After many months of collecting parts, I am ready to try to assemble my own bellows. I reviewed the other threads on this topic and I have a question… Is it better to season the gusset leather before or after assembly of the bellows?
Peace!
Reepicheep
I think so… 
Before, I reckon, but make sure you don’t put any on the edge where you are going to glue and tack to the clappers other wise the glue probably won’t take. Of course this means you may not get the seasoning right to the edge where leather meets wood, which you would if you poured molten wax into a finished belows. But that’s how I did mine and it’s very airtight.
Cheers,
DavidG
Since seasoning is ment to seal the seems and where the wood meets the leather I think you would want to season AFTER you put them together.
Not necessarily. seasoning also seals up the pores in the leather. The glue along the seam between the wood and leather should seal up nicely on its own.
Seasoning is meant to make the leather air-tight. Whether or not you need to do it depends on how the leather was treated. There is a process called chrome tanning on steer hides that does not require seasoning. This is the type of leather used by bag makers like L&M, whose bags do not require seasoning. Its hard to find, as few tanneries are equipped to do this treatment.
djm
You treat the leather to make it airtight and you season the bag and bellows to make them airtight. If your leather is already treated for air tightness such as a nice ELK hide bag from L&M you can get away with not seasoning if you don’t mind leaks at the tie-ins and seams. Seasoning puts an airtight layer of seasoning around the tie-ins and seams.
You should not have leaks at the tie-ins and seams if they are done correctly.
djm
The directions for my Dixon bellows kit stated to work in the seasoning into the gusset, especially in the area where it is stitched together, leaving an untreated edge where it will be glued to the wood. No further seasoning required after construction. Perhaps we’re having a semantic issue here.
So the answer is…no.
Or, maybe it is 42.
Since I am not sure if my leather is chrome tanned or not, I was going to season it “just to be sure.” … I did wet a section of it and I can suck air through it but only with extreme difficulty.
Thanks for your replies!
I’m sure the process will leave me with a terrible pain in all of the diodes down my left side.
What are you going to treat your leather with then?
Well, the best laid plans of Reepicheep’s avatar and all…
Since perfection almost never happens, seasoning was invented.
I have found that ease of play and tone quality in bag pipes are effected by airtightness so seasoning is generaly a good idea.
Please note that I did not say “you must not season”, I simply said it is “not necessary”. Seasoning is used on wet (mouth-blown) types of bagpipes to deal with the moisture from the breath. On correctly treated leather (ELK=chrome tanning) this is not necessary for dry (bellows-blown) bagpipes. You can season if you choose, but it is a messy business.
Of the three sets of UPs I have owned I have never had to season the bag or bellows. I have not had any leaks in the bags or bellows. I occasionally get leaks at thread-wrapped joints.
djm
Chrome tanning is not the same as the tanning used on L&M, MacHarg, KQ, and other users of “elk hide” leather for bagpipe bags. Chrome tanning is the main alternative to vegetable tanning, so almost all the leather jackets, chaps, and gloves that you see is chrome tanned leather whereas most of the carved leather (like cowboy belts and boots) is vegetable tanned.
The tanning used by VanTan and other makers of the stuff that the above mentioned makers (and I) use is an alkalai process and does not involve chrome. I imagine tanneries have a name for this process, but it is not “chrome tanning”.
Chrome tanned leather is pretty airtight, but not as airtight as the stuff your bag is made of.
Thanks, liestman. The descriptions I have of ELK and chrome tanning came from L&M.
djm
I am going to use Royce’s recipe… 3:1 Murphy’s Oil soap and Crisco.