Thanks for the words of encouragement. Once those shiny B and B lugs and tall boy hoops are back on the shells, any remaining imperfections will be mostly unnoticeable. I'll also be able to re-use all of the resonant Rogers Weather King heads. Maybe some Vintage A's on the tops too.

-Tim

As far as the B and B repairs, I know the Propxy20 or JB Weld has been used with good results, but has anyone ever used fiberglass epoxy resin and the thick pieces of fiberglass cloth patches? I would think this would be easier to work with than the putty. Plus you could just apply it to the entire inside of the lug casing and then just drill out the insert holes once it cured.

Another method would be to use just epoxy resin. Make a rubber mold that would be centered inside the lug. This mold would be used to allow the inserts and springs to fit after the epoxy resin is poured in to the lug and cured.

Here's something else I found: http://www.por15.com/EPOXY-PUTTY_p_54.html

Looks like it's easy to work with too.

-Tim

Tim I used JB Weld's Steel Stik. It's a 2 part putty that comes in a roll you slice a small piece off and kneed it together. Then shape it into the lug. To me it looks like the weak spots are the ends. So I just used the Steel Stik putty in both ends. It won't drip and sets up nicely in 24 hrs solid as a rock. Just be sure you leave room inside for the insert and it's depth. The lugs I did the inserts were lowered a bit into the lug with the putty on the inside floors of the lugs. I too thought about finerglass cloth and resin and also looked into Kevlar fiber cloth. But felt the Steel Stick/Pro Poxy were solid fixes. Tommy K who came up with the JB weld and putty fix has had his lugs under tension for 5 years. Jack M was also working on a insert project for these lugs. There's also a gentleman on DFO who came up with another type of fix that does not involve putty. He used a threaded insert with a hole drilled in each end of the lug. This closed the crack gaps and did not interfere with the spring and insert. But is more intrusive drilling holes in the lugs. I'll try to find the thread and post it for you to see.

Here it is. If your not a DFO member you might need to join to see the pics. That's how it was for me back before I joined a lurked a bit there.

http://www.drumforum.org/index.php?/topic/103931-i-did-it-bb-bulletproof/

Thanks, Glenn. I will be watching the DFO thread closely. Not sure I want to drill into all of the lugs to install the threaded rod inserts, but it does look like a solid fix though. I'm very interested in the fiberglass/epoxy resin method.

All of my lugs (minus 3 that completely failed), still have all of the tabs. I'll use the 3 failed lugs for my testing.

-Tim

Here's an update on the Mercury snare. Since this was the worse drum out of all four, I decided to remove all the paint. Here are some pictures of the shell. The grain is very neat looking, but the patterns of the chipping/checking followed the grain. So it looks like something with the wood reacted to the paint.

There were up to 3 layers of paint. One white primer/base coat covering the entire shell inside and outside, then the silver coat on the entire outside and then the blue coat on the top and bottom.

I'll lightly sand the shell before I prime, but should I treat the bare wood with something to stop the checking from returning?

-Tim

Don't know how I missed this thread. Cool drums!! Hope the re-start on the project goes well.

Creighton