A coffee can provides a basic form for crafting a handheld drum. You need two pieces of leather, and a leather band or braided rawhide. Stretch one piece of leather over the first end of the coffee can. Secure the leather around the lip of the can with a leather band or a braided rawhide string. If you stretch the leather looser or tighter across each end of the drum, you can change the drum's tone.
You can also punch holes in the outer edge of each leather drum head. Run rawhide lacing through these holes in a zig-zag fashion. For example, insert the lacing in a hole on the top drum head. Next, lace it through a hole on the bottom drum head. Finally, run the lacing up through the next hole in the top drum head, until you have laced all the way around the drum.
An alternative to using a coffee can is making a wood drum. You will need to hollow out a circular piece of a tree trunk, such as basswood. One end must be sealed watertight with a wooden plug, and the other end requires a small hole with a wooden stopper. Add the water inside the drum by unplugging the stopper and pouring it in. Changing the amount of water inside the wood drum, also called a water drum, will change the drum's sound.
Another wood drum can be fashioned from a cottonwood section. You carve out the center of the cottonwood section's trunk, leaving an outer edge that is 1.5 inches thick. Burn holes in a regular pattern around both the top and bottom ends of the drum. Stretch leather over the edge, and then weave the rawhide lacing through the burn-holes.