Hey Glen, This is how a wood lug was made back in the day..Slingerland used Rosewood if i recall right.The way they made them was out of one piece of wood again if i recall right the piece of wood was about 4" long and 1.5 high..They first drilled out the insert holes at ends,then shaped the lug outside first,then they drilled out the inside of the lug for the insert,the insert was not like the ones used today..they were a flat nut..They also clean out the middle of the lug so the T-rod would go in it.The last thing they did is drilled out the mounting screws holes..Mikey

I wouldn't think that tapping the wood itself to accept the tension rod would work very well. I'm not sure the threads in the wood would hold up to the tension on a snare head. Couple that with a few head changes worth of spinning them in and out and I am pretty sure the wooden threads would break down to the point of being unusable. Rock maple is hard for a wood but way too soft to work as a metal.

As for the lug inserts, I know exactly what mikey777 is talking about. If memory serves, a flat piece of metal approx. 3mm thick, 1cm wide and 1 1/2 or 2cm long with a hole tapped into one end. Pretty sure the old Sonor "teardrop" lugs used these inserts. Maybe someone on the forum with an old set of Sonors has one laying around they could take a picture of. They would be easy to make if you can tap the threads, which it sounds like you can.

Good luck, can't wait to see pics.

Thanks Mike(s).....I've been a busy beaver in the last 2 days. Here's what I have so far. The shell has been sanded and snare beds have been cut. Bearing edges have been trued to my satisfaction, and I put 2 coats of Tung Oil on today.

I made my own rope clamps this time and what a difference! Much more accurate and easy to use, and they cost me nothing to make.

I have been thinking about your comments thus far and agree, upon reflection, that a direct drilling and tapping of the lugs will simply not do the trick. I have found sixteen tension rod nuts that have a nice deep throat on them in the box of scrap parts so thats what I'm going to use. Now for the design and manufacture of a prototype lug. Here's a few pics with my little lug blanks all ready to go. Hope you all enjoy seeing my experiment progress. Should be interesting to see if I can make a functional and visually appealing wooden lug from scratch.

By the way, you will get a kick out of this....the wood that I'm using for this project was a piece of butcherblock cutting board that I bought at a yard sale over the holiday weekend. So far this snare drum has cost me $1.00.

Gotta go work on single stroke rolls before dinner. Peace guys

Nice Work,

Is that a 14-inch diameter shell?

How many pieces to get around? How wide are they?

What is the angle of the side stave cuts to produce a ring?

Table Saw used? Or just a chop saw?

You are a real good mathematician.

Great work sir.

GGD

Thanks! that is an exact 13" diameter cylinder, I will probably have to use over sized vintage heads if I don't tuck my own calfskins. But that's a whole different kettle of fish, never tried that yet, but I think I could rise to the task. The edges turned out to be a compromise having made a previous shell 45 degrees and several at 30 degrees, this is 37.5 degrees cut with a chop saw before glue up. the bearing edge was cut with a 45 degree router bit from the outside just to chamfer the edge a bit, then hand sanded perfectly flat on a glass top table with 150 grit sandpaper. The snare beds are done by hand with a rat tail file and several grades of sandpaper. The angle on the edges of the staves was cut on a table saw set to 6.9 degrees allowing for a total of 26 staves at about 1 5/8 inches plus or minus a millesquidgeon . And of course no amount of mathematical figuring insures that the drum making Gods are with you, so ultimately I eliminated one stave and sent a total of 25 staves through the saw again to remove the highly technical millesquidgeon from each side at a revised 6 degree setting. and ended up with a cylinder about 13 and 1/8 inches in diameter. I'm convinced that musicality trumps math anyway, and I won't know what the drum sounds like till it's finished.

I figure that a little more or a little less here and there won't make a difference. I trust my mojo, and rather like all the little flaws that give it a hand made feeling, and make it sound unique. If I wanted every one to look and sound exactly the same, I would have bought a Yamaha.

OK, so today I decided to go for it. Just pick a design and figure it out. Gotta start somewhere....so now I'm committed having whacked up my blanks and drilled holes to house the lug nuts. I'm going to glue the three pieces back together and proceed to sand and cut some details into the sides.here's what I have so far. I have a challenge in figuring out how to prevent the nuts from spinning inside during tightening. I'll sleep on it and let you know what I come up with.

Hey EZ;

You are going to have trouble with those lugs. The end grain to end grain glue joint won't hold up to the tension you are going to put it under on a snare drum. End grain joints are very, very weak. Cutting and joining them on a 45 degree angle would be stronger, strongest would be lugs made from a single piece.

I am not trying to get down on you, just trying to save you some time and disappointment.

Hi Mike, thanks for taking an interest here. I'm not the least bit put off by any of your suggestions. I'm determined to have a good time while learning something new. I wouldn't be sharing pics of my work on a public forum such as this is if I were thin skinned. Ya know what? truth is I totally agree with you Bud, that 90 degree end grain glue joints are the weakest joint and may scream unprofessional in certain circles. But, I have an idea to strengthen them by scabbing on some wood or metal strips on either side. I just wanted to work within the capabilities of the machines I have to use and make some progress. I suppose I will have to rely on the strength of the wood glue, accuracy of my cuts, and solve problems as they arise, if they arise, this is after all an experiment. I'm willing to take some chances, and if the lugs fail under tension, well, I guess I'll take what I learned and continue with my constant and never ending improvements program. I really wanted to use one piece and work from the back with

drilling and setting lugs, but I didn't like the thought of chiseling square holes, and besides, I'll hip you to another design challenge that I've set for myself... I'm trying to figure out a way to not penetrate through the shells with a bunch of holes for all the hardware. Just a fun little challenge to see if it can be done. I believe there is a way, I just haven't figured it out yet. We shall see...stay tuned, love the idea of doing one in Rosewood thanks for reminding me of that.

Yours truly,

Glen

Also, those lugs were used on drums that were fitted with calfskin heads, therefore the tension is no where near what we are accustomed to using mylar or plastic heads.

If you decide to go through with making repro lugs, make sure you get all the info you can from serious woodworkers as to how to make them as strong as possible and use calfskin heads.