From the factory it was white right up to the bearing edge. I think. On my Clubdates I used an artist's brush to "cut" right up to the edge, then regular brush to cover the rest. It looks nice this way anyway...

I attached a pic from the Ludwig site of the Legacy edge. I think it's the same, based on the vintage edge? I believe the edge is supposed to be 1/16th" in the middle of the poplar ply...I think. :)

[edit] This picture is very nice and clear, but when you're looking at an actual edge on an actual shell, sometimes it's hard to know what you're looking at - where the plies begin and end, width-wise. Sometimes the poplar ply is light coloured and sometimes dark...it's a tough nut to crack.

Jeff - with a 3-ply lay-up you don't have much choice other than to land the edge on the poplar layer. 4, 5, 6-ply and up the 'rule' is to land the edge on an inner hardwood ply.

The lump at the seam is common on drums from those years. As long as it's dead-level I'd go in and do that bit by the seam by hand. Just match it up as best you can by eye. As long as the edge is level, it'll tune up just fine.

Great work... love following your projects.

John

Thanks for your interest guys,

Mitch, thanks for posting that image, I went to Ludwig's site and checked out the legacy line and saw that the inner cut is a 30 degree and the outer is a 1/8" round-over and the apex is in the poplar ply. So, it looks like I'm on the right track. As far as the lump goes, its pretty much gone. The edge is a little wider where the hump was but I will work it out probably by hand as John mentioned.

I'm looking forward to getting the edges all done so I can move on with the veneer and finish. Probably will have to wait until next weekend to work on them again, man this project is taking forever!

Great work so far Jeff! I love following your threads and always learn something from each of them. I can't wait to see the finished kit!

Thank you, I hope I'm teaching you the correct way to do this. It would nice to hear from someone who has done a lot of edges chime in. It's good to learn from everyone.

Haha that's because you have made the burdensome decision to do it right! :) [and because life/work always get in the way...]

Always pays off in the end though. I'm looking forward to that veneer and finish too...

Found some time to dink around on the shells. Decided to get out my oscillating spindle sander and clean up the inside of the ring so when I rout the 45 degree edge it will come out nice and smooth as well. There were a couple places where the rings were bumpy, I was able to straighten them out with the spindle sander. I don't use this tool very much but when you need it its great to have. Ran the shell over the 45 degree bit, light hand sanding, and a pretty nice ring. I am thinking about doing the last cut ( 1/8" round over) after the veneer is done now.

The edge pictured looks fantastic and I think that last idea is a very good one. It'll make the veneer at the edge perfect!

Found a few minutes this morning to try a little experiment. I am not happy with this result so I think I will tackle this another way.

But here is what I did,

Pic 1, raw birch veneer

Pic 2, stain only

Pic 3, light coat of dye over stain

Pic 4, used the dye to darken the edges

Pic 5, some clear varnish to bring out the colors.

Tomorrow hopefully I can try method #2. If that dont work then I have a third idea. If that dont work then I guess a regular stain and lac job is in order.

Looks great to me Jeff... :)