Best finish for conga's

[bongosnotbombs]

Bnb..

Nice job on the valje.Which watco did you use for the drum, The natural or their colored variety? Thanks

Thanks for the compliments, your Ritmos are looking very good as well.
I used the natural Watco on the Valje. I've used other oils on drums as well,
Tung and Linseed. They provide excellent looking finishes but their drying time
is a killer.

[bongosnotbombs]

Just finished repairing and refinishing this drum.

[Bongobilly]

Alright guy's been busy. I did the conga, not with Watco, buff it out with a 1600 rpm buffer. But first i sanded it down, put a coat of Amorall on it to bring out the color and then buffed it out. It flat in color but look's great but i still wonder if i should Watco it. The tumba was stained by me in 1983 and i applied a poly finish on it. It wasn't a great job and i had to put some wood putty on it to cover the gouges. I would like to sand it down and match the conga but it might not look like the conga but i gotta try cause the conga looks great for being almost 30 year's old

[Bongobilly]

Ok now here's the tumba. As you see im going to have sand a good amount and i didn't take off the band's when i first did it so they are a little stuck on.

[Bongobilly]

Both congas.

[KING CONGA]

Man that drum looks sweet, great job. I have no doubt that you will do just a good a job on your second drum. Please keep us posted on your progress. by the way, what type of skin is that on the newly finished drum? I’m also noticing that the crown hoops are different, are they both junior's?

[Bongobilly]

Hey King: There both Junior congas early 80's. I guess back then he change the rim style. The skin on the conga is from Matt Ritmo conga's I brought 3 skin's from him. One is on my Gon Bop quinto already Looking to make some nice handles for the conga's (Those garage door handle's gotta go) They sound great the skin's just make those conga's sing.

[SalseroBoricua71]

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[Bongobilly]

Hey Boricua: The method is used is one that Matt from the Global drum company told me to use on my Purple heart wood snare i brought a couple of year's ago.This is how it's done. First sand it down, next spray it down with Amor all , wipe drum clean, lighty sand down the drum with a super fine sand paper because when you use the amor all it will bring up the wood fiber's. Dont sand to much you just want to knock off the fuzz ,use a buffer (i used a 1600 rpm buffing wheel)Or you can use a professional car buffer. The amor all bring's out the natural color of the wood.You can use a car polish carnuba wax is best. and that's it.

[Joseph]

ArmorAll contains silicone. While it may be acceptable and compatible with oil or carnuba wax finish,
I'd be very leery of putting a sealer/varnish/polyurethane/lacquer finish over wood that had been treated with ArmorAll.
The silicone in ArmorAll makes surfaces feel very slippery, and could lead to adhesion or incompatibility problems with the finish coat.
A water dampened rag wiped over raw wood surface could accomplish same task of raising grain for smoother sanding, without depositing silicone onto surface of wood.

$.02

[Bongobilly]

Here are 2 snare's that i use that method on. Finish is a waterbase poly.