Poor mans guide to vintage conga restoration

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Re: Poor mans guide to vintage conga restoration

Postby 11am » Tue Mar 19, 2013 10:40 pm

burke wrote:Great posts and very useful. I've mentioned [and used] PL on my resto's. I actually use PL premium [I also use it for my poor man's boats]. Is the 400 better in your opinion?

Thanks

Darrell


Thanks D, i find that the pl 400 is pretty substantial stuff when a gap filling adhesive is required. The premium should probably be as good or better. I believe they make a water based one to but i don't care for it. I use it in situations where there is nothing left to do, but I would not hesitate to use it at all.
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Re: Poor mans guide to vintage conga restoration

Postby 11am » Tue Mar 19, 2013 11:00 pm

Post 8 in a series of posts

This is where the belt sander is used sparingly ( on oak). The whole process takes about 3-5 seconds only, and is done very very carefully. The belt sander is held at and angle and only the tip of the belt is used PARALLEL TO THE GLUE LINE, in constant motion, for just a few seconds. ( pic 35) That is all it takes. It is loaded with a 60 grit belt. Then the area is dressed with the razor blade.( I would not recommend doing this on a softer wood like mahogany. Unless you have some experience, .and use no LESS than 80 grit)
It becomes a personal preference whether or not you want the pores in the wood to show. There are fillers for these that you can get at home depot, on line refinishers supply, or a good paint store. You spread this pore filler cross wise into the pores, let it dry over night, and sand it flush. I’ m not using it for this restoration. What I do like to do is put a little wet tight bond 3 into any existing minor open crack and then sand by hand mixing the fine powder into the wet glue and packing it in.( pic 36) I might do this any number of times until I get the cracks filled, where ever I see a need. Use plenty of elbow grease and get rid of all the glue on the surface, before it strikes in. Use the glue very sparingly. This is a cosmetic step, not a structural step. THE INITIAL GLUE UP IS THE STRUCTURAL STEP, if you glued it up carefully, that bad boy is going to last for years.
Word of caution. With old drums, a new split could turn up on a previously sound stave joint. That’s just part of the vintage game. Let’s hope that doesn’t happen.

The nail holes, x-holes, dings and small gouges can be filled with any kind of natural or tinted filler, plastic wood, tinted epoxy ( bondo), etc.( 38-39)) When using plastic wood filler, Let the plastic wood dry a few minutes, ( but not completely) sand it flush, working in the sanding dust..The really deep gouges are a different story, they have to dry hard and a little positive ( above the surface) and then sand level.
35.jpg
high stave leveled with belt sander 80 grit (pic 35)
36.JPG
Fill small imperfections and cracks with sanding dust and glue (pic-36)
38.JPG
Fill deep gouges and x-holes with plastic wood of tinted bondo (pic-37)
39.JPG
more filler detail (pic-39)
Last edited by 11am on Wed Mar 20, 2013 9:04 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: Poor mans guide to vintage conga restoration

Postby 11am » Tue Mar 19, 2013 11:11 pm

Post 9 in a series of posts


Lastly, you can re-true the bearing edge ( this step might not be necessary if the bearing edges appears to be flat and even with a straight edge laid across the top) with a simple, shop made devise that is nothing more than some 36-50 grit rough sand paper, ( pic 40) glued to a piece of flat plywood of about 16 x 16 square. Either place it on top of the bearing edge and slowly turn , or place the drum upside down on the sand paper side and turn the drum slowly and evenly a few turns. Any unevenness will sand out. ( Don’t over do this, and check after a few turns. The idea is to level the small imperfections, not flatten the crown ( highest point) of the bearing edge.. If you’re dealing with an 1/16” – 1/8” flat, Dress the crown on the outside of the flat, sanding carefully upward from the edge with a block, with some 80 grit and you’ll be ok. Check it with a straight edge, or piece of flat Plexiglas or window glass. Again, 98% of the time you will NOT need to do this.

STAINING THE SHELL

The finishing process; Alright, now that the shell has been filled and sanded thoroughly, it’s at this point that you will want to make sure that no old varnish or top coat remains. You will see it, and it will appear glossy. If your pretty sure you’re satisfied with your sanding job, take some denatured alcohol and soak some on a clean rag and wipe the shell down.( pic 41) If it penetrates immediately, you have a surface that is ready for stain. If some shiny spots appear on the surface, get out the sand paper and sand some more. If you have compressed air, blow down the shell then ( 41-1)
Wipe down the entire drum with denatured alcohol ( to remove the sanding dust. I don’t tack rag it, myself. If you don’t have air, Alcohol will be fine.

