Preface

This page contains links to other pages that contain graphic material that is suitable for all ages. The links in the actual text point to original photos, drawings and other information copyrighted by the author, Jim Zdunek A.K.A. Jim Zdunex. There are references in this text that anchor to an index. Each referenced item is marked with an *. When you click on the asterisk, you will anchor down to the cited reference. Each reference ends with a <return>. When you click on the <return> after the cited reference, you will be transported back to the place you left off. Get it?

The Reference Index, however, may contain links to other URLs. These links will generally go to some other WWW site and contain further information on a particular subject... at least that's the idea. Mr. Jim Z. and any of his agents do not have control over these sites; you probably know that already, but be aware of that fact.

Lastly, the process and techniques described in this page might cause harm to persons and property if done improperly and/or without safe practices in place. The author assumes no responsibility for anybody or anything, for any reason, no matter what , etc., etc,.. but you should know that too, because only responsible people use the internet. Just BE CAREFUL, OK?

Steel Pan

The steel pan is the national instrument of Trinidad* made from a 55 gal. steel oil drum. The development of the steel pan in the 1940's soon led to the replacement of the traditional carnival bamboo stick bands by groups of steel pan players. Within a few years steel bands were established throughout the Caribbean and elsewhere, giving a distinctive new sound to music in a variety of different styles*. The following pages will illustrate an attempt to make a similar instrument. Please bear in mind that the builder has never been to Trinidad, nor has he been passed the secrets of the most holy pan artist; his attempt is only to create a piece of musical metal sculpture and find solace in the heat of the tempering fire. A drum not of wood; where the elements of water and fire transform metal into magic. One can only hope!

The Drum

A clean 55 gal. steel drum that has a round beaded welded base is probably the best starting material. The metal does not have to be absolutely free of dents, but drums with large gashes and holes near the base should be avoided. I got my drum from a food processing plant. It originally contained vegetable oil. The bottom had a serial number stamped into the metal. I at first thought that the imbedded numbers would cause trouble, but after a few days of working the metal, the serial numbers were virtually obliterated. When you choose a drum, make sure it is clean! Do not get a drum that has been re-used-- you don't know what they put in those things. Know what the drum contained originally. Avoid toxic and flammable materials. This is important because you will get very close to this drum while you work with it and you must avoid industrial poison!

Caving in the base

Turn the drum up-side down so that the drum base is at the top. You must now begin to form a concave surface on the base of the drum by pounding on it with a sledge hammer or some heavy blunt instrument.

I do not have a sledge hammer, so I used part of a bar-bell set with one side of the weights removed. CAUTION: If you do this, make sure the single weights are attached to the bar securely and work out in the open someplace so that if the weights slip, you won't end up breaking a window or whatever. Generally just pound the hell out of it. If you had a frustrated day at work, this will calm you down!

SAFETY TIP: Wear your safety shoes and glasses!

The Pattern

If you can inspect a completed traditional instrument, study the workmanship and make note the patterns of hammered out sections. These sections are the tuning patterns for the instrument. I don't believe that I am ready (or worthy!) to make any of the traditional patterns. If you have seen the last drum project I built, you will know that I like to experiment a little. So to that, I have dreamed up a rather simple pattern that will section-off the pan into varied sizes (and hopefully tones). I chose to have six sections on my pan, with the center section as an irregular pentagon. The sections would fan out from each corner of the pentagon. The pentagon pattern, or whatever pattern you use is traced onto the drum base. I drew a pentagon that has side lengths of 2, 3, 4, 5, and 6 inches. A marking pen was used to transfer the pattern on the surface of the drum.

Working the metal

The three cross sectional drawings show how the metal pan is worked. Figure 1 shows the formation of the concave pan using a heavy blunt hammer. Figure 2 shows how the pattern is indented into the concave pan. You may want to begin the indenting process by hammering along the pattern with a ball peen. Keep pounding until there is a noticeable bulge pattern on the other side of the pan. Sometimes a center punch is used to indent the pattern (as shown in the figure).

Cutting the Drum

Between figure number 2 and figure number 3, the drum is cut to the desired depth . (I have seen some references that call for cutting the drum first before any metal working is done-- it's up to the builder I guess) The depth of the pan depends on the pattern type (usually), and I have chosen a pan depth that seemed to be 'about normal', as I am not sure what effect the depth has on the final sound of the pan. If you are making a bass steel pan, you do not need to cut the drum at all. Something to keep in mind however: A shorter depth pan will be easier to transport to your next gig-- a bass pan IS the whole oil drum.

I used an abrasive circular saw blade* to cut the drum. I used the left side of the blade guide to slide along the rim of the drum base to keep the cut even. CAUTION: This takes a bit of concentration and should be done by an experienced builder. Power Tools can turn on you at any moment. Adjust the blade to a depth of no more than an eighth of an inch deeper than the thickness of the metal. Don't force the saw. Use a face shield and don't cut near flammable materials!

The drum was placed up against a tree. A 50 lb. bag of dry cement was placed inside the drum to keep it from moving. The circular saw was 'rocked down' slowly onto the metal to make the initial cut. I could cut about 12 inches of circumference before stopping and rotating the drum for the next cut. Be especially careful when cutting through the welded seam. Remove any burrs from the work piece when you are done cutting.

More hammering

After the pan has been removed from the drum, the next metal working procedure is to hammer up from the bottom of the pan and 'bring up' the sections on the metal surface (See figure 3). This operation further delineates the pattern and helps separate each section from the other. Do not hit the pan too hard! I have found that I could shape the pattern fairly well by lightly bouncing the hammer within each section. Sometimes you have to touch-up the other side of the pan to stay within the pattern.

If I used too much force, there would be a dent in the pan that I would have to hammer out later. Lots of continual pounding of the metal is necessary to get the desired effect. Use ear plugs if you have them. Here's what it looks like.

Hardening

This is where the fun part comes in. The steel pan must be hardened by heating the metal over a hot fire and then quickly cooling the pan with water. For proper hardening of steel, all of the metal sections must be heated to redness and then cooled quickly. It is important to cool them all over rapidly and as close to the same time as possible. Otherwise there is a risk of cracking or distortion.*

The resource material I have seen is not very clear about the hardening process. It has been said that the pan developed over the years through experimentation; that the metal is heated and tempered-- by a process usually regarded as a secret to be jealously guarded.* That seems to be the case because the term TEMPERING is used too freely in the literature. It is possible that the steel is not actually tempered at all during the making of the pan . If it really is a secret however, then the process undoubtedly requires some tempering because tempering procedures can get quite involved; i.e., the metal is heated to a specific temperature judged by the color of the oxide film on the surface of the metal, and then it is quenched in a bath of water-- and sometimes the water is a set temperature. So, really all you have to do is figure out what those specific temperatures are, and you have the secret!

OK, I don't know what the secret is to making this here pan, but I do have a plan! Let's call this experiment #1 where we try to do a simple hardening process on the pan and then go from there. Hardening is easy: just heat up the pan so it's real hot, and then cool it off real fast!

A fairly large camp fire will accommodate this kind of process. Check local laws about this-- I know that I could not simply build a fire in my back yard without being noticed by the police and fire departments-- and neither will you! Find a camp ground that allows camp fires and take a few buddies and some beers or whatever and have a night of it. Unleash whatever spiritual demons and/or pagan rites as you see fit while you place the great pan on the fire and watch it heat up.

My fire for this process was fairly small (about three feet in diameter) but I was confident that there would be ample heat because there were fairly high winds that day. As part of the ceremony I wore the traditional furnace suit with face shield and extra heavy oven mitts. This getup also allowed me to get in real close to the fire and inspect the metal surface for irregular heating. The pan was kept in a constantly fed fire for about 50 minutes and it seemed to be fairly hot by then. I kept a shovel nearby to help remove the pan from the fire, but because of the fire suit I was wearing, it was just as easy to grab onto the pan and flip it onto the ground. This was quickly done and without wasting any more time, I quenched the hot metal with a bucket of cold water. That is, I poured cold water into the pan...

Tune Time

When I got the pan back home, I cleaned it off with oil* and let it sit for a while. The next and last thing to do to the pan, if everything went all right during the firing, is to tune it. Pans can have a fairly wide musical range*, and it looks like there may be a real trick to get some of these notes out of this particular pan. Pan tuning involves making 'adjustments' on each section with a small hammer and then whacking the section with a rubber hammer to hear the 'ping'. There is undoubtedly an art to this and it will take some time to figure this one out. If you need to know lots more on this, then check out what Ulf Kronman has to say on tuning*. Some of my sections are beginning to make the characteristic 'ping' sounds after some adjustment, but some just won't talk to me. Sigh! It's gonna take some time to do this!

I will continue to work the pan to get the notes I desire...perhaps a trip to the islands will help? Now, that's an idea! See you later, and thanks for reading!

See these links also*

Spaced Out Index

The following is an index and/or bibliography and/or foot notes, depending on how you use it.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.