I'm sure you'll be told to search I am curious myself cause I am about to take apart my Slingerlands and it scares me to death that I might not get them put back together.

Are you speaking of the screws that hold the lugs onto the shell. I always tighten it just a bit before loosening it, helps break any rust. Any kind of penetrating oil dabbed on the head of the screw might help.

I have found there is always a stubborn screw or two when I am removeing hardware from a drum. A little wd40 helps sometimes. Sometimes a screw has been put in a little off center and it is stripped. You can usually get them out but you need a replacement to put themback in. Just don't break it iff while part of the thread is still in the lug. Use vice grips or something to turn it. Those lug screws are plentiful and inexpensive.

Steve, I know the drums you are most likely to be working with are Fullerton era Rogers... internal fasteners are self threading going into an untapped screw boss on the lug. Sometimes these will come easy and sometimes not so much. Often they will strip a little bit. You will probably see some thread residue from the boss on the screw threads. You must clean these thoroughly before reinstalling them. The likelyhood the screw itself is stripped is almost nil on these type of fasteners. Also remember to clean out the lug boss for threading residue before reassembly. This step will help prevent more stripping when you reassemble. Do not use vice grip type pliers. Instead, do use a normal 1/4 ratchet type wrench or socket on the fastener, and only disassemble or reassemble by hand. Never use a power driver.

As for rust, if the deterioration is very minor, an overnight soak in Dawn at about a 50% cut with tap water will usually do the trick, and you can finish them off after drying simply by running the heads over a soft cloth. If the deterioration is more intense, I have used RUST DISSOLVER GEL, about 7 bux at OSH for 8 oz. This stuff is super powerful and will remove all rust from the fasteners down to bare metal. It will also remove any protective coating that might remain. The bottle says something like 3-5 minutes, however, when I used it that way it required another bath before the fasteners were clean. The next batch I left in the gel for aprox. 15 minutes. These fasteners required no additional work. I used a small glass jar, I put enough gel into the jar to liberally coat all the fasteners. Put a lid on it to shake it all around and then removed the lid and let it work. Once the time had passed, a rinse with water to remove all the residue and residual gel, then laid them out on a soft cloth to dry. DO NOT GET THIS GOOP ON YOUR HANDS... it will burn.

I went from this.......... to the pic below. It took me over a month to get up the courage to attack the rust. Normally I do not remove patina from vintage fasteners, just something I learned through playing with old guns, but rust is evil. I couldnt live with the interior rust on an otherwise pristine 1966 set of Rogers.

[IMG]http://inlinethumb37.webshots.com/49444/2410134550028342110S600x600Q85.jpg[/IMG]

[IMG]http://inlinethumb48.webshots.com/20847/2521351950028342110S600x600Q85.jpg[/IMG]

[IMG]http://inlinethumb32.webshots.com/46943/2606591310028342110S600x600Q85.jpg[/IMG]

The absolute best rust remover is Vinegar. Just soak parts for an hour or two (depending on amount of rust) and Viola! Gone Gone Gone!