So You Want To Make A Steel Drum huh?

Posted on 25 August 2007

I now understand that attempting to make your own steel drum is something of a challenge. According to the toucans.net website panmakers in the Trinidad temper their drums by building a fire on the beach then plunging the red hot steel drum into the ocean - and that's just the beginning. Anyway, the site has a nice tutorial on an easier cousin called a Dudup which is made by hammering a slightly off-center line along a coffee can or an olive oil can. All I could find was a can of baby milk powder. I gave it a good hammering, but the results were little better than disappointing: