Drum Sticks on Lathe

[Joe Charles]

Good stuff and I don't mean to threadjack but this is such an old thread I hope the OP doesn't mind. I'm a total newbie to turning and plan to start making some sticks tomorrow (after I pick up my lathe in the AM) Did I mention I'm a bit new? I've been drumming professionaly for twenty years and like a bit of "off balance" between my sticks, heavier on the left please, so that doesn't scare me. and I have a bunch of hickory, maple and ash to play with. I'm just wondering how best to turn a spindle like this on the lathe. I am totaly new so go ahead and laugh, tell me to read my new owners manual (which I will) but while at the store is there anything I should pick up to help with the process. I'm getting the HF bench top lathe http://www.harborfreight.com/5-speed...the-65345.html I thought would be a good starter, gets good reviews. I plan on picking up a larger faceplate for other things. I have their chineese 8 piece woodturning kit for starters.
Haven't visited here for a while and thought I'd throw this out at ya'll. Obviously I don't have a ton of loot to drop on this but can I get away with the centers which come with the unit?
Thanks in advance.

[Brian Kent]

Hi Joe. I am also a drummer and a novice turner. Are you familiar with splitting wood to get straight grain top to bottom? Also, look up steady rests, and make one out of 3 or 4 inline skate wheels and some plywood. You will need a lathe chuck (harbor freight has them with #2 morse taper) and you will need grinding wheels and a sharpening system.

[Reed Gray]

I had a drummer ask me once about making sticks out of cherry. He was a jazz drummer, and the cherry gives a softer sound then the Hickory or hard maple. He was in San Francisco, and I told him to try to find some turners there. You do want absolutely straight grain though, otherwise they will split.

robo hippy

[Robert Henrickson]

You will need a steady or two to turn something as long and thin as a drumstick. But one based on skate wheels not be able to handle a diameter that small; the three wheels will likely be in contact with each other before they can support the drumstick. To check, take three circles the diameter of skate wheels and arrange them around a -circle the diameter of the drumstick. You might find that much smaller diameter wheels than for regular skates will work. Perhaps in-line skate wheels would be small enough.

Instead, a different type of steady might work better -- google for "string steady" -- easier to make and able to handle small diameters.

It will be absolutely crucial to have straight grain in what your turn. If you do not, you will be wasting your time.

[Joe Charles]

Thanks Brian, I'm off to get my new lathe. I've done enough reading here to know what i'm in for as far as spending money! But I'm looking forward to hours of fun. I'm not familiar with the term "splitting wood" to get straight grain, I'll have to do a search on that one. Wish me luck and maybe I can post some pics soon.
Thanks everyone for a great resource here at the creek!
Joe

[Paul Williams]

My son-in-law wanted to try making drum sticks. So last week we made a pair. Saying they are a pair might not be too accurate, but there are two of them. It was his first time on the lathe. We used cherry, and he practiced on a few pieces of scrap before starting on the sticks. We did not use a study and worked form the tail stock towards the head stock. Pretty good for a first time turnner.

If you can find a turnner at a local club or elsewhere to give you a hand getting started it will help alot. Most turnners I know would be glad to spend an hour or so with you to get you started off on the right foot.

[Brian Kent]

Good point Robert about the diameter of the wheels. Inline skate wheels are as big or bigger diameter than roller skate wheels. It would be interesting to find out what the smallest diameter is that a three wheel steady rest would support with inline skate wheels.

I am on my coffee break and just figured out that if the 3 wheels were the same size as the bottom of my styrofoam coffee cup, they could support a spindle 3/8" or less in diameter without touching. My jazz 7A sticks (very thin for light playing) are 1/2" diameter, so it would work.

Joe, i don't know if I am using the correct term, but I am talking about putting a hatchet in the end of a piece of a log and knocking it in until the wood splits. It will always split with the grain. The resulting piece will have the same wood fibers throughout the stick.

Also, If I was trying this, I would plan on making about a dozen sticks, start fires with half because they don't look or feel right, and then play with the remaining sticks until I found at least one or two pair that match.

[thomas prusak]

I've been playing drums for 30 years and never once ( until today ) worried about my sticks matching. Playing hard rock growing up I broke lots of sticks and always just grabbed whatever stick that wasn't broke. YET! just my thoughts and opinion

[Thomas Canfield]

I did not see a string steady mentioned, but that might be the cheap and easy way to provide a steady for the long spindles. Some type of support or hand backing seem to be required for a long spindle of that diameter.

