How to repair a cracked barrel?

Irish Flute
1

The Swedish winter is at it’s height just now -even here in the south it’s very cold, dry, and snow everywhere. Last week I discovered a crack in the barrel of my Murray keyless :astonished: . The crack runs from the edge of the barrel (nearest the headjoint) down to the raised trademark curve Sam puts on his barrels.

So I put som transparent tape along the crack, lengthwise, and tried playing the flute. It played but had notebly diminished in power, in spite of the tape. This is a keyless Murray by the way with the partially lined headjoint.

The barrel is fully lined as far as I can see, yet placing a length of tape on the crack doesn’t seem to make the barrel airtight. So rather than send the barrel off to Sam I’m thinking of repairing the barrel myself with superglue, Just wondering though about the best way to hold/press the crack together whilst the glue drys? I found this description which seems doable unless someone better experienced has a better suggestion.

https://listserv.heanet.ie/cgi-bin/wa?A2=ind9701&L=irtrad-l&D=0&P=27161

The crack is clean, no oil or stuff in it, and the flute is maybe a year or so old. It came via California to Sweden in July 2008 and the wood has been moving about all the time. sometimes the the endstopper and joints are tight, sometimes loose, so I have to have some cotton thread handy. It plays great though, in tune, and very responsive

2

Superglue or epoxy work well for a crack repair. But they lock quite ugly if you don’t clean up afterwards. My flute had a crack in the barrel when I bought it. It was repaired by the previous owner with what I think was epoxy. Cleaning everything up involved using a lathe, different sizes of sand papier and metal polish. But the crack is invisible now.

The methods Terry describes on his web site here and here are by far the best and nicest methods, but they require a lot more of machinery.

Conclusion: If you don’t care about a line of superglue visible on the barrel, go ahead and glue it yourself, which works very well. If you want it to look perfect, Sam Murray is your man.

3

"Conclusion: If you don’t care about a line of superglue visible on the barrel, go ahead and glue it yourself, which works very well. If you want it to look perfect, Sam Murray is your man." Gabriel

Thanks Gabriel - I intend to keep this flute so I don’t mind if the repair can be seen, it’s a working flute. I’ll use masking tape up the edges of the crack. I’m more concerned as to how to close the crack directly after applying the glue. The irtrad link advocates using a looped clothesline, but I think I’ll try hoseclamps, with waxed papper between the clamp and the barrel

4

I know there are varying opinions on this, but when working on the two barrel-cracked Murrays I’ve had (one came that way; the other, like yours, cracked in the winter) I haven’t worried about “closing” the cracks so much as FILLING them, and they’ve worked fine for several years now. I’m kind of going on the theory of “it cracked because of stress so why re-stress it or return it to the shape it was trying to get out of (kind of like too-tight pants :laughing:)?”

Anyway, the most important (and hardest to find) component in my repairs has been patience. Here’s what I did:

I put masking tape near the edges of the crack to minimize drips, applied some super-runny superglue (Loctite is the brand I used) with a wooden toothpick (you’ll need several as the glue dries fast) and let the glue set for several hours, even overnight. Then I rubbed 000 superfine steel wool around the crack, GOING WITH THE GRAIN to clean up any big drips (this is important to do at each phase or you end up with small, sort of carbunculous-looking blobs that just don’t want to go away without a major fight :blush:).

THEN, I repeated the process several times (I think it was five times on one flute) until the fill was level with the flute surface. I let it set again and then removed the mask and carefully rubbed the glue repair and the crack edges with the steel wool to sort of “smooth the transition.”

In each case, the gluing and setting process was over several days; I wanted the glue to cure as well as possible.

In the several years since their repairs, the flutes have been fine and in the case of the blackwood flute (the one where I figured out about the steel wool between each gluing), the crack is all but invisible in most places.

The one thing I’m still trying to figure out is the best way to fill the crack from the inside. On my boxwood Murray’s cracked foot (talk about a hardworking flute; it came with plenty of battle scars) I used a long wooden skewer to kind of dab the glue into the crack and then attached some steel wool to the tip of the skewer to polish the bead from the inside of the bore. It worked and was fairly smooth (I’ve since had John Gallagher do a professional repair on it with epoxy and boxwood shavings because it was a big split so it’s much more attractive now), but I know it could have been better – and it was a major pain to do.

