How to Stain and Finish a Wood Snare Drum Shell and Rehab its Hardware - 17 Easy to Understand Steps

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phototravel

New Member
If your wood-shelled drum is looking like it needs some attention and you've never stained and or finished wood / wood drum shell before, here's a handy how-to video with time-lapse video and narration and captions. In 2004, my beloved Bison Drum Co. snare drum, purchased in 1997, was damaged in a house fire. In late 2020, I decided to learn how to refinish wood drums and I gave the Bison a makeover. From the flames came something beautiful. I call this drum "The Phoenix". Enjoy.
 
Thanks so much. Yeah, since it was the first time I had done anything like this, I put a lot of time into just watching other people's videos and reading a TON of articles about how to do it, and then maybe 8 trips to Lowe's and Home Depot. I suspect I put about 40 hours total into the refinish and another 6 hours into the video. Good news is that next time, it'll hopefully be a lot quicker
 
phototravel said:
Thanks so much. Yeah, since it was the first time I had done anything like this, I put a lot of time into just watching other people's videos and reading a TON of articles about how to do it, and then maybe 8 trips to Lowe's and Home Depot. I suspect I put about 40 hours total into the refinish and another 6 hours into the video. Good news is that next time, it'll hopefully be a lot quicker
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Last year I restored my vintage Ludwig Vistalites. That was a learning experience as well. Tons of elbow grease and polishing and time spent refinishing the wooden bass drum hoops. I took my time on those hoops, sanding them by hand and putting on 4-5 light coats of semi-gloss black. They turned out great. Maybe not as professional looking as your shell though, haha.
 
I applaud your use of earplugs. ;)
The drum looks good!
 
Loved your video...very, very helpful! Quick question for you, and this might be an obvious question, but where did you get the stand to stain your drum shells? Looking everywhere for something like this to no avail. Your help is greatly appreciated!
 
phototravel said:
Thanks so much. Yeah, since it was the first time I had done anything like this, I put a lot of time into just watching other people's videos and reading a TON of articles about how to do it, and then maybe 8 trips to Lowe's and Home Depot. I suspect I put about 40 hours total into the refinish and another 6 hours into the video. Good news is that next time, it'll hopefully be a lot quicker
Click to expand...

Nice job !
Next time ? Hopefully just a re finish with NO fire necessitating it 👍🏼

Edit: ooops I see this is 2 years old . Still …. Nice job ! And if you’re still here on the forum ,….. how’d the finish hold up ?
 
Over50drumguy said:
I see this is 2 years old . Still …. Nice job ! And if you’re still here on the forum ,….. how’d the finish hold up ?
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I'd love to see an update also, but... 🤷‍♂️

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