Refinishing your drumset! (getting an awesome natural finish DIY)

[Composer of Requiems]

So far, it's taken three coats with 24 hours to dry in between.

The surface was slightly bumpy and orangepeeled, but I knocked it down with a rough medium-soft sponge and buffed it smooth. Right now, I can see a rather clear reflection in it at close range, but it still isn't good enough.

I'll be polishing it smooth between subsequent coats of poly. Will be continuing until I'm satisfied with the thickness of poly (that'll probably be some time next week), then I'll leave it for two weeks to set, following some advice from "Latindrum" from the Ghostnote forums. Stay tuned for more!

 

[applepie]

Hey guys,

I have decided to re-wrap my export stock snare !
Brought some Natural wood finish wraps for refinishing cupboard and stuff.


=)

My Export Stock Snare !!

Nothing hard except wrapping it as there is alot of air bubbles !

Easy to do and Cheap !

Total cost = $3.90.

=)

 

[Composer of Requiems]

@applepie- looks awesome! By the way, I think you could probably just wrap over the existing wrap...

 

[jukebox]

Nice job applepie! Where did you get the wrap?

CoR- Any new pictures of your tamas?

 

[Composer of Requiems]

The poly on mine is still setting... waiting for it to fully set before I continue polishing. Right now I can see reflections of things maybe 15cm away; ideally I want to polish it until it's practically a mirror =O

I'm guessing he got it from homefix DIY or self-fix or something like that. I saw some before...

 

[Composer of Requiems]

Still...not...shiny...enough...

 

[firdie]

is it like much more ex (2x or more) to get it done at shops ?

and how much did it cost to get it all redone and can the old skins be used ?

sorry noobie here .

 

[Composer of Requiems]

I haven't heard of any shops that do it locally...

Refinishing costs depends on materials. My current project already cost a lot, but that's cos I used a LOT of lacquer, bought polishing tools, equipment...... a simple rewrap can cost under $30 for a whole set.

 

[Composer of Requiems]

Shiny <3

...but still not shiny ENOUGH. It's driving me nuts ARGHHHHHH

 

[Beansprouts]

Is it even possible for it to be like a mirror?

Cause it seems that you need a silver/chrome backing first or something.

 

[Composer of Requiems]

Yeah, it's possible. What they call a "mirror finish" is just like, well, those really beautifully polished huge wooden tables where you can see both the wood grain and things reflected off it...

Edit: Look at some professional higher-end drumsets. Some of those have mirror finish varnish. E.g. the Starclassic Maple at Sweelee...

 

[Beansprouts]

Ah, for that kind of finish need to have this weird machine with circular cloth and polish it right?

 

[firdie]

Ah, for that kind of finish need to have this weird machine with circular cloth and polish it right?

You mean the Buffing Machine ?

 

[Beansprouts]

It's like there is this spinning piece of circular cloth.

That one can use to polish surfaces right?

 

[Composer of Requiems]

Yeah... but right now I need to smoothen the surface first. As you can see from the picture, it's not perfectly flat yet- look at the reflection from the edge of the paper, it's not straight. The buffing is usually useful only after you get it smooth...

 

[Composer of Requiems]

 

[Composer of Requiems]

 

[Composer of Requiems]

And that's it. It's not perfect- you can see the reflection is a little grainy, but it feels very smooth to the touch, you can see things faintly reflected off it (look at the reflections of the hardware on some of the photos!) and honestly, it's a real pain in the ass to polish so I'll stop here- plus, I don't really have the time anymore. I could have finished this project two to three weeks earlier if I wasn't so busy and tired everyday.


I don't know what I will do with this set. I already have my own set. I might want to sell this, or loan to someone, or something....... (of course, not inclusive of the flat ride and flat hats!)

 

[malmbas]

Hey Nick
Nice lookin kit mate! great work! really nice even stain
I've got a real soft spot for green kits. I've always wanted one

Not planning on doing any wet sanding? Have you used any auto polish products on poly before? check out www.meguiars.com.sg, their stuff does wonders for gloss finishes

 

[Composer of Requiems]

I wet sanded them. At first, I managed to get it to sand off quite a fair bit, but now that it's smoother, the wet sanding doesn't seem to be doing much. I think I made a mistake by starting off with pretty rough/porous wood- I should have done more work on the shell before lacquering, that would have saved me a LOT of trouble.

I'm thinking of using auto polish, but not sure which to use. I've heard of that brand before, maybe I'll look into it. I just hit it with furniture polish...

By the way, this was originally bluish teal but somehow along the way it became green =P