Interlude #2: Gasket Night.

Who would let the chunky metal lugs scratch the beautiful high gloss poly? Not me. And who wants that signaturish/finished look that some rubber gaskets will give you? We all do, don't we?

So I went looking for suitable rubber sheet to make gaskets. After trying to source free EPDM leftovers from a construction site - without success - I went to a store selling industrial rubber products. They carry all kinds of rubber products for many applications and sell it by 10 cm (4"). So I got this strip of 1mm thick neoprene rubber (20 cm x 120 cm) for a couple of euros.

Time to make a pile of gaskets. Sixty-eight. Forty-eight for this 3-piece. Plus twenty for some snare drum on the way. Mmh, late evening chain work. Here's how I worked:

1. Measuring and drawing the lug adding 1 mm offset.

Dimensions of a champion/phonic lug in millimeters, measured on a digital caliper. You're welcome

2. Printing lugs on label paper, then sticking on rubbersheet and cutting.

3 Making a punching template with cardboard, and fixing the gasket at the back with repositionable spray glue. Then punch the holes using my office hole punch.

4 Little detail: round off the corners using a file to get that "factory made" look.

I also cut 5 gaskets for the floor tom and bass drum feet brackets - which are identical on a champion. And 3 for the badges. But still a long way before mounting them. Oh well...

Interlude #1: Badge design whim

When I bought the drums, the shells were actually wrapped in some sort of cheap white plastic and of course, there weren't any badges.

Drums without badges don't feel right to me. How about designing my own SONOR badge? It might sound absurd in terms of restoration, but I think it's something fun to do.

First of all, I didn't want the badge to have the late teardrop / champion-era old mallet logo, I just don't like it. It looks like they didn't know what to do between the original teardrop / the new beat logo (handwritten style, re-popularized with the vintage series) and the current style so they wrote SONOR in plain sans serif capitals next to two mallets. That's why I redesigned a badge that would be plausible for a mid-70s drumkit, some sort of a transitional model between the original champion and the later phonic centennial.

Anyway, I didn't completely start from scratch since I also took some inspiration from an existing snare badge from that era, that features the then new Sonor logo with small mallets, and that is fitted on a shell with small mallets lugs with inserts. Just like my champion.

So here's the badge I designed, matching the size of the champion's and the existing mounting holes:

I first redrawed the SONOR logo on a vector software called inkscape. They used the same design until 1995, even though the small mallet version was replaced around 1980 by the big mallet version (see a late phonic badge for example).

I like the "Full Vibrating Sound Shell" label, it sounds a little silly, especially since we've seen more "vibrating", thinner shells around, but then again, I'm just having fun and trying to do my best to respect the spirit of SONOR.

The text font is very standard: Helvetica (here condensed), that's the font SONOR used the most. They used it on the centennial badge below and on many other designs.

The badges were cut from 0.5 mil brass sheet, I like how brass and dark green stain match. "British" style on German engineering.

After trying several methods to transfer my design onto brass, I finally printed the badge design on waterslide decal paper. That's actually the easiest way to do it, and the texture and sheen of the brass is not affected by the thin decal film.

 

 When it's dry, I'll spray a couple of coats of clear varnish to protect it.

(waterbased clear) POLY (-urethane varnish). Part Two. The process.

THE POLY 
When preparing this project I went hunting for a suitable waterbased transparent varnish, also called "poly". After some research and some price comparison, I came up with this product: Berger-Seidle Aqua-Seal EcoGold. Berger Seidle is a German brand which specializes in woodfloor finishes.

I chose this product among others for a couple of reasons:

• Good value: 27 euros for 1 liter (27 $ a quart)
• Dries crystal clear, while more expensive wood finishes (from Akzo Nobel for example) are always yellowish
• Available on request by the liter at my local professional woodfloor store
• Scratch resistant - at least supposedly, but since it's a floor finish, I have a tendency to believe it...
• German stuff! Noch besser! Qualität & Service für den Profi

It makes me think about the products made by the US company Aquacoat, used by some instrument builders out there. They sure do share some components.

Despite its milky appearance, it does dry crystal clear.

THE PROCESS

The whole poly application turned out to be way more challenging than expected. So I am going to focus on what worked for me instead of describing the less happy times...

1. Sand the shellac sealer. I've tried several grits, but if I had to do it again, I would go directly for P400 dry (SIA siarexx fine is a great product). Don't go too far, you don't want to expose stained wood.

NOTE: don't wet sand shellac, it's too risky. I had issues, though it's unclear why.

2. Mount the shells on small feet, to be able to work from top to bottom, along the grain, and avoid drips. I actually took advantage of the lug mounting holes to screw legs made from scrap wood strips.

3. Afterwards, all holes are filled with plugs, to avoid drips. Poly is thick and will get you drips I you don't do something. I used balsa plugs glued with rubbercement for easy removing.

4. To keep it low-tech and to be able to do this at home, I got myself into brushing. I know it might sound crazy to the "paint-booth fanatic", but that's doable - as long as you're not in a hurry. For instance, terrific drum builder from Scotland Frasier Murray does it. And gets amazing results.

