I have an old leather bag that is leaking terribly on its surface. I do not want to throw away because it looks great; its size and shape is perfect for me. Is there any new technology (impregnating spray, liquid silicon rubber/foam) that I could apply in the bag interior somehow.
I am thinking of using seasoning from Highland Piping, but I do not need moisture control in my Uilleann bag.
Thanks,
Miki
Hi Miki,
many years ago I used “Hardie’s” bagpipe seasoning for an uilleann bag but I wasn’t at all impressed by the result (the smell wasn’t nice, either). I’ve heard of people flushing the bag with latex or contact glue but I never tried these - I guess you would have a hard time stopping the layers from adhering to each other. I would recommend the old hide glue/glycerine concoction, this has always worked well for me. If you don’t know the recipe, PM me.
L&M can make you a custom bag according to a template you provide them with if you decide your bag isn’t salvageable. You just send them a template with the shape and they’ll cut and stitch yours to the same size. Last time I checked you made it 1/4" larger on the sewn edges to allow for stitching, but you should check with them beforehand.
Synthetic seasoning of old bag
I was expecting something about botox.
Give this a go, after you have checked the bag stitching is OK, make a mixure up of 3/4 of a pint of neatsfoot oil and 2-3 sticks of pure bee’s wax warmed up in a old pan till the bee’s wax is totaly melted,plug the neck of the bag with a bung, pour the warm mixure quickly through the stock connector into the bag & then plug the stock connector with some kitchen paper tightly rolled up or with a bug and swill the mixure around the inside of the bag,this has to be done quickly, before it cools, then put the bag on a flat surface and work the mixure around the inside walls of the bag,from the outside with your fingers as it becomes thicker and soaks in too the walls of the leather bag, after an hour or so remove the bung from the bag neck and make sure the holes are clear of bee’s wax,fit the stock,and give the bag or set ago, the bag should now be sealed, now some of the neatsfoot oil will soak through the bag walls as you play the set for the next week or so, make sure you don’t wear any good clothes, as they might get soaked through from the bag wall, your bag should give you a few years of playing and maybe more, keep a check for any blockages from the bees wax in the bag neck, till all settles in, all the best.
Hi Miki,
the least work of course might be a new airtight bag. However, if as you decided to restore the old one, the first step (as stew suggested) always is checking that it´s „mechanical structure“ still is O. K. (no broken seams, stocks still tied properly, leather sturcture still O. K. – especially near the seams and around the stocks). Broken seams could be restitched. You will but have a sort of „hen or egg – problem“: You can´t apply pressure to a leaking bag to finally check it . Several „rounds of sealing“ are necessary. A 100% airtight bag is very important though (99.5% aren´t enough). If the bag isn´t 100% airtight the sound will only be mediocre (though your eyes might come out of your head 
) and the reeds might have tuning issues.
If you are going to use the glue/glycerine seasoning, you could either mix it yourself according to MichaelLoos` recipe or buy it ready mixed from Andreas Rogge
http://www.uilleann-pipes.de/
Goto „prices → accessorys“.
At „service“ you´ll find a little usage instruction.
You won´t have any problems with this stuff but there is one leettle downside: The glue/glycerine approach comes from the mouth blown – tradition and can absorb humidity out of the bag. It does also perfectly work for „caulde blown pipes“ where the wax-seasoning is dominant (or nowadays the „never-season-elk-hide-tradition“). The glue/glycerine will work and stick on wax but wax won´t work on glue/glycerine. Eventually flakes of wax will shoot out of the bag and destroy the reeds then. So, once you decided to go the glue/glycerine road you have to stay on it. Any return to wax isn´t possible any longer. This is no big problem though, cause „caulde-blown-pipes“ only need seasoning every few years anyway.
BTW, I decided to stay with the wax-seasoning and came across this recently: It looks convincing and promising but so far I have no long-term experience. I mixed this milky floor-wax-stuff (Carnauba) and Beeswax (about four to one). To mix it, you´ll have to heaten it till the Beeswax melts. This floor-stuff seems to contain some water and the Beeswax won´t melt completely at once. When cooling down you have to keep mixing. Cold again, it will stay fluid for a few hours at least. You´ll get a sauce with leettle Beeswax-corns (sandcorn-size) in it that you can pour into the bag, do it in comfortably and pour the surplus out again. The Beeswax was „flushed“ into the pores and the seams and I got a bag as tight as a football. Accidently, I got a little onto the lips: It tastes awfully. Before, I had poured a little into a (empty) whisky-glas to see what happened: After 2-3 days the Beeswax had dissolved completely in the floormilk and it had dried to a greasy consistency.
Any caveats?
Caveats:
Don’t eat the carnauba goo.
You never know what’s in the floor wax mixture.
Different Formulas may have different reactions.
Don’t eat the carnauba goo!