Greetings,

I know we've had multiple "How do you remove old glue/residue" threads. This one is a bit different. This is a 5.5" x 14" snare drum. I stripped off the wrap and am going to use a natural, clear coat poly finish. It's a cheaper drum, but the outside and inside look fine, plenty of wood grain showing, no large patches or knots in the grain etc.

To make things even more challenging, this particular wrap was held on with double sided tape not only vertically where the wrap "starts" on the shell, but it was also held on horizontally by a strip near EACH bearing edge, all the way around the shell! I got this drum for cheap, but had I known about this, I never would've bought the darn thing! This will make for a lot of extra work, and I will probably invent a few new curse words too!

Because I won't be re-wrapping, I need to be careful how I approach this project. Right now I am using the Nail Polish Remover/Acetone method along with a plastic putty knife. It's working, but it is VERY slow going. I've tried Goof Off in the past and I know that many members here swear by it, but it has honestly never worked that great for me, and I have always preferred Lighter Fluid (on wrap) or Acetone (for everything else). I've also had good luck with "De-Solv-It Contractor's Solvent " (image below), but it can be fairly hard to find. If I can find some, I will pick up some tomorrow. I also have Paint Thinner (the hard stuff) that I will try tomorrow when I can be outside. I know some others have said WD-40 or a spray lubricant works too. I am hesitant to use this method, because lubricants are designed to penetrate, and I think it would leave a residue and soak into the shell and not fully "dry". Again, it will be clear coated, so I don't want it to turn the shell darker or possibly react with the poly.

Also, I've tried sanding off the residue in the past, and it simply won't work. It just gums up the sander (and doesn't really remove the residue anyway). Plus, I can't use a coarse grade of sandpaper, because I don't want the shell to get scratched up. In the past, I've actually had success with putting wood filler on the tape residue area, and then sanding it off. It worked very well, but again, that was with very coarse sandpaper for a shell I was going to be wrapping. Also, it was just in one small area, not all the way around the shell. However, it really did work. I think it's because the residue had bonded with the wood filler and became part of the wood filler, so when I sanded off the wood filler, the residue came right off with it, because they were "one". It didn't gum up the sander at all; it was just like sanding off plain wood filler.

Because the wood filler trick worked so well, I was thinking about doing something similar. What if I roll the shell around in my yard, so that the tape residue picks up dirt and debris from my yard and isn't sticky anymore. I also have some leftover sand from an outdoor project. I could roll the shell on the sand! Would that be crazy, or do you think that might actually make it easier to get off, either with Acetone/De-Solv-It/Paint Thinner or with fine grit sandpaper (220 or above-I'll be sanding the outside of the shell to prep for finishing)? I hesitate to use wood filler, because for one, that would be a LOT of wood filler to use, and also it does "stain" the shell, even where it has been sanded off. In the past, if any wood filler got on the shell even .00001 of an inch outside the tape residue area, it would "stain" the shell a light yellowish-orange. Again, in the past, I didn't care, because the drum was always going to be re-wrapped.

Do you have any suggestions, keeping in mind that :

A) I need to keep the outside of the shell blemish free because it is going to be clear coated (not wrapped) and

B) I do not like Goof Off-it has never met my needs.

Thanks for your help!

V