My good old bellows went now its end , leather so thin , ruined and leaky.
Now time for new leather. Any good hints when assembling new leather part?
(Old one is nailed )
Cheers.
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First make sure that you have a nice waterproof, airtight non-porous leather to replace the old one. Use the old leather as a pattern. Test the new leather by wetting a small spot and sucking on the leather, if bubbles appear then the leather is porous and no good.
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Carefully remove all of the old tacks and old leather blank.
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Fill in the nail holes with plastic wood filler-- allow to dry overnight.
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Take the new bellows leather and paint a 1/2 strip of contact cement
around inside the edge. Paint another strip around the edge of the wooden bellows blank (I usually do two coats of glue) or allow to dry 10 minutes or until the glue is tacky, press the leather onto one of the the bellows blanks and drive in new tacks, repeat with the other blank.
Allow to dry overnight and you are done. This sounds easier than it actually is. Go slow and every thing will be alright, especially when using the contact cement.
All the best,
Pat Sky
You should contact Chris Dixon. He sells kits to make bellows. He’s a nice guy to deal with. Maybe he could sell you just the leather.
One of the tricky parts is when you sew the overlapping leather parts at the hinge end of the bellows. you want to use a saddle stitch. When you remove the hinge you will see the square stitch shape. I also use a silicone glue for the overlapping leather, but the glue in itself will not be strong enough.
Take Care,
Douglas
Pat’s instructions are the way to go. Chris, I am sure, would be delighted to sell you the leather, but you’re gonna need a piece that matches the size of your existing gusset, and that involves tracing the outline of the old one onto the new leather.