[Robert Henrickson]

Just came across this -- turning knitting needles! Might have some ideas that would work for drum sticks. Explore the articles he has posted on his site -- lots of good ideas on how to make things at home

http://www.davidreedsmith.com/Articl...ng_needles.htm

[John Gbur]

There is an article on the same site about making a magnetic steady rest. http://www.davidreedsmith.com/articl.../magsteady.htm. I built one and am working on a second one. The wheel spacing determines how small an item you can turn. My next version may have closer spacing but the current version works fine for drumsticks.

[Ryan Mooney]

That knitting needle article is pure gold. I like all of David Reed Smiths articles, he explains it so even dolts like myself can understand.

I've been making drop spindles which have a similar set of problems and have had really good luck with the collect chuck theory turning out to ~12" long (I've done a few at 14" and that was around where it didn't work anymore without doing it in stages like the needle article suggests) and ~3/16" or a smidge less at the thin part. For those I just been turning one end round for ~1" between centers and then reversing it into the collect chuck and supporting the far end with a live center gently. Mostly using the skew with light shaving cuts and turning to finish about 2" at a time its stable enough that I don't have significant chatter (if I get to heavy handed in the middle it will bounce, that usually means my tool approach is wrong anyway). Interestingly - for me - I find a larger ~1.5" skew actually works better for me on these as I can control the angle better (its easy to see). I'm sure a better turner wouldn't have as much difficulty with a smaller skew and that would allow you to get into corners better but I definitely find it harder to control.

A related (if slightly more esoteric) theory and shows how to use/build a string steady is turning a trembleur: http://www.lavieenbois.com/html/trembleur_eng.htm I could definitely see making the mag steady as a string steady that would be very convenient indeed.. Hmm...

For those unfamiliar here are what drop spindles look like, the commonality with drum sticks is pretty obvious These were both turned with a collect chuck at one end and a live center at the other without re-chucking at all.

IMG_1383.jpg

[Mikey Green]

My son is a professional drummer, so I tried making some sticks for him years ago. I made a pair of hickory sticks and then a pair of bocote sticks. He just displays the bocote sticks and won't use them for playing on his drums. He's extremely hard on his sticks and generally will break a few pair during a performance.

There could be an issue turning once the wood starts to get thin, in that the blanks are thin and long, possibly creating some movement in the center of the stock, if it's clamped in really tightly with the headstock and tailstock. I bought a low-end steady rest to try to hold the center of the stock in place, but it didn't work at all. I made a steady rest using rollerblade wheels, but I couldn't get the arms in close enough to where it would hold and secure the middle of the stock once it got fairly thin relative to its length.

The only issues you may have would be what I mentioned above, and then creating exact duplicates on the heads of the sticks, making them within weight tolerances that a drummer would be comfortable with.

[John K Jordan]

Has anyone here made drum sticks? Is turning drums sticks an entry level project on a lathe? Or is it a bit more difficult generally? Anyone have any cool sticks they've turned that they're willing to show off?

I've turned many spindle that length and that diameter and much thinner. The best advice I can give (besides selecting strong, straight-grained wood) is don't turn them between centers. The entire spindle will be stiffer and subject to less flexing if you hold one end firmly in a chuck and hold the other end with the live center. I turn all my spindles that way, not actually using a chuck but holding them with a morse taper which has the same effect but eliminates the chuck.

Blank with short morse taper jammed in headstock spindle:
B03_mounted_IMG_5020.jpg

Planing cuts with a sharp skew should do the whole thing except perhaps some detail at the tip. If not proficient with a skew, a spindle roughing gouge will work well.

You shouldn't get any flexing with a spindle that thick but if you do you can support it lightly right at the point of cutting with your left hand, moving the hand as you move the tool. This is perfectly safe. This is almost required when turning very thin spindles, say down to 1/8" or so. Some examples:

Left-to-right with skew, left hand support:
D01_thinning_IMG_5025.jpg D02_thinner_IMG_5030.jpg

Right-to-left and "overhand" support when getting thinner:
E01_reverse_IMG_5036.jpg E02_crossover_IMG_5031.jpg

This is what I was turning in those photos, a simple wand to show techniques:
G01_finished_wand_IMG_5047.jpg

Again, you probably won't need the left hand support for a drum stick from good wood but it doesn't hurt to know about it if you do.

If you have some, try dogwood - one of my favorites. Hard, heavy, and very tough wood.

JKJ