Restoring Old Zebra Hide...

[subculturalgirl]

I am in posession of an old wooden drum made in Africa. My grandfather was stationed on an Airforce base in the Congo in the early 60s. My mother was born there actually. They had a "houseboy", as they referred to him, and he made them 2 of these little drums as a gift for helping him and his family shortly before my grandparents left to come stateside.

I believe it is zebra hide that forms the top of the drums, this is what my grandmother told me, but I'm not positive. The hide is really dry and brittle, the skin on one of the drums is actually cracked beyond repair. The other drum is fine. I'd like to restore the skin so it's not so fragile. I'm thinking just clean it and condition it but I'm not sure what to use or if I should do something specific for this kind of hide. I realise zebra hide is probably not something most ppl ever get the chance to work on. Haha.

Any suggestions and advice would be very much appreciated!

[subculturalgirl]

Anyone? No? Come on! Someone MUST have some suggestions for what I should do with this thing...

[Leatherimages]

I don't really know, but Lexol is such a good, light conditioner that I'd start with that.

You don't say whether it's hair on, probably not if you say you think it's Zebra, stripes and all.

But the thing is about unknown leathers from unknown sources, is that one also doesn't know how it was tanned.

Try lexol and not too much, is my word.

Another idea I just had was to call a drum shop. Maybe there's something common about drum leather.

Good luck..

[Sylvia]

Anyone? No? Come on! Someone MUST have some suggestions for what I should do with this thing...

I'm reticent about offering ideas because of the nature of these drums. My advice would be to contact a professional restoration person or a museum curator and ask advice.

The reason I feel this way is because your item is 45+ years old, made of exotic skin (potentially) and you have provenance. If as I suspect they are worth a good amount, it would be horrendous if you screw them up by improper restoration attempts.

[Vikti]

I have a couple of drums from South Africa from when my grandfather was down there helping put together the first color television studio on the continent. I have a couple of drums he gave me that for many years I thought was zebra, but come to find out one was gazelle (which is what the bulk of them are) and one is okapi. I also have a full zebra hide that my parents are in possession of that badly needs restoring. I spoke to one of the people at my local Tandy stores and he recommended to me to use Lexol also but in very tiny amounts to the flesh side, as all my stuff still has hair on it., but he said that it would be a project that will take several weeks to months.

Damon

[subculturalgirl]

Thanks for all the advice!

I also am hesitant to try restoring it on my own. But I live in a small town, not near any cities, and there's no where I can bring it to ask what I should do.

Since one of you said gazelle hide, and after looking at it a bit more, I'm starting to lean towards that. There's a small band of hair around the very edge of the drum that I hadn't looked at very well. But now that I do, it does not look like zebra hair. It's all just dark brown. So I think gazelle is probably more accurate.

[subculturalgirl]

I'm reticent about offering ideas because of the nature of these drums. My advice would be to contact a professional restoration person or a museum curator and ask advice.

The reason I feel this way is because your item is 45+ years old, made of exotic skin (potentially) and you have provenance. If as I suspect they are worth a good amount, it would be horrendous if you screw them up by improper restoration attempts.

I think I'm going to take your advice and contact a professional. Possibly bring them into someone on my next trip to Minneapolis. I really don't want to risk destroying them with my own incompetance. Haha.

[Sylvia]

I think I'm going to take your advice and contact a professional. Possibly bring them into someone on my next trip to Minneapolis. I really don't want to risk destroying them with my own incompetance. Haha.

That's probably wise...

I would take a few pictures to have on hand and call around to find someone. Then you could email pictures before you go hauling them off to Minneapolis. There is no telling what cold weather (even inside of a car) could do to these drums. Err on the safe side and do most of the leg work via the phone and email.