The traditional art of Solid Stave drum shell construction has been used in congas and djembes for many years. A stave drum utilizes a shell made up of multiple segments (or staves). This type of construction not only generates a unique sound, but the use of exotic hardwoods in various combinations creates a striking visual effect as well.

This calculator will take the basic information for a project and output the parameters for the stave. This calculator assumes a straight walled project.

Drum Diameter:

The drum diameter selected describes the desired common diameter of the drum. A drum shell is typically under the commonly referred to size (ex. 14 inch) by .125 (1/8 of an inch) or more, to allow for head fit and variations in roundness. This calculator will automatically take this into account. For example, if the desired drum diameter chosen is 14 inches, a diameter of 13.875 inches will be used for the calculations.

Number of Staves:

The number of staves selected should be an even numbered multiple of the number of lugs that will be installed on the drum shell. If for instance, there will be 8 lugs on your shell, 16 or 32 staves would be good choices. It makes sense to use the minimum number of staves possible while still meeting the shell thickness requirements for your project. If the wall thickness indicates a very small or negative number, you need more staves, or thicker lumber.

Glue Joint Thickness:

The value for Glue Joint Thickness may be used to compensate for thick glue. This value reduces the width of a stave by the thickness of one glue joint. This value may be left at 0 if desired.

Machining Depth:

Machining depth is the distance into the shell the machining or rounding out process will cut. This refers to a cut into the narrowest part of the OD. With careful machining this value could remain at 0. This value also assumes a cut from the inside into the widest part of the ID. It is assumed the same amount will be taken from both ID and OD.

This value will affect the overall OD, and therefore stave width. It will also affect the wall thickness value.

Lumber Thickness:

Lumber thickness is used for the calculation of wall thickness. This is the actual measured thickness of the lumber. For example, the common 2x4 is actually 1.5 x 3.5 inches.

Calculation Outputs:

Stave Width is the width of a board (stave) at the widest (outer most) point.

Bevel Angle is the bevel cut that is applied to each sides of the stave. The bevel should be cut so as not to reduce the stave width below the specified stave width value.

Wall Thickness is the max shell thickness that can be assumed when the shell is rounded out.

General notes:

For a given number of staves (say 16) the amount of dimensional error in a stave (error in width) will be multiplied by the number of staves (16) / Pi as it relates to the diameter of the drum. Care and precision should be exercised, it is recommended that calipers be used for measurement. Angular error will accrue at 2 times the number of staves, making the setting of the bevel angle very critical.