My pipes have been leaking like sieve (it’s been one thing or another with the things this month) and I’ve isolated one of the problems as being with the bag. Any ideas. I got the bag from Benedict Koehler about five years ago.
Was the bag new at the time?
Beeswax and olive oil seasoning.
My bag suddenly started leaking about a month ago. Turned out that all of the stocks were getting slightly loose, I guess because of the ultra-low winter humidity here in Central New York. I re-tied them and the bag seems to be behaving fine. If you need to season, Ted posted some fairly detailed instructions here a couple of months ago.
Hey there, stranger!
The seasoning instructions might be your best bet. It depends on the bag to an extent, i.e. whether it’s smooth-side-in or out, etc.
Alternately, if it seems too far gone or you’d sooner just not bother, you happen to live in a city with no shortage of pipe bag suppliers. These look promising:
http://www.bennettpipebags.com/
It depends on the seriousness of the leak and how frugal you are, I suppose. My 10 year-old bag started leaking furiously all of a sudden a few months ago. It probably wasn’t beyond the point of no return, but I was quite busy and didn’t fancy mucking about in the kitchen with a leaky bag and hot wax and neatsfoot oil, so I wound up replacing it. When I got my pipes back with the new bag, the difference was like night & day…
The smooth side must be in, as the outside is rough, in a kind of a soft, fuzzy way. Does that make any difference?
Just to convince everyone I shouldn’t be playing this instrument (as if they needed further convincing), I don’t know how to tie in a bag or blowpipe, if I did I’d probably make it worse because I’m useless at that sort of thing, and I hate the maintenance sh*te. Why can’t the damned things just work.
I am feeling you on this one…when it’s all right it’s great, when one thing is out even slightly, the whole package turns to sh*te…sent my bag back to the great CJ Dixon, he has a great warranty and promises to fix the problem, have to respect his customer satisfaction. Thanks Chris, you da man…me and maintenance are like night and day…good to have a network of piper friends…thanks to all these posters here…cheers to all of you…
Good luck with the seasoning. I’m just about to season my bag for the first time which is a leather Rogge bag I got in 1996. I have the seasoning from Andreas, it came last week, and i’ve gathered together som wine corks so it’s just to set to. There’s a PDF file on Rogge’s site with instructions. Never done it before but it can’t be that difficult. The leaking has got to the stage where I’m playing the flute more than the pipes. Hope you get your bag sorted
Mr. Gumby; What is the ratio of olive oil to beeswax please? I’ve found that beeswax tends to clump and form balls inside the bag that are a pain when trying to remove them.
My bag has been going for over twenty five years on olive oil and beeswax although in fairness I can see a second treatment coming up during the coming year.
Here’s the way to do it:
You do need to take out the blowpipe so you won’t clog the valve, cork up all holes except the neck of the bag which you use to blow up the bag. Use your finger to close that one when you sit on it. Heat the mix in a jar sitting in a pot of boiling water, no direct heat or you’ll burn it.
Have used the same mixture on bellows as well.
Bag maintenance is quite easy after you do it once.
There is lots of instruction on tying in stocks and seasoning bags. (highland pipe tutor Vol 2)
If you can sew up a hole in your sock, you can make a new bag.
Don’t be afraid of trying to fix things, its the best learning experience.
Tim
Just to say my bag is sorted now. I heated Rogge’s seasoning, plugged the stock & blowpipe holes wth wine corks, poured in the warm seasoning, plugged the chanter stock then massaged the bag and worked the seasoning into the leather and in particular the seam area, and the leather around the stocks. Wasn’t sure how long to spend working the bag so I did it for maybe 20 minutes until the seasoning was cold but still runny, then I poured it back into the bottle which became about 3/4 full. Inflated the bag lightly, plugged the chanter stock and left the bag to dry for 24 hours. The bag was still inflated after that time, so no leaks and an airtight bag again after 15 years use. I followed Rogge’s instructions more or less on his site, no problems. Found a small funnel to pour the hot seasoning into the chanter stock, be careful as it can be very hot. I’ll put the pipes back together this evening and see how it is. If there is leakage then at least I know the bag isn’t to blame.
Emily you just need some wine corks and a piece of dowling to plug the stocks and a funnel to pour your seasoning into the bag. I got the corks and dowling to fit tight in the stocks by wrapping a piece of cloth around the corks & dowling. It wasn’t hard to season the bag at all. The whole seasoning process took about 30 minutes, then the drying time which doesn’t have to be 24 hours, Rogge says 2 hours, but I wanted to be safe. Can you imagine getting the reeds clogged up, the horror!!
Just be careful not to burn yourself when you pour the heated seasoning into the bag, or spill it on the outside of the bag. The stocks don’t have to come off, just plug them and remove the blowpipe valve. I used Rogge’s mixture as I remember Bill H mentioning once that Rogge uses his own mixture of seasoning, and that beeswax & oil could prehaps cause the old seasoning to peel off the inside of the bag and maybe clog the reeds. Otherwise beeswax & oil as others have stated is certainly fine. I wonder what Rogge uses, it tasted sweet so I guess that beeswax is probably in the mix?
