DW painter holding a drum shell in the paint booth

DW to the Finish

Satin Oil shines.

Go into the grain in this walkthrough of Satin Oil finishes with DW master painter, Louie Garcia.

Satin Oil assembled drum in DW Custom Shop

by nate duchêne

DW To The Finish: Satin Oil

The DW Custom Shop brings your drums to life with tireless craftsmanship using an intensive shell production process designed to make drums as a complete musical instrument—all the way to the paint shop. This multi-part series spotlights the evolution of DW shells through the finish process with wisdom from DW’s master painter, Louie Garcia.

A Rhythmic Canvas.

Just like drum shells destined for the Lacquer Department, raw shells bound for the Stain Department come off the line rough and permeable, with glue at the top and bottom edges and pencil markings from production. The drums have taken shape, but unlike a lacquered shell, the most prized asset of this finish —the natural wood grain—is already on display and just needs some encouragement from DW’s master craftsmen to shine.

Stories in Each Grain.

In the Sanding department, the edges are trimmed, and the exterior ply gets two rounds of hand sanding, using a finer grit than a shell bound for a lacquer finish to further open up the surface. Adds Louie, “We want to take enough off to get it perfectly flat and smooth, but we don’t want to change the fundamental note of the drum.” This vital step emphasizes the natural fibers and textures of the wood (maple pictured here), which gives you insight into how the lumber was milled and how the tree was grown.

Unlike a lacquered shell, which gets a primer sealant to fill natural crevices, the prepped shell goes straight off to the Satin Oil department to get stained with a hand-sprayed poly satin oil stain. “It gets a topcoat, not a sealer. Satin Oil finishes are never sealed and are always an open-grain drum sound,” offers Louie Garcia, DW’s master painter.

Natural Beauty.

After the stain is removed, the drum exterior receives two coats of clear satin lacquer, giving it a low-gloss shimmer that keeps the emphasize the wood's natural characteristics. Once the coats of satin lacquer have gassed off and cured, the shell goes off to the Drilling/Edging department.

After drilling, the shell interior is hand-rubbed with tung oil, followed by three coats of clear lacquer as a sealant. “We take a superfine grit to the exterior to get it smooth without getting into the stain, shoot a final “seal” coat, and then off to assembly,” finishes Louie. This final wet sanding step gives the shell’s open wood grain its final luster.

Bypassing buffing and heading straight to assembly, Satin Oil-finished DW Collector’s and Performance drums get tuned, hand-polished, and a final quality check in the DW “White House” to ensure they show up studio and stage-ready right out of the box.

Satin Oil assembled drum in DW Custom Shop

Special thanks to:

DW Custom Shop: Nick Dalton, Louie Garcia, Baruk Garcia, Francisco Pelayo, Nick Minasian, and the production team

DW Photo/Video Team: Angel Chavez, Britt Robisheaux