Hi,

I have used wood fill, and wood epoxy for some smaller holes. But I have never been sure that those compounds would stand up to the rigours of changing environments, hot-cold-humid-dry.

Some people use Bondo to good effect, but I have not tried it.

Though that is more based on superstition than fact.

For bolt holes and Pearl pipe type holes, I have mostly used hardwood dowel. Thus far no probs.

I have done the same as Patrick. I used maple dowels to plug the holes in my tom. Just a coat of wood glue before it goes in and sand flush when dry. Some use the filler with excellent results. Few of the guys were talking about a very good brand of filler. Hopefully one of them will chime in for you as I can't remember the brand sorry. I'd go with whatever fix your most comfortable doing. I'm no woodworker by a LONG shot but those were a pretty easy fix. The larger hole took some time to cut and fit the plug. But the small ones were a snap. I would fill the holes before the rewrap it does make for a nicer drum when finished and resale down the road.

Cool, looke like a good fix. My tom holder hole is actually quite small so I may just go with a really good filler. I appreciate the responses!

Do what you will boyz but.....

a wood dowel or plug is the only professional way to fill any hole in a shell.

It's what shops do, and drum manufacturers.

The trick is to be able to do the fix so well that no filler is needed.

I just did my first hole filling project. I am not much of a wood worker either, but with the information I have found here, I feel very good about my progress. I am converting a 12x16 ten lug marching snare drum into an 8 lug floor tom. I had 47 holes to fill from the very small bolt holes used for installing the strainer, butt and leg rest to the much larger vent holes of which there were three. I used dowels for all of it using Poppy's detailed notes on his club date conversion. In short, I took a dowel that was ever so slightly larger than the hole in question, cut off a 3" piece and chucked that into my drill basically making a poor man's lathe. I then held some sand paper to the dowel and ran the drill. This allowed me to create a taper that would then fit snugly in the hole. Add a little glue to the dowel and lightly hammer it in. Once the glue is dried, cut the dowels off using a Dremel tool with a cutting disc. Sand the remainder down smooth and you are good to go. The interior of these drums will get painted with a textured paint not unlike Granitone so that the repairs are no longer noticeable. It sounds like a lot of work, but it really wasn't and I have no doubt whatsoever that these repairs will hold up over the long haul.

Whatever method works is good. I used to use dowels; then I got a plug cutter so I can use pieces of maple - that way you don't get the end grain problem of dowel. For larger holes; I use a roundabout method. Basically I thin down a piece of maple; first sawing a 3/4' slice off and then using recessed screws, I attach this to the work bench and use a plane and a sander to thin it down a bit. (All this work because sanding maple is a bit like sanding metal) So I have a nice rectangle of thinned maple. Then I use a modified hole saw (drill bit replaced with a bolt) to cut out a plug. Then I drill out the hole in the drum just a tad to a smooth hole of the right size, using a stepped drill bit. I try to find sections of the maple that look right pattern wise too. To perfect the fit and also to finish off; you can beat the good old Dremel. This one turned out well; but I have improved since this. There would be good crafstmen on this forum having a chuckle at this but I don't want to have a shed full of tools I use once a year, so improvisation is the key for me.

[IMG]http://i56.photobucket.com/albums/g179/troutstudio/Rogers/034278ab.jpg[/IMG]

Looks good. Doweling the holes is the only way to go. Wood filler is good for small imperfections but not filling in holes. I'm just finishing up the the same kind of project. Filled half the lug holes and tom mounts on a kick and mounts holes on a tom.

Not to be contradictory, but..........

I have used Minwax Wood Filler to fill lug and bracket holes, including the large Pearl style holes. I have had no issues using wood filler with anything coming "undone".

The key is to fill the hole in several stages, instead of all at once. Use painter's tape as a "backing" and then use the wood filler a little at a time. One shot is okay for small, lug or internal tone control holes, but for tom mount holes, little by little works best.

If the holes are fairly large, I will usually polyurethane over them after the filler has been applied and sanded. I don't do this for lug holes, but I definitely do for the Pearl style holes. The poly gives it more strength and helps make it more "part" of the shell. I'm sure the poly would do much the same on the dowel method.

You can certainly use the dowel method, as it obviously works. The wood filler method works for me. Experiment and see which method you like best.

Yeah, I started this about 2 hours ago. I put backing tape on the inside of the shell and started filling it in little by little. My mount hole is only about an an inch and a half big so it should be fine. Its a very small tom mount hole. The little screw holes are already done, dried and sanded. Thanks!

Nick