DIY Drummer: Odds-n-Ends -- repurposing, refurbishing

 On my way to swapping out for a smaller bass drum for my West Craft kit, I had an idea.
I asked Kaleb if he'd be interested in taking on a small side project in addition to refurbishing my bass drum. "No rush," I said, "I just wonder what it would look like if you gave this the West Craft treatment." Kaleb was intrigued and took home one of three vintage Ludwig practice pads I had.
All I told him was, "Do it up in shades of blue, and don't worry about the rubber because I'll clean that myself when you're all done."

Less than two hours later, he sent me three photos. He was intrigued.

When I get the finished pad I'll be sure to share it here.

Also, I received in a batch of sticks a mallets an extra, unmatched pair of vintage Ludwig timpani mallets. Both had badly degraded felts, and the heads had been glued to the shafts so removing them for replacement would be risky. They weren't so far apart in size and shape that I couldn't do SOMEthing with them, though.
So today, I decided to turn them into multipurpose mallets. I wrapped the harder of the two mallets with a few turns of the soft wool yarn to help equalize the hardness and size of the heads a little more. Then wrapped both heads vertically in rotating loops, the way yarn mallets are traditionally wound. I had taught myself how to do this in college, from a little booklet on mallet repair (I also used to recover my timpani mallets with new felt, using the instructions from the same booklet).

These mallets turned out to be a little on the big side, but that's okay. I figure they can be used for soft rolls on timpani, drumkit toms and maybe even some cymbals.

The yarn I chose was very thick ply, designed for use in scarves, potholders, hats and other thick things. It turned out to be quite useful for this application, because it's thick and soft.
Finally, To keep a couple hairline cracks from growing, I decided to wrap the wooden shafts in white stick tape. I added a second layer in the handle area to help improve the balance a little.

I'm pleased at how it turned out.

I have a couple new pads coming my way soon, and I look forward to putting through their paces and reporting about them here.

A reminder: If you or someone you know is connected to a company that makes pads, or that has historical documentation about pads the company made long ago, please let me know! I am always looking for new pads to test and review here; if you work with a company that is willing to send me a sample to test, that would be great. I don't have infinite funding to spend on this so I appreciate it when companies are willing to send me a pad. I also seek historical documentation about the design and development of practice pads, especially prior to 1940. If you can help, please let me know by reaching out to me through Facebook.

Thanks and happy drumming.