How to treat leather of bellows? Air seems to come trough it somewhere somehow,(not from the seams) perhaps leather is so porous .
How to fix it ?Good suggestions.
Season it with beeswax and olive oil or whatever you prefer using.
Get the correct type of leather to begin with. The tanning method is called ELK. Its even easier to just get the bag already made by a reputable source like McHarg or L&M.
djm
Not just a leaky flap on the inlet valve then?
j.i.
the post was about bellows…
uilleannfinlander Posted: 13 Mar 2005 13:02 Post subject: Bellows porous leather
How to fix it ?Good suggestions.
So buying a bag frae either the above will fix his bellows…troooly amazing.
I nominate this for suggestion of the year
Uilliam
If you have never seasoned your bellows or don’t know what that entails, it’s actually simple. There a few recipes out there. Here is one I’ve used
Put 1 ounce of bees wax and 4 oz of pure neatsfoot oil in a disposable aluminum baking dish. Put the dish on low heat on a stove. Don’t let the mixture start to smoke.
As the wax is melting into the oil, remove the valve from the bellows and block the brass air outlet with a rag or wooden dowel.
After the wax is melted, pour the mixture into the bellows throught the open valve hole. Stuff this hole with a rag.
Rotate the bellows with your hands so that the liquid flows along the seam where the leather is glued to the clapper. Now rotating the bellows to try coat the inside leather gusset. Work the liquid into the leather gusset with your hands.
Remove the rag from the valve hole and inflate the bellows. Cover the hole with one hand and cover the brass outlet with the other. You don’t want any air to escape from the valve hole or brass outlet.
Squeeze the bellows and hold the pressure for a couple of seconds. You may have to inflate/squeeze a couple of times. What you have just done is forced a fluid into any holes/pores that may be causing the leak. As the seasoning cools it becomes a past.
Hope this helps. I never knew what seasoning was until someone explained it in detail.
Olive oil is probably the better idea, do the heating au bain marie.
Thanks Peter, I left that important part out.
“Put the smaller pan of oil and wax in a larger pan filled with about an inch of water.”
I haven’t tried olive oil. Other than the pleasant aroma is there an advantage?
Are you after a Michelin Star, Peter? 
David
I thought that meant, “have a lady named Marie do it for you”.
I’ve got a bag/bellows combo that seems to also have this porous problem. I haven’t the $$$ to replace them now. I’d like to do the beeswax/olive oil thing, but it appears that the inside does have a waxy feel to it (smooth side in, suede side out). will this work if it’s already been “mystery treated”?
if so, how long does it take to set? I imagine that after the pressure treating i need to leave them sealed and inflated for a certain amount of time…
To check and see if the inside has been previously treated, take the valve out and push the leather gusset over toward the opening. You should be able to see the leather.
The seasoning should be absorbed into the leater as much as possible. When you look inside, if it appears that the leather won’t soak up any seasoning, just cut back on the amount of seasoning. At least you’ll fill any holes along the gusset/clapper joint.
The mixture I use sets in a couple of minutes. You don’t need to leave the bellows under pressure. As you squeeze the bellows to spread the seasoning and force it into the pores, you’ll know right away if its working. Since it is a thick fluid, once it fills the holes of pores it’s not going anywhere.
I meant in order to keep the sides separate from eachother the bag bellows would have to be full of air, no?
Antaine. Check your PM