Carving a ledge

[Waraba]

Hi--

Anyone out there know how to carve a ledge in the bowl of the djembe to secure the bottom ring? What tools? What technique?

--Matt

[michi]

I've never tried to add a ledge to a drum. Why do you want to do this? A floating bottom ring makes for a little more work when skinning a drum because it has to be kept centered. But, other than that, I don't see any advantage to having a ledge.

If you do decide to add a ledge, make yourself a pair of long calipers, so you can measure the thickness of the shell where you are planning to carve the ledge. Make sure that there is enough thickness in the wood to actually accommodate the ledge. Otherwise, you risk a collapsed bowl when you tighten the skin.

Cheers,

Michi.

[Rhythm House Drums]

I've done a ledge in my staved djembes, as well as in my ashikos. I do it in the ashiko so that the bottom ring doesn't keep sliding up, which is why a lot of ashikos aren't tuned properly. I did this same method for the djembe...

Draw a line with a pencil where you want the groove. I put the drum on a small rotating table, and spin it lightly while holding the pencil steady. This is your saw mark. I take a hand saw and follow the pencil line. The teeth on my saw are about .25" deep, so I make sure the saw teeth just go deep enough to disappear. This sawed groove is where the ring will eventually sit. It also aids in making a smooth cut off for the next step... chiseling to the groove. I flip the drum on its head and sit in a chair, chisel towards the groove you just cut, go as deep as the groove, but not deeper. Just go all the way around the drum, sand it up and you're ready to go. Now get a ring made thats just a tad bigger than the ledge ( I usually go no more than 1/8 larger for the ring.)

[Rhythm House Drums]

wow.. haha.. sorry about the size