| Item | Description | Picture | |
| Drum Kit | N/A |
Any drumkit should do aslong as it has wraps for a finish. Already stained timber is obviously not going to work unless you want to refinish it. | |
| Drum Key | - |
You should already have this for tuning. Simply used to remove the heads. | |
| Wood Stain/Paint | 25 |
This is where you get creative, it is up to you the type of finish you are after. You can get coloured stains which have a woodgrain finish while colouring the wood or you can go for a paint. I personally chose Sikkens Super Natural Topcoat for Exterior Timber. I will discuss it further on in the article. I chose it because it was already lying around and had a good finish to it. | |
| Wood Finish/Varnish | 25 |
I was looking for a real 'plasticy' finish so I chose a polyurethane varnish. I chose Cabot's Cabothane. Its a clear varnish for interior wood which is perfect for what I want to use it for. It also dries in 24 hours. | |
| Phillips Head Screwdriver | - |
Needed to undo screws holding hardware to drum. | |
| Pliers | - |
Used for removing grommet from drum. | |
| Scissors | - |
For cutting the wraps off. | |
| Knife | - |
Used for lifting wraps off of drum. A nice big flat knife is probably best. Best if blunt. | |
| Hair Drier | - |
Ask your sister/spouse/metrosexual for one of these. Used for heating the glue to make it easier to remove. My weapon of choice is the feared Breville EasyDry 1500 - set to hot. | |
| Silvo | 15 |
Silver polish. Used for polishing 'chrome' hardware. This is entirely optional - If your hardware is dull then this should restore much of their old shine. | |
| Sandpaper | 5 |
Obviously used for sanding the shells. I chose 80grit and 160 grit, but you may want 320 grit aswell. | |
| Methylated Spirits | 5 |
Used to loosen the glue off of the shells. Optional depending upon whether the shells are glued extensively. | |
| Mineral Turpentine | 5 |
Used for cleaning brushes. | |
| Rags | - |
Used for cleaning stuff and applying metho. Also for applying the stain if chosen. | |
| Woodblock | - |
Used for sanding. | |
| Paintbrush | 15 |
I suggest a decent paintbrush. It will make your work so much easier and cheap brushes can lose their bristles which adhere to your lovely drumshell. You then have to fish them out - not worth the trouble - so just buy a decent brush. | |
| Vegemite Jar | - |
Must be a vegemite jar. I can't stress this enough. Must be vegemite. Not really, just filled with metho to clean the brush. | |
| TOTAL | $95 |
This is the total if you didn't have any of the primary materials in your possession to begin with. I'm not including things that you'll find around every house - although you should have metho and turps. While $95 sounds like alot the finish you can achieve on even a cheap kit is worth it. |
©Daniel Wright 2004