Anyway, they’re both great flutes and like yours, working flutes so I figure the cracks are kind of like service medals.

P.S. Acetone on a swab is good for emergency superglue cleanup. :smiley:

5

OH, and duh … your local woodwind repairer might have some ideas too. They deal with cracked oboes, clarinets and bassoons all the time.

6

Some would say that if you intend to force the crack closed, it should be done in conjunction with pulling the slide and re-boring the barrel. If the barrel really wants to be smaller than it was and has cracked on account of having shrunk around the tubing, then even a good re-closure stands a chance of popping back open at a later date. Failing the rebore, Cathy’s suggestion about filling rather than closing is a good way to look at your situation. Cheers,

Rob

7

Yes, Cathy and Rob are spot-on here - forgot to mention that you should fill the crack, not force it closed again. See Terry’s site for details on this.

A good-working method of filling the crack is as follows:

  • Place a broad line of epoxy or superglue on the crack. Superglue might be better for that as it’s not as tenacious as epoxy glue.
  • Close the barrel on one side (with your hand’s inner surface for example) and suck on the other side. This draws the glue into the crack.
  • Clear off excess glue on inside (!) and outside
  • allow plenty of time for the stuff to harden. You might glue your flute together if you don’t allow enough time!
Glueing a crack
8

Thanks for all the good advice and tips, Cathy, Rob, Gabriel & David. I’ll have at it tomorrow as I’m free all day, although I’ll have to do some maintanence work on a Harley I purchased a couple of weeks ago. I see your point about not closing the crack. There is indeed the likely risk that it’ll snap open again. I’ll get some fresh super-glue and see. I’m thinking that by closing the crack, even though that will be creating a stress factor as you say, the barrel will hopefully become airtight. Then again I could do as Cathy suggested and try being patient and build up inside the crack with glue and dust. Prehaps this would be the better route to go.

9

I second what Rob and Cathy have said too. Trying to force it shut will re-stress and it will either pull open again next time it gets dried out or will crack in a new place. The rebore method is the best and I wouldn’t hesitate to do that on an old flute, but where you have access to a living maker, I’d at least talk to him before doing anything.

If you are trying to hold a crack shut for glue to set (as you have to when removing the liner and re-boring - which does not need a lathe, BTW - you can file/sand it out) I recommend using cable ties - you can use fairly broad ones, set them up ready looped and pulled down to a size that you can handily fit over the tube and then they can be put in place and cinched up very swiftly one the glue has been applied. Better than jubilee clips or such - faster and less likely to damage the wood. You could even glue a strip of old inner tube inside them first to pad if you wanted.

Re; making sure you deal with any leaks - I’d advise removing the ferrule rings before doing any gluing and filling as otherwise they are a likely location for a leak. You can also glue-and-dust fill the crack on the inside in the mortice area of the joint. I assume it isn’t a metal-lined socket? If so and you don’t want to remove the socket liner, you may need to run a little superglue around on the step between socket and tuning slide to make sure all is sealed there.

10

AHA! That’s a good idea (must mind the fumes, though :smiley:)

From what I can tell, the fill method has made both my barrels (yeow!) airtight because I’ve filled all the leaks. My original rationale was that the Murray’s barrel with that metal slide sleeve or half-liner is under steady stress as it is and that’s why it cracked, so why repeat history?

Have fun gluing in the Murray “traffic-cone-zone,” Steampacket. That’s where something small & pointy like a toothpick comes in handy.

Working on a Harley, working on a Murray … aaah, the good things in life, both offering keen emotional reward when complete.

11

More good ideas! I’m so sorry for your luck, Steampacket – but I’m sure appreciating all the things coming out of it :slight_smile:

P.S. Jem, I don’t know about Steampacket’s, but both my Murrays have partially lined sockets; I did just as you describe with the superglue on the one flute that needed it (the liner kept popping out anyway, so … ).

12

Again good stuff - thanks again for the input Jem and Cathy. Yes, cable ties will be much better and quicker than trying to screw down 2-3 hoseclamps before the glues sets.

We had a nice session on Wednesday at the Music conservatory in Malmö after a surprise concert by Dervish. The band came to give workshops for the students and played a concert during the evening. They seemed tired but played well.

