Please look at this ring I welded

[ruff]

Thanks for the reassurances guys. I have another ashiko just glued up. From everything I'm learning with this first one this next one should be a smoother project.

[michi]

if it can go wrong or be done wrong i have been there.

I second that. Over the years, mistakes I made include (but are not limited to):

• setting the crown ring upside down
• mounting a skin flesh side out
• tearing a hole into a skin during the wet pull
• destroying a skin with a careless move while shaving
• breaking a skin during the dry pull
• mounting a skin 180 degrees from the intended direction
• breaking the rope during the dry pull
• setting the skin too loose so the rings came down way too far
• swapping crown ring and flesh ring, with the crown ring being too large so it pulled below the flesh ring during the dry pull
• ignoring a dodgy looking weld that promptly broke during the dry pull
• getting too impatient during the wet pull and ending up with lopsided rings
• accidentally puncturing a mounted wet skin by dropping a sharp tool onto it
• miscalculating the length of the verticals and finding towards the end of the lacing up (with the wet skin sitting on top) that I don't have enough rope
• cutting through a vertical while trimming the skin flap

You'd think that, after eight years of building djembes, I would have run out of things to stuff up. But I'm pretty sure that I haven't fully plumbed the depths of my incompetence yet

Michi.

[shortypalmer]

i have done all of those plus re-trimming the cut edge with a hooked blade knife and when through the skin. also adding one to many diamonds.

[michi]

i have done all of those […].

I suspected as much

For me, the question is what creative f****p I'll come with next

Michi.

[shortypalmer]

i just about did it tonight, i got the ring so out of level while wet i thought i could not get it to come down over the rim, i was thinking i was going to loosen it up and start over but the miracle of a pulling table saved me

[Trog]

I had a screw up today. Top ring broke at the weld on the dry pull. Have it back together and was able to reuse the skin. What a pain taking all the rope off and redoing the top ring...

[shortypalmer]

hey Michi, we forgot a couple more goofs
how about skipping a loop when lacing verticals. what reminded me of that was it happened today,
one more would be lacing up a drum with uneven loops between the top ring and the bottom ring. been there done that

[michi]

hey Michi, we forgot a couple more goofs
how about skipping a loop when lacing verticals. what reminded me of that was it happened today,

Yep, been there, done that (more than once). I suspect that mistake is made by almost everyone, and sooner rather than later. At least, this one is not a big deal; you just lose a bit of time fixing it.

one more would be lacing up a drum with uneven loops between the top ring and the bottom ring. been there done that

You are ahead of me there, that's one I don't have yet in my collection

I religiously count the number of loops top and bottom before I lace up. But I guess, sooner or later, I'll forget, just when I managed to put one more or less on one of the rings…

I wonder whether the Malinke have an equivalent of Mr Murphy? If so, he's been hanging around my workshop on and off for some considerable time

Michi.