I recently attended Stan’s (of buildadrum.com) drum-building workshop. Stan provides the experience, drum shells and skins, and supplies needed to build your own drum. The students supply ingenuity, creativity, and anything else they want to bring to the workshop.

I chose a 13”x27” monster made from clear (northeastern) maple. Stan uses stave construction to build all of his drums; while not a traditional technique, still very beautiful. He finishes them up on a large lathe. A student begins by choosing how they’ll finish their wooden shell. Since I was dealing with such a pretty wood, I wanted to be sure and sand it down to a smooth finish. The drum had been sanded to 120 grit, so I pushed it further to 220 with a palm sander, then 320 by hand. I then used a woodburner to create my cloud and water lines as you see at the base of the drum. I painted those areas in with aniline dyes that I mixed with water. Since I was using a water dye, I first wiped down the wood with a sponge to initially raise the grain. I then hit it with the 320 paper again to minimize the effect after applying the dye. Having applied the dye, I can tell you that you need to sand more to get rid of the grain. 320 grit paper was probably too soft. When everything had dried, I simply wiped down the dyed surfaces with teak oil (contributing to an additional color change), and linseed oil to the untouched maple on the foot. After that had dried, I rubbed two coats of bowling alley paste wax into the shell. It left the drum with a wonderful sensation of touch – and a far better smell than varnish!

The head is made from an African goat skin – mottled black and white. I stretched the head between steel rings while wet and laced the rope to an additional ring locked into position at the base of the drum’s bowl. As the head dried in a semi-stretched position, I shaved the hair from the playable surface. It’s a tedious, risky job, but worth the sound effect when complete. I have to wait a few more days for it to dry completely before I can finish stretching the head. When it’s done, I hope it will live up to its namesake: Thunder Head!

So this journey taught me a great deal about finishing techniques. I learned my experience in hand-rubbing oils and wax did nothing to prepare me for a smooth coat of polyurethane. I am continually reminded by this project that I am but a newb to the art of finishing. I have also gained a respect for it that leads me to believe that I may, one day, have some mastered technique in a few areas of this very necessary skill.

This table has actually taken over 5 years to complete – only because of my procrastination, not because of the complexity of it. It is a particle board core covered in a walnut veneer on top and the original – perhaps white oak – veneer on the bottom. The edges are solid wood as are the legs and rails. I finished the piece with a Jacobean stain and applied a polyurethane varnish. The table’s surface has four coats applied by brush, while the legs were given a wipe-on treatment. This table has its share of mistakes (all mine), but it will continue to stand as a reminder to my earliest, major finishing job.

(that second picture shows you how nicely it holds a large cereal bowl!)

I have maintained a growing heap of compost in the back yard for a few years now. I had originally simply fenced off an area of 16 square feet with plastic chicken wire and T-Posts. Our dog was able to get in under the fence pretty easily to scavenge some tasty morsels out of the stinkin’ pile. I finally took a weekend to build a proper composting bin just recently.

I got the plans out of an outdoor projects magazine I had laying around. It’s essentially just a very small fenced in area with removable slats. I buried the posts 2’ (post-hole digging isn’t exactly a party) while keeping them [mostly] plumb and squared to each other. Then it’s a matter of attaching the rail and dropping 45° angled slats in. The hardest part of the whole project was digging holes. The next hardest was avoiding the grand diversity of creatures that had made this pile their home. Hornets, yellow jackets, and creepy-crawlies were abundant among them. It was the watermelon I threw in the heap that attracted so many hornets. A note to those that might try this project, you’re perhaps better off building it on fresh ground rather than attempting to build it around pre-existing compost!

We have an aging Jack-Russell Terrier that was showing signs of difficulty on her pet stairs. As an alternative, I decided to build a ramp for her to climb up onto the bed with. The concept was simple enough, though I wanted to incorporate some elegance into it – as well as lighten the weight of plywood construction. As a result, I spent an afternoon cutting up Baltic Birch plywood and carpet scraps to make a sturdy pet ramp!