I started with choosing a good brush. What worked best for me is an artist spalter brush, 50mm (2") wide, with very smooth synthetic bristle. I got mine from an art supply store - downtown Brussels. They're relatively inexpensive, you can find some mid-range quality for around 6-7 euros. The one I used is an AMI 170 series.

Note: between shellac and poly, I fixed minor flaws or discoloration in the stain by brushing a mix of concentrated stain (I let stain evaporate for a couple of days) and poly. This worked quite well. I should have done that earlier, before applying shellac, on all the spots where stain wasn't properly absorbed, instead of my attempts of fauxing (see old article) which mostly proved unsatisfying.

5. Work as fast as possible on small sections keeping a wet edge, and use the appropriate amount of poly, too much will get you drips or uneven build, too little won't give you enough thickness for sanding.

The wet edge.

6. Apply 5 coats with light P400 sanding between coats: this should remove dust grains, paint lumps, fibers and sort of lightly scratches the surface. Big drips can be carefully flattened using a piece of sandpaper glued on a polyurethane block.

Applying medium thin coats doesn't give you a very glossy finish, it's rather satin, but very smooth with light brush marks.

Since one coat (ca. 1.5 sq meter) uses up to 50 ml of varnish, 1 liter is far enough. Brushing is definitely the most efficient application method in terms of coverage.

I applied the fifth coat a little thicker, using a flat brush like this one:

It's a Goudhaantje futura intended for waterbased finishes.

A couple of weeks before finishing writing this more comprehensive article, I posted a few pictures of the shells after a first batch of coats. The result might look good from a distance, but a close-up view shows that it isn't quite what you would expect from a high gloss instrument finish: it's full of dust inclusions, brush strokes and it's rather satin gloss than tabletop gloss.

Here it is again. Looking good from afar, but it's just a picture...

After 5 coats, the finish needs to be sanded flat: no more drips, brush marks, nor dust grains. I actually added one step in the sanding process by working with a P500/P600 superfine sanding sponge. The sponges allows the pressure of the hand to be equally spread on the surface and that sanding follows the curve of the shell. Note: the process will be repeated twice, for a total of 15 coats. 

Here's the surface after the 10th coat.

 In the result I'm trying to achieve, the reflection must be perfectly mirror like and sharp, which is not the case here.

You can see the brush strokes starting to be sanded off, after some P320 sanding. P400 is also fine.

Here the second step of the process, using a double sided superfine (P500/600) sanding sponge from the SIA brand. This thing works really well. No more brush strokes, only the normal scratches from the sanding. I still sand along the grain. Man, how amazing this stained beechwood looks!

An overview of my sanding supply: sanding sponge, sanding block (to remove drips), some sandpaper pieces. Nothing fancy, just regular DIY stuff.

There it is, after 15 coats. A nice clear finish, smooth satin gloss, but not “tabletoppish” glassy gloss.

The three shells after 15 coats of poly, standing on their feet.

The gloss is kinda nice, but as explained earlier, not good enough to meet the standard of a professional instrument finish

If you look closer, you'll see the reflection is "ribbed", because of brush strokes.

The shades of green under direct fluorescent light range from deep forest green to olive/apple green depending on how the wood absorbed the stain. Vibrant. I like it.

7. I let it cure hard during a couple of weeks before moving on to the last block sanding followed but some fine wet sanding and hand buffing.

(waterbased clear) POLY (-urethane varnish). Part One. The Beginning.

I started brushing on poly. Here's the result after 4 thin coats and a 5th thicker coat, with intermediate sanding/scuffing.

Another 10 coats before I let it cure hard for a couple of weeks. Then I'll sand it smooth and buff it with compound.

I'll write a more comprehensive article when I'm done. Only thing I can say is that brushing is tricky and tedious, but rewarding and worth it in the end.

Half-baked French polish

Remember the dripping shellac thing of the last article? Man, I thought I really ruined the job and that I'd end up with some backyardish junk.

Well, there's apparently always a way to fix up a mess.

I went back to the basics of applying shellac: French polish. And I also went back to my favorite store downtown Brussels, carrying all kinds of peculiar artist supply to buy cotton wick. Extremely cheap stuff.

Why call it half baked? For a couple of reasons. First of all, the traditional purpose of French polish is high gloss finish. And that's not my intent here, I want to achieve good sealing and surface preparation for poly.

Secondly, my process doesn't involve any oil - like it's supposed to - for obvious reasons.

Since shellac when applied with a pad is pretty forgiving, it makes messing around possible. If something goes wrong, it's just a matter of loading up your pad and blending the blunder down.

First of all, after inspecting, some more drips to get rid of.

1. Making a shellac pad

Take a piece of 10"x10" (25cm x 25cm) white used cloth (an old t-shirt or some used bed linen) and fill it with a ball of cotton wick. Done. Cost: 5 cents.

2. Thinning shellac down

A 2 pound cut is too heavy for pad application. It must be thinned down to 1 1/2 pound cut. Just add denatured alcohol.

