Project....Djembe!!

[alifaa]

I wanted to go further back in the process in creating a djembe than re-skinning. I had put some tacks into one of my djembes, and smoothed off a bearing edge or 2 in my time, but I wanted to put more effort into the shell than just aesthetics. My ultimate goal is to make one from a tree, probably yellow box, either the old fashioned way or on a lathe to take most of the material out, then finish it off traditionally.

So, I got an email from Simon Fraser about some ex-Primo series drums that just never got around to being made, or had slight defects. I chose a smallish djalla djembe that had some minor cracks. Having filled some in before with epoxy, I was confident that this aspect of the project wouldn’t be too much of a challenge.

So it arrived. Ugly. Simon very courteously left some cobwebs inside for me……

Ugly, wot?

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It was a little out of kilter, but not enough to worry about. I figured that re-doing the bearing edge would fix this. It still had the roughing scallops from the carving on the outside, but some ok stem carvings. There was a moderately ugly hole in the stem on the base, and one side was smooth with the other having scallops still!! Unfinished, wot?

interior

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Call that a bearing edge?

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The inside wasn’t too bad, a bit rough with a biggish crack at the bottom of the bowl. The stem is thick enough that I am not even sure I need to do anything about this apart from shea butter. The bearing edge was a bit of a tragedy, though. I am going to need to learn how to use a router to fix this!

Anyway, there are too many pictures, so I might have to do this in stages ......keep tuned.

[alifaa]

Second instalment......

The crack in the bearing edge was pretty easy, first round of epoxy went on, aswell as in the big hole down the bottom of the stem……

Need a few coats on this one....

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Once it dried, I decided to break out the belt sander and see what fun I could have with the scallops. A funny thing happened on the way to smooth…….Leopard spots!!

they look so cool, I kept them!

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Coat of Danish oil to pretty her up, and voila!!

Oil 'er up baby...

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Another batch of epoxy, this time mixed with some of the sawdust, and time for the next coat of oil, followed by the bearing edge.

Speaking of which….stay tuned for the next thrilling instalment of Project.....Djembe!!

[alifaa]

Part 3 of our rivetting tale takes place in the Man shed.......

This is after the first couple of passes with the belt sander. Note the still flat top, but the much nicer curve.

Getting there...

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Filing and sanding, filing and sanding, more sanding and a little shea butter on the bearing edge….

Luverly...

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and we have a very pretty little shell!

Noice!!

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She is now all roped up, skinned, and drying. Once I have cranked her up a bit, I will put an mp3 on here on how she sounds.

Then it is purely a case of bling or selling (I have enough drums, and am not particularly attached to this one.....yet!)

Stay tuned for the next exciting instalment of Project....Djembe!

[bkidd]

So far so good. That looks really great Alifaa!

Best,
-Brian

[michi]

Very nice job, congratulations!

Very satisfying work too, isn't it? My main problem is that I keep bonding with the damn things when I put that much work into them, and then I find it difficult to let them go

Please post pic and sound clip when you are done!

Cheers,

Michi.

[alifaa]

Just cranked it, and she sounds like this......

Project Djembe.mp3

Quick Tiriba.....

(313.06 KiB) Downloaded 81 times

Enjoy.

[michi]

Sounds good!

All the work was worth it, obviously!

Michi.

[shortypalmer]

nice job, i have always said that cracks dont scare me, the rim looks great. how big was the opening in the bottom of the bowel? it looked really small, did you open that up or leave it alone. will be interested how it sounds with the small opening.

[drtom]

Great job!

The opening looks small to me too. I imagine it flares quite a bit. It's only speculation, but I think it would sound even better if the throat was opened up at least a little.

drtom

[rachelnguyen]

I love this thread! Please post a picture of the finished project.

I have never been particularly handy, but have found that I LOVE working on drums. I think that reworking a shell like you have done is the next step, LOL.

Great job on the bearing edge, by the way. It looks really good.

[alifaa]

how big was the opening in the bottom of the bowel?

The hole was smaller than my fist, about 90mm. Easily the smallest of all my drums.....no, it is not my drum!! Gotta stop thinking that....

I didn't do anything to the interior, mainly as an experiment to see what it would sound like without any interference. The crack wasn't significantly deep, so I left it.

Overall, it doesn't sound too bad.

Ta daaaahh!!

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Hope you have enjoyed this little journey, and thanks for the encouragement!!

IF I do this again, I will do the same narrative.

Cheers

[Waraba]

A rescue djembe.

Great job!

[fattyboombatty]

Excellent Job!

[nkolisnyk]

Hey did you use a pulling stand to get that drum tight? The skin-over flap looks really good.

[alifaa]

Hey did you use a pulling stand to get that drum tight? The skin-over flap looks really good.

See this thread...technical-advice/stretching-the-skin-with-ring-zilla-t2755.html

I did use a pulling stand to make the skin tight, but the foldover look is done by pulling it down when wet, and ....see the other thread!!

Cheers