I'd do the dawn bath/toothbrush deal first.

Then follow up with the polishing method of your choice.

I used Nevr-Dull on these.

They look a little out of place with the snare now.... a little too nice...

Use fresh pieces often so as not to drag along anything that will scratch.

The drum is a marching snare, I think 15 or 16 diameter. I sold it some time ago. The shellac finish on my drum was so dry that I could wipe most of it off with a dry paper towel. I think that's why the orange oil did so much good. Personally, I would hesitate the urge to over-restore these drums. If it were my project, I would remove all the metal bits and clean them as you described, then hit them with either cape cod cloths or never dull. For the shells, I would wipe them with orange oil, which acts to clean and rejuvenate the wood. It won't penetrate the shellac, but the drums will look very nice. Just my 2c, but I think old drums should have a few wrinkles.

Here's a link to my restoration:

http://vintagedrumforum.com/showthread.php?t=20459

jim

kevins

Thanks for the input. I can see the Nevr-Dull would also do the trick. Now that your metal is so nice and shinny, are you going to try to re-finish the shell or what?

auto.pilot

Jim. Thanks for the link to your Walberg and Auge project. Looks like about a year ago you were going through the same things that I am now. I’m with you on not “over-restoring” these drums. I just want to clean the metal up like you did and help the wood to look healthy. I liked how Lee aka “perclee” spoke within your link in terms of preservation as opposed to restoration.

The shellac or what ever it is on my snare drum looks to be in better shape and has more shine to it than the bass drum does. The bass drums shellac seems to look thinner and duller than the snare. I’ll give the shells a good wipe down with either the orange or lemon oil after I finish the metal. But without totally stripping down both drums finishes (which I don’t intent to do), I’m pretty sure these guys aren’t going to look like an exact match, but I’m good with that.

I spent the weekend taking down the snare drum and wanted to share some pic’s.

As you can see, there were areas of pretty bad rust and I wasn’t sure how places like this would clean up.

[IMG]http://www.vintagedrumforum.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=39088&stc=1&d=1328564663[/IMG]

But started with disassembling and labeling every thing, and made my Dawn soaking tray

[IMG]http://www.vintagedrumforum.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=39089&stc=1&d=1328564663[/IMG]

Tension rods and claws sat in the Dawn for 24 hours after which I brushed and brushed and quickly learned to accept rust as my friend

[IMG]http://www.vintagedrumforum.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=39090&stc=1&d=1328564663[/IMG]

After giving Nevr-Dull a try on the lugs, I ended up using Mothers Mag & Aluminum Polish. The Nevr-Dull seemed to leave an “oily” feel that I kept trying to wipe away. Anyway, the Mothers Polish work just fine. What did work great was the Old English lemon oil on the shell. Rubbed in a couple of coats of that and the old shell richen up very nicely

[IMG]http://www.vintagedrumforum.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=39091&stc=1&d=1328564663[/IMG]

Even after scrubbing the tension rods with lots of elbow grease after the Dawn soak, I went after the treads with 0000 steel wool and gave them a touch of Singer All Purpose Machine Oil during assembly and they came out looking wonderful.

[IMG]http://www.vintagedrumforum.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=39092&stc=1&d=1328564663[/IMG]

Oh, I've just been told I can't add more than 5 attachments/images per posting. I'll have to continue on a separate post.

Part two of previous post......

But no matter what I did, the old rust like this on one of the claws just wasn’t going away

[IMG]http://www.vintagedrumforum.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=39093&stc=1&d=1328558869[/IMG]

The old calf heads are still holding their own. Anyone know about this brand?

[IMG]http://www.vintagedrumforum.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=39094&stc=1&d=1328558889[/IMG]

And these old rusty roundwound snares almost look like modern day guitar strings only more flimsy. Anyone have a suggestion on a replacement for them?

[IMG]http://www.vintagedrumforum.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=39095&stc=1&d=1328558909[/IMG]

Finally the end results

[IMG]http://www.vintagedrumforum.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=39096&stc=1&d=1328558925[/IMG]

Next weekend I'll get into the bass drum

for stubborn crud try a nylon bristle brush, or I've had luck with brass bristle brushes as they are softer then chrome and dont scratch it**.

**disclaimer**

try this first before going nuts!

Are there enough tensioners on that drum?electricit

16 to be exact. Without the snares, it sounded just like a small tympani.

whonozz - your snare wires appear to be natural gut, wound with nickel wire. I have them on one of my marching snares, but have no idea where you would get any more. For starters, I would personally dip an inch or so into white vinegar. Soak for a minute and brush with a soft brush. You'll be amazed at what vinegar will do to remove rust. Problem is that it will also eat the metal over time. If you try this, I would also suggest that you rinse immediately to remove the vinegar from the wires. You might be able to save them.

I soaked some VERY rusty parts in vinegar with great results. Not sure if your wires will come clean, never tried that.

I like the light sewing oil treatment. Your drums are coming along very nicely.

perclee was very helpful to me when I restored the W&A Snare. I don't know him personally, just from the forum. Check out his gear: http://leevinson.com/gear.html'

Probably not

I've got a 26, 11, 13 and 16 to go with it in varying degrees of condition too. The 16 will go under the knife for sure, it's the victim of a terrible red re-paint job. All the rest are white enamel.