Eye of Nu – Custom Djembe P4

I’ve made some good progress with this djembe build.? I ordered the Inlace Inlay System from a different company this time (didn’t know what all I needed the first time ordering, so I had all the correct granules and fillers and dye, just no clear resin or red resin)… Turtle Feathers as I wasn’t too happy with the customer service from the previous company.? I got the inlay the next day (shipped from NC).? I got some red resin, black dye, clear resin, brick stone flecks.? The “brickhouse stone flecks” really helped the mixture look close in color to the bloodwood.? The bloodwood also came in and I couldn’t be more happy!? Though I ordered 10 board feet.. I really only needed about 2… so I’ve got lots extra for another project.

On the engraving front, I got the logo engraved and am really happy with the turn out.? I was contemplating if I wanted to squish the image a bit, because it will be engraved flat, then put into round on the glue up.? I decided it wouldn’t be too big to distort much so I didn’t mess with the file.

After glue up I wish I had squished the image some.. it looks a bit oval, but not bad and I am still happy with the way it came out.? I had to clean the burnt residue that the laser left behind so that the inlay would adhere to the maple wood.

I have also made my “rings” out of bloodwood that will go on the top and bottom of the base.. as shown in this post and the above photo.? The above photo shows the rings but they aren’t attached or fitted perfect yet… the below photo shows the rings alone.? I had to make the top ring twice because the first ring was about 1/8″ too big all the way around.? I figure I’ll use it in another project somewhere.

I’m testing if I want to use a lacquer or polyurethane finish on this drum.? I don’t want the maple to yellow as polyurethane has a name for doing this on lighter colored woods.?? I can’t really see a difference between the two.? I did a base coat of BLO thinned with mineral spirits, then applied polyurethane to one side and lacquer to the other.? I think I’ll end up going with the lacquer, although this stuff is expensive and smells horrible while applying. ? Good thing I’ve got a nice respirator!? It does dry fast and I think I like the final look a tad better .? Good thing I’ve got a nice respirator!

Next up for this build is to make the bowl (top half of the djembe) finish up the bottom half and put the resin inlay in the engraved area.? I’m getting excited!!