Sheepskin Bellows

[nicx66]

I am currently looking at options for replacing a set of bellows and was wondering if anyone out there would be willing to make a set in sheepskin or a combination of sheep and goat hide, i.e. the end-runs and outer (peak?) folds in goat hide and the rest in sheep hide. The originals are sheep hide and I would like the replacement set to be as well, however it was suggested to me that the areas that get the most friction should be goat leather for its abrasion resistance. I seem to remember reading in another post that there are abrasion resistant types of sheep hide as well? Thanks

[JimLucas]

I am currently looking at options for replacing a set of bellows and was wondering if anyone out there would be willing to make a set in sheepskin or a combination of sheep and goat hide, i.e. the end-runs and outer (peak?) folds in goat hide and the rest in sheep hide. The originals are sheep hide and I would like the replacement set to be as well, however it was suggested to me that the areas that get the most friction should be goat leather for its abrasion resistance. I seem to remember reading in another post that there are abrasion resistant types of sheep hide as well? Thanks

 

I suggest you look for old posts by Rich Morse. If I remember correctly, he not only recommended "hair sheep", as opposed to "wool sheep", but even gave some details regarding which parts of the hide were best for which parts of the concertina... i.e., pads, valves, bellows... maybe even different parts of the bellows.

[Dana Johnson]

Why are you attached to sheep? Hair sheep seems to be the strongest sheep, ( not wool sheep ). I haven't tested it against vegetable tanned goat, which is what I use. How did you determine that the original was sheep? Bookbinders generally use vegetable tanned hides, often specially tanned for archival properties. How old is your current bellows?

Dana

[Greg Jowaisas]

I'm fairly sure nixc66 has a Tidder concertina. The Tidders I've seen have abundant gusset material and usually exhibit a great amount of wear and scuffing on the end and top runs which I assume is from use of a less abrasion resistant material than goat such as sheepskin. (The 4 Tidders I've had for refurbishment appear to have sheepskin bellows).

 

I make my bellows as I was taught by Wally Carroll with sheepskin gussets and valleys and goat end and top runs. A Jowaisas 6- fold replacement bellows usually costs $600-$650 depending on the papers. Stamped gold tooling is extra.

 

Greg

[nicx66]

Thanks Greg,

I guess I am looking for something a little bit nicer than the Ebay bellows. I really love the instrument and plan on keeping it for as long as I can play it, so while I know I will probably never get what I put into it, I would like to make it sound and feel its best.

 

Dana,

The concertina is dated 1901and the bellows are original. They exhibit the aforementioned scuffing and I had heard from others that the Tidders used sheep hide, which is why I want to use it. The concertina sat for decades with little to no use, in a box I presume. While the bellows looked OK and were salvageable, after a year of learning the instrument and lots of practice, they are falling apart. Leather can get really brittle when it is neglected for so long. As Greg mentioned, the abundant gusset material is also prone to pin holes and splitting along the folds. And truth be told, I had a fairly disastrous go at repairing a few air-leaks. I don't think I made them any worse but its not pretty.

[Dana Johnson]

Thanks Greg,

I guess I am looking for something a little bit nicer than the Ebay bellows. I really love the instrument and plan on keeping it for as long as I can play it, so while I know I will probably never get what I put into it, I would like to make it sound and feel its best.

 

Dana,

The concertina is dated 1901and the bellows are original. They exhibit the aforementioned scuffing and I had heard from others that the Tidders used sheep hide, which is why I want to use it. The concertina sat for decades with little to no use, in a box I presume. While the bellows looked OK and were salvageable, after a year of learning the instrument and lots of practice, they are falling apart. Leather can get really brittle when it is neglected for so long. As Greg mentioned, the abundant gusset material is also prone to pin holes and splitting along the folds. And truth be told, I had a fairly disastrous go at repairing a few air-leaks. I don't think I made them any worse but its not pretty.

 

Leather can get "brittle" but tannage and environment seem to be more the culprit than neglect. Some tanning processes produce archival quality leather, while others slowly break down as a result of the tanning chemicals producing acids that attack the proteins. Others react with the sulphuric acid in air pollution, so environment can be a problem ( England during its coal burning heyday. I remember my first visit to London in 1971 and was struck by the overwhelming smell of coal burning.). I had turn of the century Jeffries with an original bellows that had been much played, but wasn't the slightest bit brittle. There have been a lot of new tanning processes developed over the years for different purposes. It is important when choosing leather, not just to chose the type of hide, but the kind of tanning it has received and the purpose it was tanned for. It is safe to say few if any tanners have concertinas in mind when making their wares, but the bookbinding trade has a lot of the same requirements, though book binders tend to use slightly thicker leather than is ideal and it helps to have it re split. They also use archival tanned leathers in many cases. The down side is they are not cheap. So much old cracked leather we see all the time, just wasn't meant to last a hundred years. A lot of books were.

Dana