Each pair of (side) legs are built from one continuous cut. The left and right side are connected via three mortise and tenon stretchers – placed with some strategy as to the expected use of the ramp. It supports my weight, so I think a 12lb. dog will be safe! I also ran small strips across the surface of the ramp on which to staple the carpet. This sufficiently provides the dog enough grip to get up and down with minimal back strain.

I made up a jig out of a magazine recently for my table saw. It’s a simple, but effective miter extender. I put forth the unnecessary effort of adding a spline joint to the design (using padauk as the spline material). I did it because the glued butt joint called for looked weak. What I didn’t realize until later was that the article said to note grain direction on this part to insure that your were not gluing end grain. I didn’t note grain direction – something I really need to pay more attention to. When I read this part later, I realized that my spline joint was ineffective as a strengthening measure because it was glued to end grain on one piece and long grain on the other. Of course, in a piece such as a marking slide on your table saw jig, this matters very little. It will not likely encounter the force to break it unless it gets dropped or something. So in the end, I added a pretty red spline for aesthetics and a learning experience. Oh well.

The project was made using magnolia for the length, sycamore for the stop-block, and padauk for the spline.

Albeit a non-traditional gift, let alone one given at Christmas, I had monster portraits created for my family this year. I wanted to build just the right frame for such a project, so I sought out the nastiest looking pallet I could find still intact.

It took me longer than it should have to get the pallet, but I finally found one and commenced with the destruction of it…in a nice way. Turns out, rusty old nails hold really well to pallet stock – or simply break off. I dropped the nice act and went to full-on anger to get the slats off and nails removed. I knew I would destroy a couple of pieces of wood in the process, but luckily a frame only has four sides.

After picking the best pieces remaining with enough length for the job, I realized I had a mixed bag of cherry and something else. Light weight, but very stiff. The design I had imagined was simple enough and allowed for the greatest amount of variance in the flawed wood. I made a sample piece to work out the problems first (seen in the lasts picture). In the end, I changed from the bridle joint to an over-extended lap joint. I put pins in for looks, as the frame didn’t need the structural rigidity they provide. Each lap section was unique to fit the wood’s profile. I used the table saw to slice out sections and then chiseled out the waste. I also chamfered the edges where there was curve the wood’s edge for a compression fit. I knew I couldn’t dado a wavy line, so I opted for this brute force trick to make the fit.

The check you see in the close-up picture is not a result of this, it was actually from the pallet disassembly. I didn’t worry too much about it, as it helps out the overall look.

After making the laps, I simply glued it up with clamps and squared it (inside) before locking them down tight. The next day, I put the frame on my router table and cut a rabbet for the glass, mat, art, and backer. I waited until the end because I knew the piece was not going to be uniform thickness. The router table helped me negate the unevenness of the back. I used chisels here to square the corners. I also used the Lie-Nielsen large router plane to expand the rabbet to accommodate larger glass and mat – between glue time and finish, I got a call from the guy doing my mat for me. He gave me the bad news that his original dimensions were wrong. That’s why I had to unexpectedly cut a larger rabbet.

I drilled out the pin holes and chiseled the waste to make square peg holes for the pins. I might have been able to hammer the pins home through a round hole as I did in the softer Douglas Fir in my sample, but I didn’t want to risk splitting wood at this stage. The old wood offered no resistance to my sharp chisels. This is the first time I’ve ever done ebony pins, so I’m still a little unhappy with the results. However, this project allowed for some sloppy work. I used a block plane to chamfer the square pins after putting them in the frame. This had pretty good success, but it probably would have been better to have created the points beforehand. Especially since I wasn’t going to be hammering them forcefully into the frame.

I didn’t finish the frame with anything – it’s a nasty looking frame and I only expect it to get worse…or better (depending on how you’re looking at things). My wife loved it, so it was a wonderful success! It took me about 8 hours over two nights – in secret – to complete this framing project. It’s also the first framing project I’ve ever done with 90° joints. Every other one has had traditional 45° miters, even the rustic pallet wood versions.

Oh, I had the portraits done at www.monsterbymail.com. Len does excellent work and can create your monster from photos, as I requested, or design a monster from his own imagination.