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Hello Percussion people: What is the preferred finish on conga's? Thank's

For looks, my favorite is Watco Danish oil finish on oak, although it does have some other downsides. I have had this on 2 Skin on Skins that I have had since the early 80s. This brings out the wood grain and natural beauty, isn't too slippery to let you pick the drum up with your knees to hit the bass, and is very easy to touch up if you get scratches or gouges. The downside is that for some climates like NYC where the humidity cycles from very humid in the summer to very dry in the winter, the oak cracks easily, mainly the glue joints between staves. This happened on both of my Watco finished SoS oak drums and on neither of my polyurethane finished oak SoS drums. I haven't tried oil finish on mahogany or cherry, they may be less likely to crack with humidity changes. After getting the cracks fixed on one of the oak Skin on Skins, I decided to refinish it with a few coats of Watco oil, then a few coats of satin polyurethane on the outside. This has held up great for over 20 years and the drum has not cracked any more. The other oak SoS still has only the Watco oil finish. It is still cracked between a few of the staves but sounds great. Last summer someone in Central Park was playing palitos on it with some dark stained hardwood claves and dented and discolored the wood up between the lug brackets. Within a few minutes, with some Watco oil on a steel wool pad, I refinished that part of the wood, it now looks beautiful and matches the rest of the finish. Polyurethane over oil stain is a good second choice, although the wood grain is not quite as beautiful and it is harder to refinish if you need to. Yes, polyurethane sticks fine over cured (a few days at least) Watco oil finish. Gloss polyurethane lets the natural grain show through a little better than satin but I like the feel of the satin finish better. Gloss for the first few coats, sanded between coats, with satin for the last coat might work best. Since you are in Puerto Rico, you will probably be able to use natural oil alone on your mahogany Junior without the climate-induced cracking. You can always put a few coats of polyurethane over the oil stain later if you want to sell the drums to someone in a more northern climate. Juniors are also probably less likely to crack between staves than SoS anyway. You can test it out on a small patch of the bare wood, you can always sand it off if you don't like it.

I used several coats of dark tung oil to refinish this drum.
Tung oil is 100% natural and non-toxic, which was important to
me, especially as I did all the work in my living room.

I also have two Skin on Skin cherry drums, I'm not quite sure that they
are coated with, I think polyurethane, but you can see the layer of finish on them, where on the Gon Bop
the oil has soaked into the wood, instead of creating a finish layer on top of the wood

Watco oil like a golden oak first give it a day or two to properly dry and
then use at least 3 coats of gloss oil poly as your top coat for better protection.
The Watco oil penetrates the wood and pops the figure, makes the wood grain
jump at you. The oil poly will give you extra protection against scratches etc.
If you like satin poly be aware that several coats of satin will obscure the grain
while gloss poly won't. Lacquer is real nice but will not give you the protection
of poly. For drum a like a conga that you plan to play a lot and take it places
oil poly will give you the best protection between those finishes you mentioned
and you can use it as a top coat on Watco Oil. I hope this helps .

RitmoBoricua wrote:Watco oil like a golden oak

That assumes your shells are made of oak. If mahogany, or any other wood species you may prefer an un-tinted oil finish.

Tinted oil finishes are used in two ways:
To change the color of the tone of the grain of a particular wood.
Example: Putting red mahogany tinted oil finish on oak, or cherry shells
OR
To enhance and even out the color of the tone of a particular wood grain.
Example: Putting golden oak tinted oil finish on oak shell or putting red mahogany tinted oil finish on mahogany shell.

Some woods have variable tones of color in their natural grain. In example 2, you are essentially staining them the same color that they would be naturally. Treating them this way makes the natural color more consistent in the varied grain of the wood.

You can use an un-tinted oil finish and it will not affect (change/enhance/even out) color of wood grain at all.
What you see is what you get: naked / natural grain color, deepened by oil penetration.