13

i have had alot of success using beeswax to flll cracks.

14

Glad to see all these tips here. I don’t know if this is a stupid question or not, but could the superglue method be applied to the headjoint as well? I have an antique flute, maker unknown, (I just know my mother claims an ancestor played it in the Civil War here in the States), that has a terrible crack in the headjoint. The poor thing resided in a bureau drawer in pieces all through my childhood and was treated with no respect at all. I’d like to try to render this flute playable again, if that’s at all possible.

Trying to post a picture…hope it comes through.

15

Yes, the superglue should probably work there, caitlin. You should clean out any gunge first with a solvent like acetone, then give the solvent plenty of time to dissipate. Like any woodwork gluing job, rehearse the clamping process first to make sure it’s going to work. No time to be trying out new tricks when dripping with superglue! One simple approach is wrapping in waxed dental floss

That flute doesn’t appear to have a slide, so it’s not the same situation as the cases mentioned above. In your case there shouldn’t be much trying to split the flute, but you do need to consider what caused the crack, and if that threat still exists, deal with that too. I could imagine any of the following, and the location of the crack will help pin down the culprit:

  • stopper too tight, too hard or swells when wet. Crack will be in this area.
  • flute was allowed to get too wet inside when too dry outside. Flute not oiled. Crack will probably have a nasty jagged look.
  • tenon overpacked or head timber had shrunk away from inside ring. Crack will be in the socket area.

Another possibility of course is simple mechanical damage, someone dropped the head and trod on it. In which case the crack will probably be long, thin and following the grain. Or was simply caused by a timber fault, in which case you can usually see other evidence of the fault.

So, before destroying the forensic evidence, have a close look and try to work out what caused the crack. Otherwise, you’re likely to have to do the repair more than once!

And, while sucking glue into cracks is very effective, don’t risk human lungs to do it. They tell you not to breath the stuff - sucking is many times worse. I use an airbed pump - one that has a suck and a blow outlet. I’ve also had success with a wine bottle vacuum pump - simply tape it on to the end of the flute and suck away!

Terry

16

Thanks Terry!

Caitlin

17

Excellent point, Holmes!

Excellent point, Dr. Watson … as flute players, I suppose we should consider lungly matters. And brilliant invention on the device!

Thanks, Terry. :slight_smile: The planet and its tenants are lucky to have you.

Good luck, Caitlin. Maybe some old boxwood you’ve got there?

18

Hi, I’m caitlin’s husband and probably the one to be doing the repair. I do think it’s boxwood. For the kind of abuse the flute has seen, it’s in pretty good shape. All the parts are there, keys, bone fittings etc. There are at least two cracks, and they are long even and with the grain. The one that worries me is in the second barrel at the joint. It has shifted so that the two sides of the crack don’t match up. It’s not a major shift, but it does concern me a little. I’ll try and get a photo up so that you can see what I mean.

19

Boxwood likes to warp; the flute I described above has a curve throughout the entire head, barrel included (I suspect that’s part of why its barrel cracked). Better yet, it gets either more or less curvy with the humidity. On some days it looks positively quizzical!

Anyway, I couldn’t imagine getting crack edges on a warped barrel to line up again, at least not with my sub-human flute-repair powers.

So me, I’d probably be inclined to fill it as described above. But hopefully Dr. McGee will have some more insights. Maybe if you take out the liner (if there is one), etc.?

Good luck! Boxwood and bone/ivory are the prettiest combination, I think.

20

I just had to update this thread with this bit of brilliance from Patrick Olwell in his description of restoration to a Rudall and Rose he has up on ebay:

This flute arrived with a crack in the headjoint through the embouchure, and I have repaired it by extracting the brass tube, letting the headjoint wood dry out thoroughly, and then regluing the brass tube back into the wood sleeve. This technique allows the crack to pop closed tightly, if no one has already filled the crack with glue, which they hadn’t. Now it is almost impossible to see, and the embouchure is at the original dimensions with clean sharp edges. I have found this technique to be very durable and permanent, as long as the flute isn’t exposed to excessive dryness, so you have to be careful if you travel in the desert.

Sounds like another option – if you’re willing to wait long enough for it to dry. At least on lined HJs, that is.