Leak?

Uilleann Pipes
1

Hi all. I am new to this forum. I recently picked up a practice set of pipes and have discovered a leak where the stock piece is tied into the bag. Short of re-tying the whole stock piece, is there a temporary fix I can do to repair this? Perhaps some adhesive, or glue, or beeswax? Thanks in advance,
Arbo

2

Which stock are you referring to? The mainstock (where you plug the drones and regulators), the chanter stock (where the chanter fits) or the bellows tenon (sometimes called the bellows stock)?

3

It’s the main stock where the drones and regs would be located. I can actually see some spaces between the tiny triangular cuts of leather where there seems to be a hole…
Arbo

4

I’d just retie. 10 minute job and no more leak. It’s really not that hard and it’s good practice. Well, practice for tying anyway. Get some artificial sinew, tie a constriction knot of some sort. Wrap around the now snugly repositioned mainstock. Then what I do is tie the other end to a post and putting a lot of pressure on the sinew, slowly wrap it around the stock. By tying it off on a post you can really put some elbow grease into it.

I’m sure others have some different methods that are equally good. A pointer to some of the knots for starting and stopping would be helpful.

5

Yep, sounds like retying is your best bet.

6

Not used artificial sinew before (didn’t even know it exists!)
I’ve used brickies line and had good success with that. Just apply some black wax to give it some tack. It has minimal stretch and does not snap under load, allowing you to tie it in well.

7

http://uilleannforum.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=4&t=1066&p=7440#p7440

This is the one I use all the time. It is extremely good.

8

Arbo! Get out while you still can! IT’S NOT TOO LATE!!!

Arbo?


…?

9

I don´t think anyway that there is a quick fix, cause some time later(hopfully it might last a few months) you or somebody else will in fact have additional trouble to clean it and do it properly. A “mechanical fix” is always better than any “chemical” one. So, there really is no choice: You´ll have to tie in the stock anew. BTW, mind that the bag is not only airtight but pressuretight. This will make a huge difference.