If you want to see what that might look like before you commit, soak a rag in mineral spirits and wipe down bare sanded shell (which should ready for refinishing). You will get a good idea of what it will look like with un-tinted oil treatment. The mineral spirits will evaporate rather quickly, as well serve to wipe off any dust/dirt on the shell.
You can then decide if you want to go natural or change or enhance the color of the grain of your particular shell.

jorge wrote:For looks, my favorite is Watco Danish oil finish on oak, although it does have some other downsides.... This brings out the wood grain and natural beauty ... and is very easy to touch up if you get scratches or gouges. The downside is that for some climates like NYC where the humidity cycles from very humid in the summer to very dry in the winter, the oak cracks easily, mainly the glue joints between staves. This happened on both of my Watco finished SoS oak drums and on neither of my polyurethane finished oak SoS drums. I haven't tried oil finish on mahogany or cherry, they may be less likely to crack with humidity changes

I agree with all that you say there Jorge.
What you are pointing out is the different expansion/contraction factors of the different species of wood used for the shells.
Different woods shrink and swell (depending on ambient humidity) at different rates.
Unsealed oak apparently expands/contracts a lot. I don't know about mahogany or cherry.

When an oil finish only is applied, the wood has soaked up some oil, but is not sealed from the environment.
When a coating is applied (lacquer, poly, paint) the wood surface is in effect "mummified" and the wood surface is isolated from the air...and the moisture it may or may not contain. Hence, the expansion/contraction of the wood is reduced.

Although I love the look an oil finish, I lean toward sealing stave constructed wood shells for long term stability.
For two reasons:
1) The wood is already somewhat stressed ..usually because of steam bending of staves. Isla and Volcano brand drum shells are exceptions as the staves for those drums are cut to shape...making a much more stable wood shell construction.
2) The stressed wood staves have 60+ linear feet of glue joints between them.
............factor in unsealed wood, seasonally shrinking and swelling, and the very good possibility that the wood and the glue in those 60 feet of joints having different expansion/ contraction factors (the wood shrinks and swells a lot, the glue probably not at all), and it's logical to assume it's only a matter of time before a crack occurs along the glue joint lines of an unsealed shell.

Here's a comparative on final sealing finishes I snatched off web:

Polyurethane:
A brushable finish widely touted to the do-it-yourselfer as the "be all" finish that is suppose to be water proof and superhard. The problem is that it is a thick finish that frequently shows brush marks and turns yellow with age. It is a hard finish but hard also means brittle, a finish that flakes, scratches and chips easily as a result, and is not repairable. Because it is rigid it does not flex with the wood and so any wood expansion creates hairline flaws, allowing moisture to get underneath causing white areas and finish lifting. When the finish does deteriorate, as it will eventually, it is extremely difficult to strip and refinish.

Lacquer:
It a finish that must be sprayed and is widely used by furniture manufacturers and refinishers. It is water clear and never changes color. It is repairable. With the acrylic additive that we use, it is flexible. It becomes the most moisture, alcohol, chip and scratch resistant finish you can use.

Water-based Lacquer:
Many furniture manufacturers now use water based lacquer in order to meet EPA regulations. It takes on a slightly cloudy or milky look, is very thin and brittle, and easily damaged. It is only moderately repairable.

Brushable Lacquer:
There is a product by Deft brand called "clear wood finish" that is the only brushable lacquer that exists. It smells terrible while curing and it takes at least three coats. It is what we recommend to the DIYer. The secret to using it is to use a very good brush and apply thin coats.

Whatever you use, if you combine products (oil/poly, oil/lacquer) make sure products are compatible, meaning that they will not have an adverse reaction with each other. Putting polyurethane over lacquer is a no-no. Always best to do a sample first.

Hope this contributes somewhat to the conversation.

Thank's guy's: I remember talking to Matt Smith and he said he use's Poly with a little tint in it for his mahogandy conga's. I have used lacquer, &a water base poly on my drumset's. I live in Northern California now so climate is dry over here. Thank's for all of the info, this is a great site!

Just to let you know that Minwax Polyshade is a poly with toner/tint (color) in it already.
Of course comes in different shades and in gloss, semi-gloss or satin. I hope this helps.

