Thursday, February 18, 2010

Torched Maple


This experiment turned out better than I excepted. The
Pearl Export set shown here started out with a wrap on
the shells. I disassembled the set, and detached the plastic
wrap. The shells made of ply maple dissplayed beautiful
grain patterns. I sanded the shells removing all tape and glue
residue. Once the shells were ready for staining, I decided
to take a different route. I thought it would be interesting
to see how they sounded with forced aging. Aging the wood
allows a warmer tonality. What better way to age wood but
by fire. I did just that. Using a handheld blow torch I torched
along the wood grains at first outlining the nice grain patterns.
then filled in the rest of the surface very slowly and with low
flame.
The black hardware complimented the burnt shells adding an
organic look. I went with a satin finish letting the true colors of
the burnt wood appear. The set includes a 22"x18" bass drum,
16"x16" floor tom, and a 13"x11" rack tom. It was purchased by
one of my students. I have his old set for restoration. photos
soon to come...

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