Replacing Chamois

[David Barnert]

My 35-year-old (Dickinson) Wheatstone concertina is sick: a few adjacent notes bleed into each other. You press one key and two or three notes sound. On taking the side off, it is apparent that the chamois between the involved reed chambers is likely letting air leak from one chamber to another and could use replacing.

 

So the question is: how do I replace it? How do I remove the existing chamois? Do I replace it with the kind of chamois you can buy for waxing cars? If not, where do I get the kind I need? What kind of glue do I use? Should I replace all the chamois on both sides or just where it’s causing problems (most of it looks to be in good shape)? Anything else I’m not considering?

 

Or should I just take it to the Button Box and let them do it?

 

Thanks in advance.

[Greg Jowaisas]

Could use replacing or...needs shimming.  In the case of a single area that is not sealing carefully lifting the chamois from inside the bellows pan (I use a short, blunt screwdriver with a broad blade to pry up the chamois) and then shimming beneath the chamois with card can stop an area leak.  (thickness of index card is a good way to start.)  Before gluing everything down with a minimal amount of white or hide glue you can reassemble and test the seal.

 

Before attempting to remove the entire chamois determine what material the manufacturer has used.  Most vintage concertinas pre-WWII had the yellowish tallow colored chamois we are familiar with.  After WWII Wheatstone often used a thin leather with a finished side.  The proper leather can be difficult to find. The yellowish chamois can be found in the automotive department at Target.  The trick is to examine and get a piece with relative uniform thickness.  If it is thinner than the existing chamois it can be shimmed.  If much thicker then that is a bigger problem.

 

If the entire bellows chamois needs replacing work the inside chamois free all the way around and then pull free the narrow top seal (between the bellows and action box.  If possible free as one piece to use as a template for cutting the new chamois.  Some judicious scraping may be necessary to remove remaining glue and chamois "skin".  (I only dampen with water as a last resort.  It can result in a sticky mess.)  I glue the new chamois to the thin, top edge of the bellows pan first a couple of sides at a time.  Again, use the least amount of glue possible and keep your hands and tools clean so the softness of the chamois and its sealing properties are not compromised.  Once the chamois is securely glued around the top edge then any necessary trimming or shimming can be done before gluing down the inside of the bellows pan.

 

I like to situate the action box in its proper place and press the end bolts in.  This leaves an impression in the chamois and an awl can be used to make a hole so the end bolts can tag into their fastening plates.

 

Good luck, doctor.  It is not brain surgery but prep and planning will help your patient to a full recovery.

 

PS.  A rotary cutter as sold at a fabric store coupled with a straight edge is the ticket for cutting your replacement chamois strip(s)

 

 

Edited February 20, 2020 by Greg Jowaisas
additional information

[malcolm clapp]

Before you shimmy with the chamois, two things might make this repair unnecessary. Firstly, check that the action box and the reed pan surfaces are not uneven or warped; pretty unlikely on a Dickinson of that age I would have thought, but weather and/or climate changes as a cause can't be ruled out. More likely could be that whatever supports are beneath the reed pans may have become loose or otherwise ineffectual. Sometimes a gap occurs between the supports and the reedpan and needs a shim of wood (or chamois?) glued to the offending supports to raise their height.

 

And one other point: without overtightening the end bolts, make sure that the ends are firmly attached."Tight but not too tight" is the mantra, but maybe that should be a whole new thread....

 

Good luck.

Edited February 20, 2020 by malcolm clapp
Corrected gramatical error in line 4, though still not sure...

[Geoff Wooff]

Take it to The Button Box  or  Greg J.,  if you are at all unsure  for  what  to  do.  It is too nice an  instrument  to  risk  an  amateur  repair.

[David Barnert]

Thank you all for your sound advice.

 

As soon as I read Malcolm’s:

 

15 hours ago, malcolm clapp said:

More likely could be that whatever supports are beneath the reed pans may have become loose or otherwise ineffectual.

 

... I realized that MUST be it, as the chambers involved are all in one corner of the hexagon. Sure enough, when I took it apart again I found that the little triangular piece of wood that acts as a shelf and holds up that corner of the reed pan had come unglued. I have now glued it back in place and am waiting for the glue to dry (white school glue).

 

I wouldn’t be surprised if I have to add a shim to the top surface of that piece of wood, as I tried to err on the side of gluing it too low rather than too high.

[alex_holden]

10 hours ago, David Barnert said:

... I realized that MUST be it, as the chambers involved are all in one corner of the hexagon. Sure enough, when I took it apart again I found that the little triangular piece of wood that acts as a shelf and holds up that corner of the reed pan had come unglued. I have now glued it back in place and am waiting for the glue to dry (white school glue).

 

I prefer to use hide glue for this sort of woodwork repair because non-reversible glues like PVA, cyano, epoxy and PU make future repairs more difficult. If you don't want to mess around with the dry granules, Titebond sells liquid hide glue in a bottle.

[Theo]

Agreed Alex.  And school glue is intended to be used on paper and card, and is not designed to have great strength.   Fish glue also works well as a cold substitute for hide glue.

[Roger Hare]

21 hours ago, alex_holden said:

I prefer to use hide glue for this sort of woodwork repair because non-reversible glues like PVA, cyano, epoxy and PU make

future repairs more difficult. If you don't want to mess around with the dry granules, Titebond sells liquid hide glue in a bottle.

Without muddying the waters any more than usual,  a while back I needed to look at 'the right sort of glue' for an application I

had. I found two useful sources of information (among many others):

 

http://www.edenworkshops.com/Bookbinding_Adhesives.html

https://www.ibookbinding.com/blog/bookbinding-gluing-tips-techniques-types-info/

 

They are both aimed at bookbinders, but as bookbinders sometimes use leather (chamois?), maybe the references will be of

some interest to concertina fettlers?