Drums are something that interested me the first time I saw them. While in Spain ,I learned how to make drums from cactus, and how to prepare and stretch the skin on the drum.

The drum that you see on the picture is made from Walnut. I made this one while living in America.

To make this drum I used a piece of walnut, a tree big enough to get the diameter ,lengt I needed, 6'-1/4" in diameter wire ,100' breaded rope, bee wax.

I took the walnut tree and let it dry about a year. Then with chisels I dug out the inside shape and after that I used an axe to curve the outside shape. When finished, I made a smooth finish with chisels to make it look nice. I smoothed the edges and covered surfaces with beeswax to protect it from the weather.

Next step was to make three rings from wire. One ring is a little bigger then the biggest diameter on the drum, and the other, a little bigger than the first ring. Third ring must be added right on the neck of the drum because of it small diameter .

I took the smaller of the bigger two rings and the other small one. On the smallest make loops or "ears" with the piece of string and copy the amount of the "ears" from the smallest ring to the smaller of the bigger rings.

Next, I took the goat skin and stretched it over the biggest ring with out the ears, and tied it as bag on top of it to keep it stretched. Then I lay this on top of the drum and put the other ring on it and use the long string to start braid it all together.

After I have all braided I let it dry little bit to let the skin grip on the rings.Next day I finish stretching until I got the skin stretch enough.I know this information may confuse you but this is just to describe the rough idea how is done.

To get the full idea you have to start to make a drum and try to find people who have done it to explain you how all the nuts and "bolts" are made to work and fit.