I made my first attempt at making a bag for Uilleann pipes. I also made a second attempt. Both leaked air and I could not figure out why. I wet a sample of the leather and checked it with the blow gun of my air compressor. The air is leaking through the pours of the bag. Is this something that Hardies will fix or am I cursed with using the wrong type of leather? The weight of 4oz per square foot seems right. Thank you.
Ask any 10 and you’ll probably find 7-8 different recipies to fix it.
Some say no to ‘Hardies’ because it’s designed for a high humid condition… others say yes.
Most remedies are a mixture of beeswax and ‘something’ the something varies from cooking lard (Crisco) to oils (olive oil) or a lanolin product (neetsfoot) also liquid soap has been used successfully.
You have to heat up the chemicals until soft enough to pour. Don’t directly heat over a flame, use a double boiler system.
I’ve also heard you can pour liquid latex into the bag… you have to keep the bag inflated until it dries and add talc to keep it from sticking to itself… that one scares me!
Sound like a problem? I think so. Especially if the mixture hardens and breaks into chunks that blow into your chanter or cracks the leather or rots the bag stitching.
Follow these links for more information:
http://chiffboard.mati.ca/viewtopic.php?topic=8635&forum=6&17
http://chiffboard.mati.ca/viewtopic.php?topic=8394&forum=6&6
If you use good quality Vynl (as Paddy Keenan does)you won’t have any of these problems.A good glue and simplicity itself to make.
Slan go foill
Liam
Forleather that is airtight to begin with, get “chrome -tanned”. It has a painted on surface on the smooth side. The bag should be made with the smooth side to the inside.
Ted
On 2003-01-29 11:48, Uilliam wrote:
If you use good quality Vynl (as Paddy Keenan does)you won’t have any of these problems.A good glue and simplicity itself to make.
I saw Paddy Keenan on the TG4 awards recently and the glued section of the bag can be easily seen, the bellows also look like vinyl. I tried to glue a small piece of vinyl with white silicone as a test but it would’nt stick. What type of glue would you recommend? I used vinyl with a woven type back.
Cheers, Mac
Mac, do you put the smooth vinyl to the inside and the woven (or sometimes furry) side out?
I think David Daye outlines vinyl or rubberized material construction, If I find the link I’ll post it… I recall he indicates what type of glue to use.
Has anyone tried to glue vinyl with Barge cement? It said not to on the label, but who reads labels? Also, I understan Chrome tanned leather is best, but I used a good quality leather that seems to leak through the pores. my specific question was to find out if I need to toss my bag into the dead cow pile, or is it salvageable by using Hardies. Has anyone tried regular leather for a bag with success? Thank you for your replies everyone. Randy
Hi Tony,
I tried it woven side in. The bag Paddy Keenan was using had the shiny vinyl side out, it did have a flat section (the join) which looked to be about 2 inches wide. Maybe I did’nt make the join wide enough.
Randy,
have you checked out http://www.swaup.org If you download the PDF file “A Handbook for Uillean Pipers” it gives a recipe for sealing bags. The book “The Irish Bagpipes,Their Construction and Maintainence” by Wilbert Garvin recommends Hardies bag sealer. The Book is available from the NPU http://www.pipers.ie
Cheers, Mac
[ This Message was edited by: MacEachain on 2003-01-29 15:14 ]
Mac:
I made a successful bag out of marine grade vinyl and used a glue called “GOOP”. (Made in the USA by Eclectic Products) They make different types, this one is called “Sportsman’s Goop”, to waterproof leaky boots, waders etc. It contains toluene, so use it with plenty of ventilation. It kinda works like contact cement in that you coat both surfaces to be glued, (I made a seam about 3/4 in. wide),wait ten minutes and slap them together. I made a pattern out of two pieces of plywood that act as a nice clamp to sandwich the bag between after gluing. I put small “c” clamps around the perimeter to ensure good contact . Since I made it out of marine grade vinyl, in the unlikely event of a water landing, my pipe bag will serve as a floatation device! 
Good luck,
John
I finaly got tired of the leather problem. I used a material available at Joann’s Fabrics from Spalding. It looks like a flat black Leather like vinyl. It has a very tight pattern of weave on the other side. I used barge cement on this in two coats. I made the bag black side out. It is very air tight. My pattern is that from Garvin’s book. His pattern is about 10% too small when enlarged from the 1/2 size drawing. I used a drafting copied and enlarged it an extra 10% and it seems to be a perfect size. I used a lap type glued seam that is 1 inch wide all the way around. This sets the seam to be weave glued to weave. This bag now looks much closer to the one used with the pipes in “River Dance”. Garvin only shows extra material for a folded seam. He shows the seam as 1 inch all the way up to the neck and then tapers it smaller near the chanter stock. This is just too small and causes the chanter stock to be unusable. I have found that most of Garvin’s drawings require adjustment after the initial try. Fortunatly I have a wood burning stove in my shop. If anyone is interested, I will try to get the name and part number for this material. It ran me $7 a yard on sale. It normally sells for $14 a yard. USD. Happy Piping, Randy
Mac pop into your local cobblers shop and see what they use.I use a German Glue called Renia Syntic it is amazingly strong stuff and using only a single seam too!! The vinyl will tear before the seam!I have used it on bellows too with absolutely no problems I suppose I have made a dozen bellows and bags with not a single leak nor complaint
Slan go foill
Liam
For vinyl bags glue with the best contact cement you can get. Barge is good if you use the yellow label with red trim. The yellow label with green trim has a less toxic solvent, but doesn’t perform as well. Clamp or use a rubber mallet to hammer the joint well.
Ted
Hi Liam,
thanks for the info, I’ll give it a try, I did’nt want to buy enough vinyl to make a bag untill I knew what to glue it with
Cheers, Mac