When the alcohol saturates completely, let it evaporate, ( about 5-10 mins) and you’ll be ready to apply the first coat of stain. In this case it’s Minwax red mahogany oil stain.( pic 43) Another home depot standard.. I have a quart of it mixed with some lamp black and burnt umber pigments to brown it up, but you can use an Early American stain, or a Chestnut, or a combination... ( all stock Minwax colors) You can use a water based aniline dye, too, ( but it will raise the grain) or what ever you feel comfortable with, but I’ll use good old Minwax stain. It’s worked for 40 years without a problem.
Brush it on with a disposable 2” white bristle chip brush (pic 44)
40.JPG
Shop jig for truing bearing edge ( Use if necessary) (pic-40)
41.JPG
Wipe down shell with denatured alcohol (pic- 41)
41-1.JPG
Shell after alcohol wipe down (pic-41-1)
43.JPG
Minwax red mahogany stain (pic-43)
44.JPG
Applying the oil stain 9pic-44)
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Re: Poor mans guide to vintage conga restoration

Postby 11am » Tue Mar 19, 2013 11:23 pm

Post 10 in a series of posts

( I buy these online by the boxful, by the way) but they are in any paint or hardware store. Very handy little brushes. Let it penetrate ( pic 45) for 5 -10 minutes and then, while tilting the drum with one hand, wipe off the excess with a clean soft rag going from BOTTOM to top, in one motion. ( pic 46) It will take 24 plus hrs for this coat to dry. Set it aside and leave it alone.( pic 47)

THE SECOND COAT OF STAIN

When it isn’t sticky any more, 48 HRS. repeat the process with Red Mahogany ( one little pint can will do a whole drum easily) 5-10 minutes, wipe it off.( pic 48) You have two choices in the staining process. 1) you can wipe it all off uniformly. This will show off the grain, and will accentuate the imperfections if the blemishes were deep and required filler. 2) you can leave some of the stained areas darker. Taking less off in the upward wiping motion. ( This is the technique I used in this situation, as there was a lot of filling on the shell due to holes and gouges and dents, fundamentally it is a simple, elementary type of wood graining) ( pic 50) This is a matter of taste. Let it dry thoroughly. One consideration: All of the areas where filler was applied, holes, gouges , dings, etc. will appear as dull spots at this point. Don’t be too concerned as they will mostly disappear when the clear coats are applied.

When everything is dry in a couple of days ( It does take a while with oil based stains) The drum is ready for clear top coats. If the surface has any raised grain, ( which it shouldn’t) lightly sand it with a scuffing pad of very fine grit. 320 or so and take it easy, do not be aggressive with this procedure. Feel it with your hand until it’s smooth and wipe it down with a damp/dry cloth. Don’t do this at all if the stain is smooth. We’ll do it after the first clear coat dries, if necessary.

Now You have some choices as to how to clear coat it. .Note: because we used an oil stain, we CANNOT use a lacquer based top coat. IT WILL EAT THE OIL STAIN. We don’t have to spray it, although you could. ( with oil based polyurethane varnish) In this case I’m going to use a brushed on water varnish instead of oil based polyurethane. All of them work well. Remember: Spray lacquer is not for this application. Straight brush work will give you a comparable spray finish if you follow these directions.
45.JPG
Let the stain penetrate for 50-10 minutes (pic-45)
47.JPG
First coat of stain wipe from bottom to top (pic-47)
50.JPG
The graining effect of striped mahogany on oak (pic-50)
48.JPG
Applying the second coat of stain from bottom to top (pic-48)
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Re: Poor mans guide to vintage conga restoration

Postby 11am » Tue Mar 19, 2013 11:36 pm

Post 11 in a series of posts


I’ll be using a Minwax high gloss water based clear Acrylic for my purposes here, on this drum. ( pic 51) If you want to use a clear poly oil based, fine, just as good. Whatever you feel you can handle considering your skill level. I use them all , they all work well in compatible situations. The water based clear is pretty mistake proof for the beginner, and very strong as a top coat. That’s my recommendation here. Naturally, if you desire a different sheen, ( Semi-Gloss, Satin, Eggshell, Matte) they all go on the same way. Apply it with a clean brush. ( I’m using a 2” chip brush) When the varnish goes on it will appear milky blue in color, ( pic 52) it will flow out and turn clear when dry. Check each area you brush for hairs and sags, (especially around the holes). Go back and get these out immediately, check several times while the varnish is still wet. Clean the brush in the sink with hot water and put it aside lying flat to dry. Note: I’m using what is considered a very cheap white bristle brush. It is, but, they are very good little brushes. When they are new they have a tendency to shed a few hairs. Check your work for these and remove them when the varnish is wet and re-brush upwards.

Note to beginners: Put the varnish in a separate clean container, ( Like a plastic deli qt takeout container) and put in about an 1 ½” of varnish. DON’T work out of a full to the brim can,( like a numbskull) Dip the brush to the bottom and then tap it on the side of the container gently, it will now be properly loaded and will not drip all over when you move it to the drum. That’s a trade secret that is essential to using a brush. Learn it. I like to put the drum on a stand so I don’t have to bend or kneel. ( It’s also easier to see what you’re doing) Stroke from the bottom up. Not the other way around. Then go down the surface top to bottom, then finish BOTTOM to top one last time ( Going past the top of the edge) Make a concerted effort to get the coat as uniform as possible within reason of your ability. Do the whole drum that way, checking often for misses (unvarnished spots) as you go. Leave it alone. It will level out on it’s own. If you did miss, and the varnish is setting up, leave it alone. (You will have about 10 minutes to check the drum, depending on drying conditions.) It will disappear on the next coat. If, when doing this, you have to move the drum for any reason to another area, handle it from the edges only. The skin will cover any finger print and so will the bottom band. Regardless, DO NOT TO TOUCH THE BODY OF THE SHELL when it’s still wet!

4 coats. One in the morning, one in the evening times two. 4 coats are plenty. (It’s up to you if you want to do more, or scuff it down between coats with fine 3M sanding pad. Put at least 2 coats over the stain BEFORE scuff coating between coats to build the proper barrier between the stain). With a brush, 4 coats are good for most applications. Let it cure. The shell is Done for now.. Curing will take 2 weeks or more, but it will be dry enough to install the hardware the following day. let the finish CURE. Understand that it is technically STILL SOFT! Trust me on this. If you live in a hot climate, like Florida, etc. Don’t use this type of varnish in the sun. It dries way to fast. Use it in the shade or better yet in the garage. If you live up north, my advice is still the same. Indoors is probably better in both cases. Polyurethane varnish, thinned with mineral spirits (paint thinner) is also a perfectly good top coat, but requires 24 hrs between coats, and it smells. It is however, stronger overall, than water based varnish. IMO

THE LAST STEP

Now that I have 4 coats of topcoat on the shell and it’s dry, I will fine sand the shell BY HAND IN THE DIRECTION OF THE GRIAN. with a 3M fine scuff pad, in conjunction with a small piece of 320 grit sand paper. Allow a couple of days before doing this step, to assure the varnish is fairly hard. As you sand this with the 3M pad you will see fine little pimples, which will show up white.(pic 60) Take the 320 grit paper and sand these off gently. Do this until you are satisfied, and go back over it with the scuff pad. Repeat as much as necessary, making sure you do not cut through the top coats, and that the surface is a nice dull satin.. (That’s why we do 4) When the surface is totally smooth, dull and feels smooth, ( pic 61) you are ready for wax.
51.JPG
Minwax high gloss water based varnish (pic-51)
52.JPG
Applying the varnish ( It will appear Bluish in color when wet) (pic-52)
60.JPG
Rubbing down with a 3M Fine Pad ( pic-60)
61.JPG
Drum is pad sanded and ready for wax top coat (pic-61)
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Re: Poor mans guide to vintage conga restoration

Postby 11am » Tue Mar 19, 2013 11:46 pm

Post 12 in a series of posts



Again, Minwax paste wax, butcher’s wax, ( pic 62) is what I use here. Wipe it on with a clean cloth, let it dry a little, and buff it back hard using a clean terry cloth rag.(pic 64) You can wax it as much as you want. I do one or two good coats and buff it out. . It should look and feel pretty smooth by now. (pic 59) The over staining on the 2d coat gives the oak that striped mahogany look, and helps take the eye of a lot of blemishes. The final finish will be between a satin semi-gloss. You also could leave it gloss, or whatever finish you like with out doing this last step, but waxing it makes a lot of difference IMO

Everything I’ve discussed here will cost about 80-120 bucks or so, (assuming that you don’t have any of it) that’s about it. The shell should look pretty damn good by now.