No, there is no beeswax. It is a mixture of glycerol and the old “bone-glue” (?glue that is made by boiling bones, joiners will know it, you have to heaten it to make it fluid?). The glycerol stops it from getting extremely hard again (and also protects the leather - many hand-balms for example contain some glycerol). It will get a jelly-like consistency in the end. The stuff is watersolvent. It also works for “breath-operated” bagpipes as it absorbs humidity. The glycerol tastes extremely sweet (don´t drink it). The seasoning is sticky. I do not know Andreas´exact ratio by heart - 1 : 1 ? To my experience it is no good to seal an ex wax-sealed bag with it (!mess!). Stay with what you got in the bag.
If you can identify a leak my best bet always is to care for a “mechanical” hold first (e. g. restitching the seam-area; rebinding a stock) before applying any seasoning. Only if you have a “puncture” in the leather a “chemical” hold (pad) will work “lastingly”.
To my experience Ted Anderson´s way of seasoning is by far the cleanest and most simple one (especially the hair-dryer-part; - you should fill in anything with a binded in funnel only):
https://forums.chiffandfipple.com/t/live-session-recordings-from-ctms-solstice-festival-online/76/1
(page 3)
“No, there is no beeswax. It is a mixture of glycerol and the old “bone-glue” (?glue that is made by boiling bones, joiners will know it, you have to heaten it to make it fluid?). The glycerol stops it from getting extremely hard again (and also protects the leather - many hand-balms for example contain some glycerol). It will get a jelly-like consistency in the end. The stuff is watersolvent. It also works for “breath-operated” bagpipes as it absorbs humidity. The glycerol tastes extremely sweet (don´t drink it). The seasoning is sticky. I do not know Andreas´exact ratio by heart - 1 : 1 ? To my experience it is no good to seal an ex wax-sealed bag with it (!mess!). Stay with what you got in the bag.” Hans-Joerg.
Thanks for that info Hans-Joerg 
. A big difference now that the bag is airtight. I inflated the bag with the pipes & bellows in place except for the chanter and blew out some gobs of jellyed seasoning out of the chanter stock, (I hung the bag with the chanter stock hanging down whilst it was drying) then cleaned the inside of the chanter stock with paper and put the chanter on and it’s playing really well, no problems so far 
What ever method you use, an important point to remember is not to have the corked stocks pointed at anything important when you squeeze the inflated bag to work the seasoning into the nooks and crannies.
(especially nothing belonging to your wife)
Tim
yah, well…“clean” may be a subjective adjective 
…ya’s gotta work really quick with that recipie though, & be ultra fastidious about loose bits in the bag…but it defnintely works like a charm.
I dunno what the heck yer doin with a buncha wine corks on that mainstock cup…cripes 
…a lacrosse balls’ my preferred method…maybe a tennis ball in clingfilm’d work too…& I would [humbly] suggest a heat gun than a hair dryer…unless ya got one o those 2500W late 70’s early 80’s ConAirs…WHHOSHH!
“I dunno what the heck yer doin with a buncha wine corks on that mainstock cup…cripes …a lacrosse balls’ my preferred method…maybe a tennis ball in clingfilm’d work too” ChasR
Well I first I tried a basket ball but it was too small…then a friend suggested a small block Chevy Bel Air but that wouldn’t fit into the stock …
Ah! a flat set. that explains it. 
seriously though…what’re you doin with all the corks:
tape them all toegther & then wrap them in a washcloth?
“Ah! a flat set. that explains it. seriously though…what’re you doin with all the corks:
tape them all toegther & then wrap them in a washcloth?” ChasR.
Just two wine corks. One for the blowpipe hole after I’d removed the valve and one for the hole in the wooden stock that the body of the pipes fit on to. I have a Dave Williams set so the hole in the wooden stock that the cup fits onto is about the size of a wine cork. Easier to use a wine cork to plug the hole that leads directly into the bag rather than trying to plug the whole stock cup with a baby’s head or something I decided. As stated the bag is 15 years old and has probably been leaking more and more these last few years, so I kind of got used to it until these last few months when it became unbearable. Now it’s wonderful to be able to play without pumping the bellows like a deranged person
It’s okay to use the Highland pipe bag seasoning on uilleann pipe bags as long as you use it sparingly and make sure you rub the seasoning (heated) well around the stitching and the stock (tying in) then let the surplace seasoning drain out of the bag (can be reused)
If you don’t wish to use that, try ‘lanolin’ (probably spelt wrong) Ronin Browne bought a new pipe bag from me lately (www.pipebagmaker.com) and he informed me he always uses ‘lanolin’ He buys it on line, if I find where I will post the website here.
Jackie Boyce