Repairing damaged Bass Drum finish
I am repairing a bass drum that had significant spider web cracking in a diameter of about 5 inches. Originally I tried to scrape out the cracks and hoped that the lacquer that I was applying would meld with the existing lacquer and fill the damage. It seems that the two lacquers did not join and I continued to scrape the finish down to reduce the thickness of the lacquer. I got it down to almost the original wood finish but did not want to go any further as I was concerned with damaging the wood surface. I then rubbed the surface with thinner to try to rub out the cracks but you can still see the cracks and I think that the wood surface was damaged by whatever caused the damage in the first place. The cracks are very faint and I don't think they will be visible once I recoat the surface. I am concerned that I will have a difficult time matching the existing lacquer finish with the new layers I will be adding. Where one of the cracks was in the same direction of the grain, it appears that area of that crack was damaged as I removed the layers of lacquer, but only in that crack, nothing I can do about that without redoing the entire drum. Compared to the original condition of the damage, the cracks will be almost invisible except to someone really looking hard at the repair. (with the exception of the one scar from the one crack parallel to the grain)
Any suggestions in applying the lacquer layers, thinners, retarders etc.? I have attempted to layer two layers on and it seems that the second layer mixes with the first and gets thick and uneven. I will be using wet dry sandpaper up to 4000 grit as needed to finish the job as needed.
Thanks in advance,
Ken
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