Painting and Staining drums

Anyone have any suggestions for types of paint?

I am getting a Pearl Export. I'm taking off the wrap and I'm going to stain the drums black and paint a orange stripe around the drum.

Any suggestions or help is always appreciated.

It all depends on how much you want to get into it and how much you want to spend.

The options range from rubbing on tung oil

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tung_oil

to high end automotive paint.


Tell us what you are trying to accomplish, do you want high gloss or satin? color natural or stained?

What is your vision for your kit?

The only tip I can give you, is its much harder than it sounds. I tried it once and I will never try it again. Best of luck with that. When you take off the wrap for starters you may tear some of the shell off the vinear plus you may incounter access amounts of glue still on the shell. Its hard work and must be done very carefully or the drum will not only look bad but it will sound bad too. Good luck. Hope it works for you, im sure I just didn't have the patience for it and had a bad experience.

Joe

I just did basically the same thing in the summer, so I am the one you want to PM if you're having trouble. I stained the interior of my drums, then painted the exterior. Here are some things to keep in mind.

1. Don't paint the orange stipe.

2. If the export is brand new, I wouldn't mess with it.

3. Sand those suckers until they're smoother then that polished 69 camaro sitting in your driveway on a sunny summer day, the sanding has to be flawless.

4. If you have old boxes from heads, cut circles oout of them the diameter of your drums(1 for top and 1 for bottom) and place it about halfway down the bearing edge then tape up the gaps.(so you don't get paint on the inside.

5. As for paint, you want a smooth finish, so use spray paint, but do it well. Do two coats of primer, 2 or 3 or the color you want, then at least 2-3 coats of clear(you might have trouble getting the right kind of clear)

I could ramble on and on about what to do, but ill just post some pics, after all, a picture says a thousand words. I don't have a picture of what i meant by covering up the drums near the bearing edges, but I this shows some of the stained interior, the glue line from the wrap (good luck) and the primer coat.

I couldn't get the wood smooth enough, so what I had to do was slap on a crap load of primer from a can, then sand it smooth (it took about 2 weeks) but the end result was fantastic. Sorry for such a long post, I'm just excited becuase I'm doing it again this summer.

Here's a set I stained with just some minwax stain and sating clear coat I got at menard's- http://www.drummerworld.com/forums/showthread.php?t=33407
It isn't that hard, just don't rush into it. And, it will take time, and research. If it were me, I'd want to start with bare shells rather than refinish a new kit, but it's your kit (the reason I refinished my kit was because the wrap was plain, ugly, and scuffed up).
With an export kit, you may run the risk of having flaws in the wood. On the 16" bass drum/tom of the forum, there is a major flaw near the seam, but it is hidden because it faces the floar (you might not be so lucky). If you plan on doing a stain, this is important.
Also, it is important to use a blow dryer or heat gun to heat the glue before removing the wrap or you might take part of the drum with it. (also, hidden on the 16" for me ). -you'll also probably need new vents because you'll probably damge the old ones removing the wrap.
There are good resources at ghostnote.net -look at the forum

-again, I would highly reccomend starting from scratch (keller shells) (this would also be a better quality kit- www.amdrumparts.com offers free edges, drilling, etc.)
-the stripe wouldn't be hard to do- you could just do it with masking tape and brush on acrylic paint or something

- If you do something like this, -practice first-

also, stains look much better than a plain coat of paint IMO

If this is going to be your first time doing any paint or stain work, I would not do it on your new kit. That is the best advice I can give you. Practice on some scrap wood first. Once you've done it a few times, it really becomes a breeze. There are many types of finishes you can use, and what you use will depend on your personal preference and what is available in your area.

I do have a tip for protecting the inside of the shells. First, tape over any holes- on the inside of the shell. This will prevent anything you do to the outside, coming through the holes and running all over the inside. Second, get yourself some brown masking paper (can be bought from local paint shop) and some painter's tape. Cut a length of the paper equal to the circumference of the inside of the drum shell plus a couple inches for over lap. Run the tape along one of the edges of the paper (the edge that will either touch the top or bottom of the shell). You're only going to put half of the width of tape on the paper, the other half will go on the bearing edge to protect it. This is one of the trickier parts- getting that bearing edge tape line to be straight. Once you have that snug, tape up the paper along the other bearing edge. Now the inside of your shell is completely masked off, and you can still hold the shell from the inside, or run a 2x4 through it to let it hang off of saw horses. If you're doing spray work, I would highly recommend masking the inside of the shell this way. If you're doing stain work, you can get away with just taping the inside of the holes- assuming you know how to be careful and tidy with the stain and varnish. When in doubt, mask it all off in the inside and you'll be safe.

I want to give you something to think about.

Is this a one time event or are you going to get into drum building and restoration?

In my opinion if it is a one time event then you should go with the method that will be the easiest to get acceptable results. In this case the Minwax product is a great way to go.

If you are going to get into drum building and restoration then I would look into it deeper. Get yourself educated then decide what you are going to do.

Here are some great resources:

Here is a site that is a supplier and has a great tutorial section to get some basic education.

http://www.drumfoundry.com

Here are a couple drum builders forums, there a many out there:

http://www.drumsmith.com/

http://ghostnote.net

I did the latter, I have done a complete kit from raw Kellers shells and a few snares. I am going to strip and reshoot a mid 80s TAMA 11 piece Superstar kit this summer.

Just some food for thought

Ironcobra said:

I just did basically the same thing in the summer, so I am the one you want to PM if you're having trouble. I stained the interior of my drums, then painted the exterior. Here are some things to keep in mind.

1. Don't paint the orange stipe.

2. If the export is brand new, I wouldn't mess with it.

3. Sand those suckers until they're smoother then that polished 69 camaro sitting in your driveway on a sunny summer day, the sanding has to be flawless.

4. If you have old boxes from heads, cut circles oout of them the diameter of your drums(1 for top and 1 for bottom) and place it about halfway down the bearing edge then tape up the gaps.(so you don't get paint on the inside.

5. As for paint, you want a smooth finish, so use spray paint, but do it well. Do two coats of primer, 2 or 3 or the color you want, then at least 2-3 coats of clear(you might have trouble getting the right kind of clear)

I could ramble on and on about what to do, but ill just post some pics, after all, a picture says a thousand words. I don't have a picture of what i meant by covering up the drums near the bearing edges, but I this shows some of the stained interior, the glue line from the wrap (good luck) and the primer coat.

I couldn't get the wood smooth enough, so what I had to do was slap on a crap load of primer from a can, then sand it smooth (it took about 2 weeks) but the end result was fantastic. Sorry for such a long post, I'm just excited becuase I'm doing it again this summer.

Click to expand...

Those drums look absolutely fantastic! I'm assuming, that if you wanted a more transparent finish, you would use a stain for the color coat instead of traditional paint? Btw, if this topic is old I apologize, I just googled the subject lol