Don’t know if this have been discussed before, but since I’m a curious bastard I want to know the reasons why hemp is used instead of cork on the sliding joints on the pipes.
I have been thinking of making a replacement on my C. Roberts set. Anyone got any comments about this? like why I should not or why I should?
I like both type of joints, but for ease and speed of replacement, waxed hemp works the best for me.
I find that cork leaves a horrible after-taste, when compared using hemp in your pipe.
(You ARE talking about smoking, right?)
Serious answer: wrapped tenons are easy to do at home if needed; they’re also more historically correct. Cork tenons tend to last longer but require professional atention (though whenever i mention this, someone will come out and say he or she fixes cork tenons at home using hobbyist store cork sheets and sandpaper).
GHBers went through a bit of a craze for replacing hemp with cork about ten, fifteen years ago now. The simple reason they stopped using it is that pipers never break down their instruments after playing, unlike every other woodwind player out there. So what happens is the cork gets compressed over time and ends up becoming loose, whereupon you have to…add hemp.
Cheers,
Calum
But compared to GHBers Up:s are dry…wouldn’t that be an issue to have in mind?
Dental floss works well too.
Marc
The issue (as I understand it, I never want to bother trying the stuff) was that never breaking the pipes down, keeping the cork under constant compression, is what causes it to become loose over time.
One option if you’re looking at this kind of thing might be rubber O-rings - a few pipers have tried this and the only issue seems to be wood movement.
Cheers,
Calum
I’ve had countless recorders and one clarinet that used cork at the joints, and most of them have gotten damaged over the years. I’ll admit to not putting lubricant often enough. My instruments that use hemp have never caused me any trouble. I’ve never had to intervene on them, but my recently acquired UP practice set is far from being tight. Where do you guys get your wax from? They don’t seem to sell Babybel in Florida. Nor do they sell Brie au lait crû, Cantal, Emmental and Reblochon for that matter… sigh
Guenael
Guénael ,
A Concarneau en Bretagne tu trouveras de la poie ! http://www.sonerien.com
The best mixture I Know is 1/3 Brown ( or black ) Wax ( Poie in french ) - 1/3 Bee Wax -1/3 Paraffin Wax .
Je peux aussi t’ envoyer un camenbert au lait crû !
Jean-Luc
Run your hemp through a cake of Beeswax a few times and you ought to be set. You can find it any craft store like Michaels, or Walmart has it in their craft section.
Wasn’t there another thread on hemp a while ago??? I think also the use of “cobbler’s wax” a black tarry substance was written about as well. I saw that Benedict Koehler pulled out some “Barbour” cotton thread to use as a wrap for the drone reeds he made. One of the other folks wondered if that was the same Barbour that made a waxy greenish field coat???
There’s several options for wax. The black tarry cobblers wax is available from highland piping supply shops, but is too thick and brittle by itself. You should melt this down 50/50 with beeswax. Some use the wax from cheese, like Baby Bel, as mentioned above, to thin cobblers wax. This black stuff is what is used on thread for binding reeds.
For joints, just beeswax is fine. You can also use waxed dental floss. You don’t have to use pre-waxed thread. You can also use any plain fine thread to wrap first, and then just wipe a light coating on the outer layer of thread with a bar of beeswax. You can get an air-tight seal with just thread on the joints, but the wax holds the thread in place. Wax causes joints to stick, so you eally don’t want that much of it on joints that will be moved, like the tenons on your drones where you will be moving them to tune.
djm
What i use in my flutes, is the stuff sold in hardware stores as toilet bowl gasket. No kidding. It’s made of beeswax, but softer than the beeswax cakes they sell to use to lubricate screws. About $2 will last you many years. Don’t get the fancy new ones, just the simple wax ring kind.
Like this, but get the wax kind (not polyurethane), and get one without the rubber ring. I’m not sure if it works for pipes, but works great for thread tenons in flutes.
Given the quality of the playing I often send through my pipes, it would seem appropiate for the joints to be sealed with this stuff.
You can also buy pre-waxed yellow hemp from any intelligent GHB supplier, and this stuff is appropriately sized for anything you mighrt want to do with it (UP related, anyway).
I find the yellow dyed flax (sold as “hemp” by GHB suppliers) a bit heavy weight for the finer UP joints. The lighter #8 or #10 shoe thread is more appropriate, though getting hard to find. I am ordering a bulk supply out of Sweden, and will soon have it available. I don’t adulterate black wax with other waxes. It is a thermo wax, meaning the friction of pulling the flax through it will melt it. I use it to bond the thread to the tenon on the first wrap and on reed wraps. If you need to build up the gap, I use soft bees wax on middle layers followed by unwaxed flax on the outside of the wrap. In any event, unwaxed flax on the surface makes a non-stick and airtight joint. Some are using dental floss, silk thread etc. for the same thing.
Ted
…yes. What works perfectly well for the GHB is not necessarily ideal for UPs…remember, UPs are cold (dry) wind instruments. I am of the opinion that an economy of waxing your own ‘wrap’ is a better, guageable approach to ‘hemping’ than usiung a product whose wax content is perhaps far heavier than you really require.
Hmm, by the same reasoning, what applies to flutes doesn’t apply to UPs either, so disregard my previous suggestion.
…I think it is about the amount of wax one uses on their wrapping as opposed to the softness of said wax (wet or dry applications). Use whatever amount allows the joint to slide with relative ease, and yet maintains a good ‘seal’ between the joints.
Glauber…you’ll be a piper yet! 