I made a thing - homemade practice pad

I'd been wanting to make my own practice pad for a long time.
Then I saw a photo of a pad that had been made and used by Elvin Jones, and I decided it was time to see what I could come up with.
Jones's pad is a little bigger and heavier than modern travel pads, and perhaps was never meant to be tossed into a bag.

I wanted something more portable.

So I scored a little square of hard silicon rubber ($7 on eBay) and a piece of scrap wood ($1 at ReClaim It!), cleaned them up and super-glued them together. After half an hour under a weight, the pad was ready to play.

I liked it right away.

The platform measures 6" x 5 1/2" and is about 3/4" thick. Because it's fine-grained particleboard, it's heavier than a simple plank of wood would be, which makes it ideal for a pad.
The silicon measures 4" square by 1/4" thick, and has a nice rebound -- not too mushy and not too hard.
I love how it turned out.

 

When I get back from my February tour, I want to begin researching a really old pad so I can make a replica of it and see how it works. Stay tuned.