Therefore, tuner Lawrence Mayers and I decided to do an experiment on a drum made out of stainless steel. The following is a brief description of our work and the result. Fig. 16.3 Experiments with stainless steel. Tuner Lawrence Mayers and the author during a discussion about the sinking. Photograph by Linus Torell.
Stainless steel is much harder than mild steel.
This means that all processes that involve shaping of the steel will demand much more energy input from the panmaker. The sinking down to tenor depth, for instance, took about three to four times as long as an ordinary drum. The backing was also tough, but the hardness of the steel made the surface stay more firm and reduced the need for re-shaping. The grooving couldn't be done with the ordinary grooving hammer - the tuning hammer had to be used to get enough force. Afterwards, I realised that a nail-punch with a smaller head would have made more impact on the surface.