Do the wood filler and touch up first and hear how they sound. If your not happy then have the edges cut by someone you trust.

Can we see more pics of the kit just for fun please.

Yep. I'll try and get them all set-up here in the next couple days. The faded black sparkle "rootbeer" I guess is what they call it is absolutely gorgeous. I need some parts - all the drums are missing the reso hoops and heads. It should clean up and ply really nicely though.

Thank you, me and about a thousand other guys will appreciate the pics, sounds like a real looker. Try vintagedrumbug or blairndrums for those parts.

Already been in contact with blair...hope to have this up and running within a week!

After you smooth them out a bit, run a white candle around those edges, rub it down with a cloth, the wax fills all the small stuff well and tuning is smother. No pressure, just run it around lightly and let the wood pick up the wax.

Go over the wood with some 150 or 220 sandpaper first, just to smooth it out.

If there are any large nicks, you can use filler, my favorite is stick epoxy, suck as Kwik Wood

After it's all reasonably smooth and sanded, the white candle is great; I prefer a puck of beeswax.

Understanding the principles of what you are doing is good. The most important thing for a bearing edge is for the very edge, the part that the head breaks across, to be coplanar, that is, if you were to lay it on a granite slab, no rocking, no light shining out. Unevenness there is what leads to tuning problems, odd resonances or lack of them, etc.

After that, the profile (sharp or rounded, narrow or wider) influences sustain and tone.

Congratulations on the drums! I love my Slingerlands.

Here are some pics of them all "restored." Still some work to do on the hoops, but overall I'm happy

Cool kit! I bet the bass sounds like thunder...

Well done, sir. Beautiful drums.

What did you wind up doing with the bearing edges?