoyhandyman.com/showthread.php?t=615 is hot as well, I wonder if I can get maple to look like that. blacker maybe. The grains are really important to me.

help please

Basically in order to get the color/stain shade that you wanted, you have to apply stain few or several times. What I do is mix the stain with the clear lacquer finish and apply it to the wood by spraying. Every additional coating, the shade/color darkens. Much easier to control. It works also on PU finishes. The procedure also prevents unwanted black stains on open grains. BTW I use PU reducer and NOT lacquer thinner on both lacquer and PU finishes. It always works for me.

Re: Drum finishing

Basically in order to get the color/stain shade that you wanted, you have to apply stain few or several times. What I do is mix the stain with the clear lacquer finish and apply it to the wood by spraying. Every additional coating, the shade/color darkens. Much easier to control. It works also on PU finishes. The procedure also prevents unwanted black stains on open grains. BTW I use PU reducer and NOT lacquer thinner on both lacquer and PU finishes. It always works for me.

That should do it. As a rule, DO NOT MIX DIFFERENT PRODUCT BASES. Even thinners or flo should be of the same material as your top coat. Some bases are simply too strong for other components. Instead of adhering effectively on a previous layer they have a tendency to weaken each layer of overcoat. When the finish dries, it looks good but after a while fading starts to set in as well as the sheen slowly wearing off.