How I learned to love Bronze age technology

Ten nice looking barrels for making drums. At Oakland Taiko we had 10 new barrels donated to make mid-size taiko drums ('chu-daiko'). That was summer 2023. The barrels were 20-gallon, made in Fresno, and cost $500 each, new. That' $5000 donation was a really big deal at the time. The group of us preparing to make drums collectively thought that these small barrels, 40% the capacity of common wine barrels in California, would be just about the right height and head diameter to make serviceable chu-daiko. In contrast, common used wine barrels are taller and fatter. Common wine barrels are about 35" tall, containing 59 gallons  Before discussing the challenges we faced with the small, 20-gallon barrels, let's look at the shape of barrel staves, particularly the ends, where there is a groove called the 'croze'. Oops, not quite the right height. Barrel staves have a deep groove on the inside near each end, called a croze. The croze receives the barrel head and i...

 The "traditional" California method for building taiko drums requires a jigsaw, a handheld belt sander, and a palm sander. This is efficient, just 3 power tools. However, the resulting drums may be too wide, slightly oval-headed, lopsided, heavy, and mushy sounding. My goal was to make drums that sound good, are easy to play, look good, and are easy to transport. This required coming up with a standard height and width. I also committed to making the drum as round and true as possible at every step, so that each step could rely on a consistent input. I also thought it would be helpful to have tools and jigs that reduce the need for highly skilled woodworkers, since we have none in our group.  Here's my initial sketch of process design: Note: "pig in shit" refers to my feeling of joy at the prospect of designing all these jigs. New jigs were needed for step 3, 5, 9, 10, 11, 12-16. I also made jigs to build the pulleys for the lathe mill. Later on I replaced the ...