After a few letters back and forth concerning the problems presented by the leather bags I decide to wrote a note supporting the use of Vinyl plastic bags sometimes called Naugahyde.
I have been playing the pipes for over 30 years and have used plastic bags for most of that time. I find that leather bags are expensive, leaky and prone to rot. The best thing to do with a leaky bag, leather or plastic, is to throw it in the trash and get a good bag.
Filling the bag with gook such as grease and wax just make a mess and will eventually destroy the leather.
Back in the early 1970’s I made a “Naugahyde” bag for Seamus Ennis. Total cost …3 pounds. Seamus loved it and joked about hunting the elusive Nauga. He used that bag until he died in the early 1980’s.
A few months later I instructed Paddy Keenan and His father, in Donahughe’s Pub” how to make a plastic bag. Paddy uses plastic bags to this day.
The point is that one can make a bag with one yard of material and a tube of “Barge” cement, for under $15.00. The bag will last up to 10 years and is completely leak proof and air tight.
Tip one…. If you insist on a leather bag, be sure and use a bag cover because the sweat from you arm will build a base of grease and salt that is a bacteria’s dream; guaranteed to rot.
Tip two…if you insist on a leather bag make sure that it does not leak at all…if it does send it back.
I found you want the one with the solid cloth bonded to the back, not the fuzzy stuff. I go to an auto fabric supply shop and bought a remnant roll for $6., enough for 4 bags. I use Marine 3M 5200 caulk, the"slow cure", it takes a week to cure but is forever. My D set has a Mcharg leather and the C set and practice bag are the elusive naugha. I like the leather but probably would not buy another. I feel it is important to have a thick cloth cover as the naugha is hot and sweaty on a bare arm. The slow cure 5200 takes 7 days to cure but it is worth the wait.
What type of seam are y’all gluing together (i.e. a wrap-around seam like D. Daye uses or more similar to a saddle-stitched seam… but without the stitches)?
Ive used nauga bags for several different types of pipe, glueing the seam with stuff specifically reccomended by the nauga people. (its a little more expensive than whats been metioned here, and somewhat harder to locate)
anyway, yeah, they’re ok:
but one consistent problem ive had with them is that;
once the bag is leakproof & filled with air, there is a tendency for the material to rip upon inflation just above the glue line.
I have not tried, but like the idea of rubber for uilleann. I have a innertube zampogna bag, but there are signifigant moisture problems with mouthblown pipes: another thread,
but rubber for a dry blown pipe is something i’d really like to give a go at. (good luck trying to find an old truck tube, however!)
I’ve run across several of these - didn’t Crowley use them at some point?
Really horrible IMO, I can’t stand them. Smelly, with tie-in problems, and too stretchy - not enough control - my least favorite type of bag (well, maybe second-least, after extra-heavy-duty old-fashioned canvas impregnated with goo). YMMV though.
Have seen both Crowley and also Alphonso Kennedy sets with original rubber bags.
Gaitas also use car / lorry innertube for bag material but the hotter and drier climate mitigates the moisture problem
The chemicals in the rubber (sulpher ?) can rapidly tarnish metal parts.
Makintosh material has also been used for the bags as is the more modern version Goretex.
The impregnated rubber bag were favoured by some of the French Pipe makers. Easy to make as you just stretch a suitable piece of close weave canvas on a frame and paint it with several layers of liquid latex. This is then cut to shape then dusted with french chalk or talc to stop it sticking to itself but leaving a 20mm strip round the edge to join it together to form the bag usually with an additional welting strip.
nope.
this may be a teachable moment here for you pal:
There’s nowhere for condensation to go in a rubber bag. It cant evaporate through the material. In fact the lower the RH, the more condensation accumulates in the innertube.
BUT:
Let’s ask a real Gaitiero: http://chiffboard.mati.ca/viewtopic.php?t=62616
On the negative side I have had a few bags crack , but the average life for mine has been around 5 years. Considering that many of the leather bag makers are charging upward of $170.00 the old plastic starts to look good even if you have the replace one every few years.
I agree with Billh that rubber bags suck. And that a good leather bag is still the best. The main thing is that the leather must be air tight without having to fill the bag with gunk to get it to seal.
