the season is changing here in the midwest which means joints and ferrules are getting loose as the humidity drops. I have no idea what the best method for wrapping might be I’m not talking materials, I mean the actual knots or twists one uses to secure and finish the wrap. Usually I just kind of use the wax of waxed hemp the secure everything. I need to wrap some of the joints using thin thread and my tried and true method doesn’t work as starting the wrapping is proving tricky.
I’ve searched the net but haven’t had any luck. Thanks for the tips!
some great info there, but what I really need is a guide to starting a wrap and finishing one off. Some GHP or fly-fisherman should have an answer here.
And if you have loose ferrules or mounts here’s what Hammy Hamilton recommended for loose flute rings/ferrules: Cut a thin layer of silk handkerchief to the ring size and slide it onto the tube under the ring (trimming or pulling loose threads until it’s invisible). It’s worked great on my flute for several winters now; I haven’t tried it on my pipes but I suspect it would be the same.
I prefer fine flax or hemp shoe thread, coated with black wax for ferrules. I use no knots at all, the wax will stick the thread in place. Silk thread is used by some, but I find the black wax to be essential. That is one of its major uses and certainly used by most old makers, whose sets I have had the pleasure of working on.
I got a tenon hiding under all this wrapped up thread
I got a ferrule jammed on top of that yellow, green, blue and red
I got a patina all up on me like a rush of champagne
Just don’t say this green stuff on me is like some kinda stain!
Wrapping ferrule! Yeah that’s right
Wrapping ferrule, don’t get too tight
Wrapping ferrule, don’t try me with that nasty a$$ white $hit tef-a-lon
Wrapping ferrule, just gimme some of that sweet a$$ ny-a-lon - HUH!
…or co-tt-on… yeah… uh huh…
Fo shonky ma honky…
BEEAOTH!.. late… out…
Artist: P-Diddley
Director: P-Doggedly
Label: Yo Momma’s A$$
Year: 1837
So messing around and remembering that I’m a climbing and actually know a lot of knots, I decided that a plain old clove-hitch to start the wrap and a half-hitch with a wrap to finish works fine.
I just wanted to point out, in case anyone is confused - I’m sure Ted means under ferrules here, not on top of tuning slides… i.e. as a means of securing metal ferrules to the outside of wooden sockets.
The old (i.e. >100 years old) sets I’ve worked on have had something akin to black wax under the ferrules, along with a thread wrapping. The thread looked to me to be flax in some cases, I don’t recall having seen silk but it’s certainly possible. The wax seemed to have a higher resin content than what one normally uses for reeds (and may have contained no wax at all, just resin and pitch.
The wrapping used underneath the sockets, i.e. around the tenon over which the socket slides, is another matter. My first and strongest advice is to avoid PTFE/‘plumber’s’ tape here. Secondly, soft, fuzzy thread seems to work best (though I have tried other types in the past) - I like linen or cotton. Keep this thread unwaxed, except for a very small amount of wax on the starting end, or a drop of shellac on the wooden tenon - just enough to hold the first bits of the wrapping. If your tenon allows/requires more than one layer of wrapping then the inner layer can have a bit of wax or shellac while the outer layer is completely dry.
As for knots, I just start the wrap by wrapping over the loose, initial end of the string for the first several turns. This secures one end of the thread. When I am nearing the end of the wrapping process, I take a small loop of thread (2 or 3 inches long, doubled over) and place the loop end at the “far” end of the wrapping (i.e. the end towards which I am wrapping). Then I apply the last turns (maybe 10 or 12) of the wrapping over this loop. At this point the loop is partly buried under the wrap, with “tails” and loop ends sticking out; I pass the free end of the wrapping thread through the loop, pull the tails, and thus pull the free end underneath the turns of wrap. Trim the outside bit and you have a wrap whose ends are both tucked under.
Exactly what I meant Bill, thanks for the clarification. Under ferrules, there is usually not enough room for a knot, hence the black wax. I have only seen silk used by modern makers. Flax or hemp shoe thread is the norm. It is getting difficult to source the very fine dry spun thread. The American black wax is even harder to come by. It is different than the modern thermo wax sold by GHB suppliers, in that it is made primarily from pitch and rosin, rather than coal tar, which is used in thermo wax or “cobbler’s wax”. Cobbler’s wax is a misnomer. The only references I can find for it are the GHB suppliers, who mostly don’t bother with it much, along with sealing wax. Shoemakers (cordwainers) wax would be more appropriate. They sometimes refer to this wax as coad or code. It is used to make wax ends, used to hand sew soles on boots etc. It is also used by harness makers, who refer to it as hand wax, as in hand sewing. Its primary purpose is as an adhesive and preserving, rather than a lubricating wax. Pitch is defined as the residue left over from making turpentine the old fashioned way. This pitch is no longer available. I had just ordered 50 pounds of this type of pitch from the last US chandler to handle it. He was an old man whose dockside business and stock were lost in New Orleans, during hurricane Katrina. My order was never filled. Perhaps someone in another country can find it available and will notify me. I wanted to reproduce this type of wax to supply pipers and makers.
I use black wax on the first inches of thread for tenon wraps, to adhere the thread to the wood. It is covered over with suceeding layers. I have not found cotton to be as useful as hemp or flax shoe thread, preferably dry-spun, so it is fuzzy, or nobby, as the spinners term it.
