kevgermany
ex Landrover Nut
- Messages
- 21,369
- Locality
- Just north of Munich
Not sure if I mentioned it, but I picked up a djembe with a broken skin at a flea market a couple of weeks ago.
After doing some research on the web, I decided it wasn't too difficult, looked like fun. And I would use the real thing - a goat skin and shea butter.
I got a shock when the skin arrived - it still had the hair on. A bit more research and I found the way to handle that was just to shave it with a razor blade once the skin was on.
So I went ahead. The skin was a bit smelly, but nowhere near as bad as I expected. And when it came to pulling to get the folds and wrinkles out, the hair was a bonus as I was able to grip it better. Took ages to shave, though, and my hands are sore.
Just letting it dry properly before a final tensioning session.
So if you're ok with your hands, and have one that needs doing, give it a go. No special tools needed, just a razor blade, scissors, wood oil, shea butter and a skin. Oh - and a stout stick. Really satisfying job!
After doing some research on the web, I decided it wasn't too difficult, looked like fun. And I would use the real thing - a goat skin and shea butter.
I got a shock when the skin arrived - it still had the hair on. A bit more research and I found the way to handle that was just to shave it with a razor blade once the skin was on.
So I went ahead. The skin was a bit smelly, but nowhere near as bad as I expected. And when it came to pulling to get the folds and wrinkles out, the hair was a bonus as I was able to grip it better. Took ages to shave, though, and my hands are sore.
Just letting it dry properly before a final tensioning session.
So if you're ok with your hands, and have one that needs doing, give it a go. No special tools needed, just a razor blade, scissors, wood oil, shea butter and a skin. Oh - and a stout stick. Really satisfying job!