CLEANING THE HARDWARE

. I am not going to get into re-chroming aspects, as it’s pretty academic. Take off the hardware, have it re-plated, put it back on, end of story.. That is the absolute best thing to do if you can afford it, and have a plating company nearby. Nothing is better for oxidized, flaking, hardware. Another consideration. A lot of the old Gon Bop hardware was plated terribly. This is not to say that every piece of Gon Bop hardware is poorly plated, but the ones I have worked on ALL had flaked and pitted chrome. These drums I would add, all were left in garages or basements, unprotected. It is not good for chrome plating. All of my drums need re-plating of the hardware. Rims and lug plates I have yet to do that. I left the hardware as is for the purposes of this article. If you do decide to have the parts re chromed, make sure you know and trust where you’re taking it to be done, because if you lose a piece, you will not get another one easily ,inexpensively, or quickly.
62.JPG
Minwax furniture paste wax (pic-62)
59.JPG
The shell after waxing (pic-59)
Attachments
64.JPG
With drum between legs, buff down with a clean terrycloth (pic-64)
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Re: Poor mans guide to vintage conga restoration

Postby 11am » Tue Mar 19, 2013 11:52 pm

Post 13 in a series of posts


WHAT YOU CAN DO ANYWAY.

With a soft toothbrush, a rag, and some Noxon 7. ( pic 53) ( The absolute best cleaner for the job) ( 54-55) Under NO circumstances do you ever take steel wool to chrome, EVER. You will destroy it. All Gon Bop lug plates are fastened with 1- ¼”10- 24 Phillips head machine screws. Get a box 50 Stainless steel 10-24’s for 7.50 at the hardware store and replace the old fasteners. You can reuse the old nuts, steel butterfly plates, and washers if you want.

My final thoughts are these. Restoration and vintage restoration is not for everyone. It can be time consuming, and, depending on what you’re attempting to restore, might not get you where you want to go in the end. But, if you’re and old school person, ( like myself) and you have to have congas of your own era, ( at least one set), and you find a good deal, these methods will get you a good looking and sounding drum for as little money as possible. My invested time for this project is about 6-8 hrs start to finish, with a lot of drying time in between. There is no money to be made doing this. It is for personal satisfaction and not resale. My hope is that this information will help a brother out. Now go make your hands hard.. J M

This vintage collection will get some stage time in some combination or another (pic 58)
53.JPG
Noxon metal polish (pic-53)
54.JPG
Applying the polish (pic-54)
55.JPG
After polish (pic-55)
58.JPG
What you can expect from this method (Pic-58)
me.jpg
Trying 2 of them out recently (small pics same guys 30 years earlier! )
Last edited by 11am on Wed Mar 27, 2013 4:19 am, edited 2 times in total.
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Re: Poor mans guide to vintage conga restoration

Postby 11am » Tue Mar 19, 2013 11:54 pm

OK I figured out what went wrong, i had a bad photo that was in bit map form, and the system could not digest it. I wasn't in the dog house after all!! :mrgreen:
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Re: Poor mans guide to vintage conga restoration

Postby 11am » Wed Mar 20, 2013 1:03 am

Psych1 wrote:Great article, very helpful, thank you. Looking forward to the rest of it.

Question: I've got a 60's mahogany 13" Gon Bops with a big crack along a stave line, crack doesn't quite reach the top & bottom of the shell. Previous owner repaired it with epoxy and it opened again. I've been told I now need to clean out all the old epoxy glue and carve a V shape mahogany shim to fill the crack. It will dry strap closed now but I'm concerned that if I just try to glue the crack, without the shim, other cracks will open up because of the stress on the shell. I don't care about perfect but I do want to do it well. Think I can skip the shim and clean out and just use glue? If so, which glue will bond with the old epoxy? Thanks again for the guide.


Maybe you could post a few pics of the shell on this thread? I would not take an extreme measure like that without seeing the split! Remember this my brother, ask the question: Is this gonna f**k my drum up? Ask it a lot! we'll figure a way out of it for ya :wink:
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Re: Poor mans guide to vintage conga restoration

Postby 11am » Wed Mar 20, 2013 1:07 am

RitmoBoricua wrote:
11am wrote:About the LP head, LOL I did say poor mans Guide!


