Whoa! I'm building a djun djun too! I fished this log out of the
river I thought was maple because it was light colored and heavy.
I drilled out the center to make a tube and it's been drying.
But I've noticed the piece I drilled out is now much lighter as
it drys. So maybe it's not maple like I thought! Oh well, I'm
going to make it into a drum anyway after all that drilling!

This is a valid question. I like two sealers for drums. One is
tung oil varnish. It's a great sealer. It soaks in the wood
well and doesn't yellow with age. It also resists chemicals
and water well. The other is polyurethane varnish which also
is great. Is more modern and not only is very impervious to
water and chemicals but to abrasion as well. Most of my djembes
are hand-rubbed with Tung oil. BUT they are only carved, NOT
painted. And if it were me I'd have varnished your drum after
you carved it but BEFORE you painted it. Too late! All I can say,
is that I do own a painted djembe and to protect it and the
painted design I simply sprayed it with semi-gloss polyurethane.
Looks good and has held up to abuse wonderfully. The urethane
actually makes a protective coating over the paint. But you do
need to check a little spot first to see if the varnish is
compatible with the paint. Bad things can happen if isn't!
The paint can wrinkle up and come loose from the wet varnish
just like it was paint remover! Be careful!

Benj
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Due to SPAM innundation above address is turned off!

scruffy eagle

Hi, Greg!

I do a little woodworking now & then, so I thought I might be able to be
helpful via replying to your post.

It sounds to me like six of one vs. half a dozen of the other, re. oil
vs.poly. I think it really depends on how much of either one you use, and
what the condition of the wood is at the time you apply the finish.
Rough-hewn, rough-sanded, very dry, or simply very old wood will soak up a
lot of oil, if you go with that choice. The finer it's been sanded, the more
resistance it will have to soaking up finishing fluid, because the actual
surface area decreases the finer its sanded, and the pores become less and
less open. In general, the finer it's sanded, the better. Finer sanding also
helps to make the surface of the wood become a resonance boundary, as vs.
letting the vibration escape.

My advice, for what it's worth, would be to go with the poly finish instead
of the oil. Since you've painted it, the oil could easily remove the paint
instead of just covering it; dissolving/diluting it. Also, any oil which
gets soaked up by the wood acts as a vibration dampener. Very light layers
of poly are more likely to stay on the surface, instead of soaking into the
wood.

I'd also advise going with Minwax wipe-on satin finish poly, as vs. a spray
product. The exception would be if the surface is carved and the wipe-on
fluid wouldn't get into the depressions. The problem with spraying, is that
it's hard to control precisely how much poly is going onto the wood. (If
carved, you might want to lightly spray with poly first, then finish with a
wipe-on poly.) Applying wipe-on poly, use an old linen shirt to keep the
dust & lint lessened. Fold the cut edges to the inside, to make a little
bundle. Add poly to the center mound of the bundle, on opposite side of
where it's been folded, then wipe with that. Several light layers will give
a much finer finish than one thick one. Once the wood is covered by finish,
STOP. Thin is good for this, to reduce the absorption and dampening of
vibration by the finish (as vs. the wood).

Hope this was helpful!

Scruffy
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