Building a rim banjo

I have built a number of Carver Banjos and my favorite is the rim banjo. Brian’s tutorial on how he makes the rims is very impressive. I recently completed a 10in rim banjo kit. I like to stain the rim so I tape off the top of the rim to just below the tack marks to make a good glue surface. On the tack marks, I use a Sharpe (black) so I can better see where the tacks go through the skin. When I have finished with my staining, I take off the tape, put the skin on and use a small drill at the tack mark to help start the tack. On my 10 in rim, I only had one bent tack.