Just having fun with it, I see LP
stuff on other brands all the time.

Yo Rit, got the rest back up and running! Have a look in pt 2 for what you're question pertains to, and if you need more info, you got it: :mrgreen:
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Re: Poor mans guide to vintage conga restoration

Postby RitmoBoricua » Wed Mar 20, 2013 1:31 am

11am wrote:Yo Rit, got the rest back up and running! Have a look in pt 2 for what you're question pertains to, and if you need more info, you got it:


I saw you used a pigmented stain and a top coat of clear polycrylic.
You can shoot lacquer even if you use an oil stain. What I do is I use
a barrier in between namely dewaxed shellac universal sanding sealer.
Your refurbishing project came out real good, thank you for taking the
time to give us a blow by blow tutorial of how is done. Nothing like bringing
a drum back to life.
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Re: Poor mans guide to vintage conga restoration

Postby 11am » Wed Mar 20, 2013 1:55 am

RitmoBoricua wrote:
11am wrote:Yo Rit, got the rest back up and running! Have a look in pt 2 for what you're question pertains to, and if you need more info, you got it:


I saw you used a pigmented stain and a top coat of clear polycrylic.
You can shoot lacquer even if you use an oil stain. What I do is I use
a barrier in between namely dewaxed shellac universal sanding sealer.
Your refurbishing project came out real good, thank you for taking the
time to give us a blow by blow tutorial of how is done. Nothing like bringing
a drum back to life.


You are absolutely correct about that! I didn't want to get into specifics about that, as far as spraying was concerned as I was trying to demonstrate that using the old hand techniques, ( budget lol ) you could get a very decent finish. I'm probably going to rub down the drum to the left in the last pic, and wax it up. Easier to fix the scratches. Are you in the furniture biz, or drum restoration only?
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Re: Poor mans guide to vintage conga restoration

Postby RitmoBoricua » Wed Mar 20, 2013 12:09 pm

11am wrote:Are you in the furniture biz, or drum restoration only?


No really but I have done both but on my drums and house. What I did, I bought
like 3 or 4 books on how to finish wood, etc and have read extensively about it.
So I have refinished my kitchen cabinets, stairs threads, fireplace mantel, trimming,
etc, even old bikes since is the same principle. You know every spring I get the itch
to refurbish/refinish something and I have redone a couple of drums already, the other
day I used Minwax Polycrylic as my top coat on one of my drums but this time I
used the areosol one, I had a little trouble in the beginning spraying it was kind of
spitting a bit so I had to find the right stroke and was able to get my coats uniform.
So now I am waiting for the stuff to cure since waterborne/waterbased takes longer
and will rub it out here in a couple of weeks or so either with minwax wax or an
automotive wax product. I will go back to the polycrylic in the can since I am not
too impressed with the aerosol stuff. We have a Woodcraft store close by and every
now and then I poke my head in there and buy supplies etc although I do most of my
shopping at Lowe's and Home Depot. I love reading your tutorial, take care.
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Re: Poor mans guide to vintage conga restoration

Postby KING CONGA » Wed Mar 20, 2013 2:30 pm

Wow!!! Excellent post 11am. Thanks for sharing.
You just made me realize were I went wrong with my project, I did not apply Finishing Wax.
That wax sure made a difference. As soon as I have time I will use it.
How many cotes did you apply?
Thanks again.
K.C.
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Re: Poor mans guide to vintage conga restoration

Postby 11am » Wed Mar 20, 2013 5:59 pm

KING CONGA wrote:Wow!!! Excellent post 11am. Thanks for sharing.
You just made me realize were I went wrong with my project, I did not apply Finishing Wax.
That wax sure made a difference. As soon as I have time I will use it.
How many cotes did you apply?
Thanks again.
K.C.


Thanks, Bro, The beauty of waxing it is that you can wax it anytime, as many coats as you want. Me, on this project, I used just one after the scuff down. The good thing for you is that your finish is good and hard. That will make the waxing better. Just get the 3M fine scuff pads. one will do it really. I cut it into small pieces and use it as necessary. 2 little pieces will do the whole drum.Use a 320 grit to knock down and drips or pimples. let me know how it worked out.
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