There's something deeply satisfying about playing an instrument you made with your own hands. A hand drum built from rawhide and a wooden frame carries a connection to craft and tradition that a store-bought drum simply can't replicate. The good news? It's more accessible than you might think. Here at The Wandering Bull, we've been walking people through this process for years, and with a little patience and the right materials, you can have a beautiful, playable 13-inch hand drum in about two days.
Here's everything you need to know.
What You'll Need
- A wooden drum frame (available in 10″, 15″, and 18″ — we're making a 13″ drum in this guide)
- A 17-inch rawhide disc (untanned cowhide)
- 15 feet of rawhide lace
- A leather punch or awl
- Scissors or a sharp knife
- A bucket of water
- A short piece of soft skin lace for finishing
Step 1: Soak Your Rawhide — Two Full Days
This is the most important step, and also the one that requires the most patience.
Untanned rawhide straight off the shelf is stiff and completely unworkable. You cannot stretch it, lace it, or shape it in this state. Submerge both your rawhide disc and your lace in water and let them soak for two full days — 48 hours. Three days is fine; more than that isn't necessary.
About an hour before you're ready to work, replace the water in the bucket with warm water. Not scalding — you don't want to cook the hide — but warm enough to help it relax. Cold-soaked rawhide resists stretching. Warm-soaked rawhide is pliable, cooperative, and will give you a much tighter, more even drum when it dries.
You'll immediately notice the difference. The lace, which started out thin and stiff, will have expanded and softened considerably. That's exactly what you want.
Step 2: Prepare Your Rawhide Disc
For a 13-inch frame, you'll need a 17-inch disc of rawhide. The extra two inches on each side is what wraps around the edge and gets laced at the back.
Before soaking, take a few minutes to scallop the edges of your disc and pre-punch your lacing holes. Here's how to lay out the holes evenly:
- Fold the disc in half and punch a hole near the edge on each end. Unfold.
- Fold it in half the other direction and punch two more holes. You now have four evenly spaced holes.
- Punch two more holes between each set, spacing them as evenly as you can by eye. You'll end up with 12 holes total around the disc.
Scalloping the edges (cutting gentle curves between the holes) isn't required, but it makes the lacing process easier and gives the finished drum a cleaner look. It's much harder to get scissors in there once everything is laced and tight, so do it now.
Step 3: Identify the Hair Side
Your soaked rawhide has two sides — the flesh side (slightly rough) and the hair side (smooth, where the hair follicles were).
Place the disc hair side up on your drum frame. The smooth side will be the face of your drum — easier to paint if you choose to decorate it, and more pleasant to play against.
Set the frame in the center of the disc and get ready to lace.
Step 4: Lace the Drum
Cut both ends of your lace to a point — this makes threading through the pre-punched holes much easier. Then fold the lace in half to find the center, and start there at any hole. You'll be working with two ends: call them Side A and Side B.
The lacing pattern works like this:
- Using Side A, run the lace across to the hole directly opposite, thread through, and come back to the hole next to where you started.
- Repeat the same process with Side B, going in the opposite direction.
- Continue alternating, working your way around the drum symmetrically.
Keep it loose at this stage. You're just establishing the pattern and making sure the rawhide stays even on both sides of the frame — equal coverage all the way around. Once all the holes are laced, tie a loose temporary knot at each end to hold your place. Don't cinch them tight yet.
Step 5: Tighten in Passes
This is where most people are surprised by how much stretch is still left in the hide. You're going to tighten the drum in multiple passes — usually three or four — rather than all at once.
Start with Side A: follow the same path you laced, pulling each section a little tighter as you go. Then do the same with Side B. After each full pass, press down firmly on the drum head with your palms. This compresses the hide and encourages it to stretch — and rawhide stretches side to side (belly to belly) rather than top to bottom, just like it did on the animal.
Each time you press and re-lace, you'll pull out another inch or two of slack. Keep going until the head feels genuinely taut and you can't pull any more slack out of the lacing.
Step 6: Finish the Lacing
Once you're satisfied with the tension, it's time to finish the ends. There's no single correct way to do this — the goal is to gather and secure the remaining lace so it won't slip.
A tidy method is to bring both ends to the center of the back of the drum, then bundle the crossing laces into groups of three and tie them off with overhand knots. Pull firmly and leave a short tail — about an inch — before trimming. Everything will tighten further as the drum dries.
Step 7: Make a Handle
Flip the drum over and look at the back — you'll likely have some extra rawhide pieces. These become your handle.
Loop a length of rawhide across the back to create a hand hole large enough to comfortably fit your grip. Twist it into a cord-like shape and tie it off at both ends. Once dry, this handle will be solid and strong.
To keep the handle upright while drying, wedge a small object underneath it so your hand will still fit through when it's stiff and dry.
Step 8: Wrap the Edge and Let It Dry
Take a length of soft skin lace and wrap it snugly around the perimeter of the drum where the rawhide meets the frame. This flattens any puckers or bumps in the hide, pressing them down so they dry smooth and flat rather than sticking up in ridges.
Tie it off, set the drum somewhere with good air circulation, and leave it alone for about a day.
A few important drying tips:
- Keep it out of direct sunlight. Sunlight dries rawhide too fast and unevenly, which can cause warping or cracking.
- Keep it away from direct heat sources like radiators or heating vents — same reason.
- Let it air dry naturally. In a normal indoor environment, 24 hours is usually enough.
What Happens as It Dries
Here's the magic: as the rawhide dries, it contracts. That drum that felt reasonably tight when you finished lacing it will become dramatically tighter — the head will firm up, the lacing will pull snug, and the whole instrument will come alive with resonance. What looked like a soggy, floppy project will transform into something that sounds and feels like a real drum.
Final Thoughts
Building a hand drum is a slow, tactile process — there's soaking time, lacing time, tightening passes, drying time. But none of it is technically difficult, and the result is an instrument made entirely by your own hands from natural materials, one that will last for years with proper care.
Keep it out of prolonged direct sunlight, avoid leaving it in extreme heat or cold, and it'll reward you with a warm, resonant voice for a very long time.
