Re-hardening wood tips

Mbuckner · Newbie Alert Joined: 17 Jun 2004 Posts: 2

A few years ago, while making a knife handle out of exotic wood, I stumbled upon a way to re-harden mushy wood tips with Cyanoacrylate (super glue):

Begin by sanding the last couple of inches of the stick, removing the old finish. This is best done using a drill press or portable drill motor. Chuck the stick up and use 100 to 220 grit sand paper. At this point you can also do minor recontouring of the tip, sand out rim shot dents, etc.

Go to a model airplane hobby shop and purchase a 1 oz. bottle of super thin CyA. Most have an inexpensive house brand. (Almost all carry a line called Zap, but it is a bit pricey.) Don't waste your money on the dime store stuff, much of it is of inferior quality.

Wipe all the sanding dust, etc. off the stick. A cloth dampened in rubbing alcohol works well. Allow the stick to dry completely before applying the CyA. You can either apply the CyA with a cheap, throw-away acid or epoxy brush, or dip it into the CyA bottle. I prefer dipping. Dip the stick
briefly into the bottle, then tap the excess off. A piece of waxed paper or Saran wrap placed on the work bench table works well for this.

Let the CyA harden completely - it will usually fire within a minute or so. If you're the impatient type (which many drummers are) the hobby shops carry a spray bottle of accelerator which will cause it to fire immediately.
However, you will get a better coating and more penetration into the wood if you let it fire on its own.

After the CyA is completely cured, sand the stick with 600 grit paper and, if necessary, repeat the process. Be careful not to apply too many coats since this can cause the coating to chip off. When you are satisfied with the appearance, finish it off with 1000 to 1500 wet or dry paper.

The CyA will produce a very hard coating but, more importantly, it wicks in between the wood fibers, replacing the lignin as when the sticks were new.

A note of caution: Use this process only in a well-ventilated area since, when the CyA fires it gives off nasty fumes. Also, for God's sake, be careful with this stuff - it bonds human skin even better than wood. It is better to do several sticks at a time since, once you contaminate the CyA it will eventually set up inside the container.

Jonesie67 · Posted: Fri Jun 18, 2004 4:14 pm Post subject:

uhh.... its just easier to get new sticks.
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jak · Posted: Fri Jun 18, 2004 9:57 pm Post subject:

Yeah, for what sticks cost I think it will be easier to just buy a new pair, you can get cheap sticks for around 5 bucks and by time you buy a bottle of glue (and possibly some sandpaper) its not worth it. Plus when you sand out rimshot marks or reshape the tip it kinda defeats the purpose of using a certain size of stick since you're altering the sticks overall size and weight.

By the way, if somone does try this make sure your face is not right above the stick when applying the glue because the fumes from the glue will burn your eyes like hell.
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Doomed to Drum · Posted: Mon Jun 21, 2004 2:27 pm Post subject:

yeh, seems like an awful lot of effort, with a high chance to ruin the balance and feel of our sticks, but if you like it, hey, go for it, if you have the time and equipment, should be fun to do it

zildjiandrummer15 · Little Guppy Joined: 17 Jun 2004 Posts: 39

I agree, buying sticks will take less time, but hey, if you really need to, its a great tip for people who dont have a music store nearby
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jimjohn · Newbie Alert Joined: 04 Jul 2004 Posts: 3

thank you for your tip. i have a lot of sticks that i was going to throw out just because the tips are bad. i remove the nylon for a softer sound and after a few gigs the tips are bad. Rockers can't relate to this all they know is noise.