Thank's RitmoBoricua your right about Minwax. Im going to Home depot to check it out after i eat some Mofongo

Aloha BB,

Attached is a pic of my Gon Bop Tumba and Conga I refinished using hand rubbed oil. The Tumba is a Luan Mahogany and the Conga is Oak. I used a product called Gun Stock Oil made by Birchwood Casey Co. which contains linseed oil combined with other products. The Tumba has 21 hand rubbed coats and the Conga has 17. In between coats I used 0000 steel wool to blend out any inperfections. On the Conga I used a walnut stain prior to the oil coats giving it a dark color.

Keep on Poundin'... Aloha, maSSivdrums

Joseph, I have an old school matador that i'm in the process of refinishing. I want it to look like my LP classics (natural wood with chrome hardware). I got it sanded down to bare wood all the way around ....If i'm reading your above thread correctly, I should use brushable laquer. Correct?

maSSivdrums wrote:Attached is a pic of my Gon Bop Tumba and Conga I refinished using hand rubbed oil. The Tumba is a Luan Mahogany and the Conga is Oak. I used a product called Gun Stock Oil made by Birchwood Casey Co. which contains linseed oil combined with other products. The Tumba has 21 hand rubbed coats and the Conga has 17. In between coats I used 0000 steel wool to blend out any inperfections. On the Conga I used a walnut stain prior to the oil coats giving it a dark color.

I love a hand rubbed finish, it's a lot more phases of finishing than most people want to mess with, but the end result is beautiful. I had a big mahogany djembe shell that i did a hand rubbed finish with Tung Oil.
Same thing... buncha coats..steel wool between.
Tung oil is kinda tricky because it goes on thick, and goes into a thick tacky state very quickly.
Should be buffed within 15 minutes. Beautiful results. Has that luster ( like your Gon Bops have!) unlike a varnish finish.


I have a Gon Bop Tumba with a fiberglass/ clear resin coat over stained Luan (Philippine Mahogany...not really of the mahogany species). Sanded it down to resin coat, then applied multiple coats of Carnuba Wax / steel wool rubbings, and then one final buff out with buffing pad. Has same lustrous look as hand rubbed. See pic below.
Good thing about carnuba is that you can also use it on the metal hardware, and buff to high polish. Protects metal

Sakuntu wrote:Joseph, I have an old school matador that i'm in the process of refinishing. I want it to look like my LP classics (natural wood with chrome hardware). I got it sanded down to bare wood all the way around ....If i'm reading your above thread correctly, I should use brushable laquer. Correct?

Hi Sakuntu,
That recommendation on bushable lacquer was a quote from a web page on the pros/cons of different finishes.
I've never used it so I don't have any direct experience with it.
Sounds like good stuff though. I'd consider trying it. Lacquer sounds like the most durable finish, and brushable makes it within reach of those without spray equipment.
Just remember, if you are going to use some oil base stain under it, to do a sample on a separate piece of wood to make sure lacquer based solvents do not have adverse reaction with stain (like dissolving / lifting / smearing it ).
You may have to use a lacquer based stain to be compatible with finish coat.

Bongobilly wrote:Thank's RitmoBoricua your right about Minwax. Im going to Home depot to check it out after i eat some Mofongo

Bongobilly,

That's real nice. Did you come-up with it?
Looks like a "Taino" God. Wepa Boricua!

Mofongo, piononos, alcapurrias y mabi. Los quioskos en la Playa Luquillo. Donde mejor se come en Borinquen.
Sabrosura!

Dario

Dario,

Yeap I have been to los kioskos de luquillo too.
I do not know now but at what time they had
like 60 of them kioskos under one roof, practically
Kiosko Mall

RitmoBoricua Omelenko1 Rellenos de papa, bacalaitos, Pasteles, Lechon Asado! Vaya bro! On Rt 111 in San Sabastian nere Moca there;s a truck that make's sandwich's using plantanos instead of bread. They smash it flat & and put pernil in it. Anyway Ritmo i build drumset's and yes that's an Taino indian petroglyph, I copied it from a book and made a decal's with special paper you can buy on the internet. Maybe i will put some on my conga's too.