The giant Dene drum is being built in two halves (as is the base) to facilitate removing them from our shop and to also be transported as a legal load. As we designed the drum our concern was how to hide the giant seam that goes right across the middle of the drum. The answer was to offset the seam by just over twelve inches and locate it behind one of two ‘rawhide’ snare strips that are typically found on these drums. The snare strips rattle when the drums are struck and give them a distinctive sound. On the real drums these rawhide strips are twisted and so we did the same with our Corten steel flat bar. It was a real chore to twist the three sixteenth thick by two inch wide pieces of steel evenly but we made a special tool and worked out a formula that did the trick. The twists also allowed us to weld the strips securely to the drum with hidden beads. It worked out really well! Tomorrow we’ll stand the drum halves on their edge to weld the backside of the skins. Thursday afternoon the crane truck will arrive for the test assembly. It is going to be exciting as we put it all together for the very first time! Stay tuned…