3. Rubbing with the pad.

Load up the cotton wick with shellac, not too much. Work along the grain, with narrow 8 movements, from batter side to reso side. When pad sticks and stops slipping, reload with a little shellac (3 ml - I use a syringe). The rule: damp, not wet.

4. Stop after 2 coats and let it cure. 

I let it sit overnight since I'm doing this job late.

This is basically the idea behind working with shellac, you'll find tons of detailed videos and articles on the internet.

5. The result.

Here are some pictures of the sealed wood, after many coats - didn't count - more than 20.

Well, I like the sheen and the very thin layer of gloss, looking "natural". This really makes me wanna try a proper French polish on some other project, with pumice grain filling and oil.

On the other hand, if you take a closer look, the wood grain is still there. So that's the reason why I will keep going with the process I had in mind and apply a dozen coats of waterborne poly.

Dear followers, say goodbye to the beautiful sheen since it's gonna be sanded away with 400 grit with water.

Sealing with shellac.

Since I will apply a water-based clear poly, I have to seal the stained wood to avoid stain smearing poly and making a mess. After doing some research, I have decided to use a dewaxed shellac sealer.

This natural product has many advantages:

• Inexpensive when bought in flakes
• Durable (you just mix the quantity you need, the dry flakes can be stored forever)
• Non toxic, it's just alcohol and "bug resin", it's actually edible !
• Easy to apply
• Warms up the color tone (water-based poly is very "white")
• Has some grain filling properties

As recommended by this webpage, I made a bottle of 2 pound-cut (two pounds of flakes to one gallon of alcohol ratio) shellac, it's the regular mix. Converted in metric system:

• 3785 ml of alcohol (one gallon) with 907 grams (2 pounds) of shellac
• 417 ml of alcohol with 100 grams of shellac

They recommend a 3 pound cut for sealing stain and filling grain, but I prefer to work with several thin coats for more control.

Preparing is pretty simple, it's basically pouring alcohol into the container, adding the flakes and putting the container in hot water, stirring occasionally.

After letting it sit overnight, it's now perfectly mixed, with no flakes remaining

Took this picture later, I've used already 50%.

It makes you ca. 485 ml (16.4 fl. oz) of shellac, should be enough for a couple of coats. I paid 6,2 euros for shellac and 2 euros for denatured alcohol. As I said, cheap.
Important notice: shellac goes bad after some time, it won't dry hard, rather gummy. So don't mix too much at once, and make it just before starting to work.

I applied the first coat of shellac using a flat brush. It's easy to apply because shellac isn't very thick and flows easily.

And the effect is wow. It really brings out the stained wood tone, adding some depth to it.

But let's be honest, there's an issue on curved surfaces, like a drum shell. If you apply a little too much and that it starts dripping down, the dripping marks will cure hard in a minute. That's what happened here and there.

I had to sand them off using 400 grit with water.

Bottom-right, you see the sanded area.

Buy the way, this step of the process proves that shellac really acts like a sealer, and sanding with water had little effect on stained wood. So I gave it a go and re-sanded lightly all the shells.

At some point, you might think that you screwed up your work. Sanding paste turns green, ouch, what am I doing? But giving up is no option.

After cleaning up "the mess", I crossed my fingers and brushed on a second coat, trying this time not to apply too much.

It went better - and apparently no faded spots due to sanding - but couldn't avoid build-up marks. Shellac dries that fast. Again, some local sanding and some cold sweat. I even had to re-stain lightly the spots where I sanded through the shellac and took off some of the stain. Brr. No pictures, sorry... 

At this point, I had to think it over. Building up thicker layers of shellac sounds good, but avoiding dripping or overlapping marks is very hard. I definitely have to find a more controllable way to apply shellac and avoid excessive sanding. Read on the next article my experiments with what I will call half baked French polishing.

Some late night tryout of what looks like the right thing to do

Fauxing and fixing.

A few words on fixing lighter spots, blending wood patches, messing around with creative techniques...

When staining was done - 2 passes with intermediate sanding - the surface showed flaws here and there that needed to get fixed. I could have left it as it was, but see it like some kind of restoration laboratory.

1. Making it darker

I used some CLOU stain and black artist acrylic, mixed together to get a slightly darker green. The main difference is that thanks to acrylic paint, it sticks better.

Applied with a small point brush, it helps you:
- Covering unstained spots caused by wood paste, as I wrote earlier, made with too much binder
- Adding "faux figuring" on wood patches or where staining failed or wasn't even

One golden rule: be subtle and work with thin layers, with very little paint.

 

Here I redrawed the wood figuring. You'll notice cross grain sanding marks. They were made by one of the previous owners, probably when rewrapping. I tried to sand them off, but wasn't able to remove them without damaging the outer ply. I'll try to fix that afterwards.

2.Making it lighter

Two different methods: sand it very lightly with 400 grit, till wood begins to show through. Or use clean water and remove stain progressively.

Some tryout on the test shell

 3. Blending

Most fixed areas can be blended together sanding it lightly with 400 or with scotchbrite pad, depending on the desired effect.

It's always hard to tell the border between underdoing it or overdoing it, but I guess I did my best.