Sanding a drum shell is a necessary step to achieve a smooth and flawless finish. When done correctly, sanding can prevent wood imperfections from being highlighted after staining and finishing.
First, if you are going to be using any type of water-based product (stain or topcoat) it’s important to do what’s called “raising the grain” on the shell first. When water hits the drum shell, the pores will swell as they absorb water; once it’s dry it will have a rough texture. If you sand without raising the grain and then put a water-based product on the drum, the surface will be rough again from the swelled pores.
Prevent this by raising the grain first by passing over the drum shell with a damp towel. Once it’s dry, sand it like normal and apply your stain or topcoat without issue as the grain only raises once on the wood.
Sanding by hand takes forever, and it’s recommended to use a random orbital sander because it doesn’t leave swirl marks and the pad will flex a bit to form to the curvature of the shell. Something like a sheet sander will leave swirl marks. The only downside of the orbital sander is that you need to buy specific sanding discs that have velcro on the back to attach to the sander.
I’ll start sanding with 150 grit sandpaper, then gradually work your way up to 180, and finally 220 grit for the outside of the drum shell. For the inside of the shell, I like to go a bit further and use 320 grit sandpaper, finishing off with 400 grit for a nice and smooth interior. Stop at 220 for the exterior since it’ll be covered with wood finish and will be overkill for most cases to go any finer than 220.
An easy way to avoid over sanding and possibly sanding through one of the shell plies is to mark up the shell with a pencil. Carpenter’s pencils are the best for this because the tip is dull and you won’t risk indenting the shell as you would with a standard sharp pencil. Don’t press hard, as you just want to give it a light markup.
When you’ve sanded off the pencil markings, that sandpaper grit is finished and you can move onto the next grit. Wipe off the wood dust and if it’s smooth to the touch after the last grit then it’s good to go.
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