There are many safe moisturisers you can use and it is best to avoid those with too many chemicals. The skin will only need any of these if it becomes dry, like looking after your hands. Silcox is the base for moisturisers with nothing added. It will make the skin as smooth as silk. Rub it on the outside of the skin. Vasaline petroleum jelly; usually if you can use...
It has been mentioned to me, and also I have noticed it on a few online discussion boards, people claiming that some bodhráns don't last too long, or "die" to use a more dramatic term. I have had a number of bodhráns in for re-skinning because the player claims that the skin has gone too soft, I must say that I did not make these drums but usually this just happens when the...
How long is a piece of string?! The truth is, it could be any length but if we break down the different processes and put a time on them we can come to some reasonable answer to that question. The cureing of the goatskin; It takes 6 to 7 days to lime the skin in a bucket and then it will need to be pickeled in brine for two...
To cure a goatskin a solution of garden lime mixed with water is used. The skin is left soaking in the mix for six or seven days until the skin is soft enough to wash the hair off in a barrel of water. The back of the skin must then be scraped of all membrane and fat so that the skin does not smell when dried. The skin must then be soaked in a pickle...
The History of The Bodhrán By Paraic McNeela (The Bodhrán Maker) Every year I give a lecture in DCU (Dublin City University) on the topic of The Bodhrán. The fun thing I like to do at the start, to grab the students attention, is to say "The facts you are about to hear are all lies". That of course is not true, but over the years if there is...
