The bag on my pipes was a bit small, and also old - so have got a new one. Does anyone have any tips on tying the mainstock in? Not done it before and don’t want to screw up the shiny new bag!
thanks
Chris
PS the pipemaker is the other side of the world, otherwise I’d pop in and see them!
Here’s a couple that I’ve learned:
Cut the hole slightly smaller than necessary. Use the stock up against the bag and trace a line around it. Cut an “X” inside the traced circle, ending the cuts just inside the line. Leave a bit of the bag material inside the circle, in a series of “V” patterns. VVVVVVVVVV (but of course, in a circular pattern).
When ready to tie in, use a strong, heavy hemp (waxed), EDITED: waxed artificial sinew and wrap the bitter end (the loose end) around a dowel to use when pulling it tight.
There are many more hints / ideas out there, no doubt - these are just a couple that I’ve learned when I last tied in a new bag.
Best of luck,
When tying in, you can do this as demonstrated by Michael Hubbert.
Tie the length of waxed hemp that you’ll need (probably around 3-4 meters) around the trunk of a small but strurdy tree. Extend the length of string until it’s tight. Use the weight of your own body as you loop the string around the cup and bag material and proceed towards the tree. Creates an incredibly tight seal around your maintock cup.
Instead of hemp, Michael also used “synthetic” tendon- I think that’s what he called it; its creme-flatish cord that as used as Mikie describes, produces and air tight seal. I also think he put some wax on the sealing suface of the mainstock as well to aid in the seal.
It’s waxed artificial sinew. You can find it at Tandy, but it might be cheaper at a craft store like Michaels. You might find it at your local Rendezvous/Reenactment fest.
Where ever you pick it up, do. There’s no breaking it, but it is a little sticky. Works for tying reeds too, but I like my reeds a little less sticky. 
I’ve just now noticed you’re in the UK, I am not certain where you might find it, but chances are they have some where ever you can purchase leather for crafts.
correcto mundo JES
Agreed re: waxed artificial sinew … my reply is edited to reflect this.
It’s good stuff, too - fairly inexpensive, and quite strong.
The NPU sells waxed polyamide twine - for reed making. This should do very well.
A good tip for the tying process is to use two dowels. Cut two to three metres of twine.
Fold so that the twine is now halved in length ( so you know where the middle is).
With the center point known, loop around the gusset and stock, starting at the bag end of the recess, with the middle point of the twine at o degrees, and tie a double loop in at 180 degrees from that, and draw tight.
The key point is to fold one end of the twine around and under the other, as in tying a shoe lace; but loop it twice, not once. Draw tight , using dowlels, around which, from the free ends, the free ends of the two halves of twine are wound, unitil about six to eight inches remain. They are your handles.
The double loop ensures that once drawn tight, using all the force of your arms and upper torso, the tightness does not slacken, as it would do if you only had one loop.
You then rotate the bag and stock 180 degrees, and repeat; working out from the slot in the stock, again with double loops, until the twine can not be worked any further, but working around the stock/leather subsequently, so that the loops don’t lie on each other.
The double loop, or even three loops, is a well known simple knot, which allows tightness to be maintained when having to move a peice of work, like a parcel, or in tying joints of meat, and have to change direction at the same time as lifting the object to do so for the purpose in question. The result is that you don’t have to maintain the maximum force through the whole tying process, a very wearisome thing indeed.
Experiment.
I had the stock come loose on an O’Grady set several times. I tried knotting and twisting and reversing but I was unable to pull the twine tight enough to cure the problem.
It may have been several factors: The smooth side of the leather is against a smooth wooden stock. Perhaps it’s the way the stock was curved where the two meet. A tiny bit of pull and the stock slipped out. I ‘painted’ a small ring of solvent based adhesive in the groove of the stock. It worked perfectly. The wooden stock no longer twisted itself loose!
Picture:
http://www.angar.net/pipes/ogrady_stock.JPG
You can see the V’s that brianc is talking about.
I had other sets that didn’t use the V cut method and they worked fine.
picture:
http://www.angar.net/pipes/bagfix1.JPG
Both pictures are how those makers intended the ‘tie-in’ nothing was changed to their original setup.
If you prefer to keep you stock adhesive-free, a light coating of dish detergent around the area of the stock that will be tied in can work wonders as well. An old GHB trick for tying in stocks.
Mr.Hubbert seems to cut the hide round(No VVVVVVcuts) and tie it to the stocks. It looks smart and simple.Sorry for the dark image but you can see both mainstock and bellows stock tied in this way.I must ask him how he is doing this.
In case trees aren’t handy, I’ve seen the looping method work with a good, sturdy chair as well.
After the stock has been tied in, you can cut the triangular leather bits off for a “perfectly rounded” look.
There really ought to be step-by-step instructions for this sort of thing…There probably are on a GHB-centric site somewhere and that would serve you well.
EDIT: Aaahh…Here we go: http://www.bagpipejourney.com/articles/bag-tie-in.shtml
Some of the information here would be applicable to tying in a UP bag as well. Incidentally, the hands doing the tying-in appear to be those of my old GHB teacher, Jay Salter…
This looks like something I will add to the FAQ page… at least until a Uilleann Pipes stock tie in manual can be made or found. Thanks Sporting!
I like doing it this way too. All bag leather stretches, and some of it stretches a lot. You can cut the hole substantially undersize and then stretch it until a nearly cylindrical section protrudes from the bag - for instance with tapered mandrels of graduated size. The trick is stopping before the leather tears…
Bill
If you have the luxury of the bag not being sewn shut yet, you can put all the bits inside and pull/work them through their appropriate holes too.Makes for a nice fit.
T
Thanks all…
Unfortunately the bag is sewn up! Tony Hebdon (one of the ‘local’ makers) bolts his stock in from the inside of the bag, then sews it up - looks and lasts very well but difficult to change bags!
I have a small tree in the garden and it looks like its not just useful for making apples! Need to try and find some of this waxed artificial stuff, but shouldn’t be too hard…
Thanks for the advice.
Chris
Try these places if you cannot find it in your country.
http://www.turtlefeathers.com/text/products/sinew.html
JES wrote:
Try these places if you cannot find it in your country.
http://www.turtlefeathers.com/text/products/sinew.html >
Could you tell me what weight is suitable for tying in stocks? Would you go with the 70 pound? Also what weight would be suitable for tieing reeds?
I tied my first stocks in this week. I used unwaxed hemp, which broke a couple of times, but all in all worked fine, no leaks.
David
70# is perfect for stocks and works for reeds, but I would go with a lighter weight for reed making.
Here’s an image from Davy Stephenson’s site that I feel really illustrates a tied in stock very well.
Let me also add the suggestion if you’re finding it hard to get the synthetic sinew that you try waxed Nyltex thread. Tim Britton uses it for reed making and it works great for tying in bags as well. It’s pretty much the same as the artifical sinew, but usualy easier to find as it’s used often in shoe and leather making/repair work.
I think it comes in white and brown, though I’ve used only the white. You tie it in just as with the sinew - either using a tree, dowels or some combination of a dowel and secure tying point (or burly friend). You know you’ve got it tight enough (for reedmaking as well as tying in bags) when the waxy-thread turns from opaque to translucent.
Dionys