African drums

[Scally]

A few weeks ago I bought a Djembe shell.

I finished shaping the rough shell and put a goat skin on the drum.

Carving a large goble didn't appeal to me so I decided to make a set of big cylinder shaped drums, called Dunduns.

The smallest, kenkeni was made by cutting 7 degree bevels on 30 x 500mm Western red cedar boards.
Titebond glue and masking tape for a clamp created the wooden cylinder.
The second drum, sangban, is about 35cm diameter. I used stronger Tassie oak boards ripped to 64 mm wide and bevelled to suit 15 boards.

Once the glue was dry I planed and sanded the outside to an approximate smooth cylinder.

The edges are shaped and sanded smoothed for the skin.

A quick welding lesson to make the steel rings.
Then order a dried cow skin.

The timber was stained to even out the colour. The inside and outside were coated with coconut oil.


It takes a while but the look and sound like drums.

[Scally]

Each drum has about 30m of rope to hold the skin tight.

It is a slow tricky job assembling the drums - getting two rings and a wet slippery thick skin on both ends of the drum at the same time.

[Harry72]

Looks like your making a whole drum set, nice work Scally

[Scally]

Thanks Harry.

I need three for the set.

Now I need some more timber to start on the third.

I searched a lot of places for the right specs. Everyone has something different so I interpret that as meaning 'whatever you like". I hope.

The advice from some mates at the drumming classes was "bigger is better".

How big is a 44 gallon drum??

Masking tape might not be strong enough for a bigger drum. The second drum was a bit of a challenge to assemble in one piece.

I might make an open form with 2 or 3 circular discs to help with assembly.

[Harry72]

" How big is a 44 gallon drum??"... 200ltrs!:D

The glue your using does it have a long open time?

[Scally]

I use normal PVA, Titebond and Triton.

They have a few minutes open time. This was enough for these drums and works fine with WRC and Tassie oak.

It didn't take long toapply a good bead of glue along the edges and roll up the staves.

With the next, bigger drum I think it will be a bit tricky assembling the staves into the cylinder.
I will use an epoxy for the longer open time.
It also has the benefit of filling gaps. This might be handy on the bigger drum.

Here are a couple of different stands I made to hold the duns for playing.

They are made out of recycled hardwood. A wedged, mortice and tenon secures the upright into the feet.

[Harry72]

You wont be shifting them around in a hurry!
Some wheels could be handy?

[Scally]

The stands aren't really that heavy.
The main consideration is loading everything in the car and carrying it to where ever you are going.

The X stand is good because it folds flat and is easy to carry. But it isn't as easy to play the 3 duns when they are on their sides.

I wanted to have the upright stand demountable. Maybe use mortice and tenon with pins so they could be easily removed.
In the end I couldn't work it out. So the stand will stay home for now.

The two duns and a djembe fitted easily in the back of the car for drumming tonight and they aren't too heavy.

I cut out the staves for the big dundunba. At 46cm diameter and 76cm long using 20mm boards it will be heavy enough.

We played my drums tonight and they were quite a hit. That was a buzz.

[Scally]

I finally finished the big 44 gallon dundun.

It has a thick cow hide and over 50 m or rope to hold it down.

The shallow carvings are stained with Black Japan to add a bit of interest.

The rope puller makes it much easier to get the skin up to tension.

Now it is time to take it out for a rumble!

[Scally]

It played pretty good.
Now I just need to work out how to carry it.

It need a short solid stand to be able to play it upright too.