Na Píobairí Uilleann

Chairman, NPU

An Píobaire

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8 4 23 20120927 23 fight the drug marijuana, even though there is not enough drug in the fiber to get a fly high. I will refer to either linen or cannabis thread in this article as hemp. Unfortunately, linen was not as good a product for mouth-blown pipes as cannabis. Linen rots more readily than cannabis when wet. For this reason, some years back, GHB suppliers began importing yellow linen thread which was saturated with paraffin wax to stop the rotting. It should not be used in uilleann pipes. GHB suppliers also sell some other worthless (for bellows pipes) products. One is sold as “black waxed hemp”. It is linen thread, dyed black and saturated with paraffin wax. There is no adhesive black wax, as described herein, in the product whatsoever. The function of the unwaxed hemp thread is to make an air-tight joint and provide a cushion for the normal shrinking and swelling of the wood in the pipes. The fuzzy fiber ends along the thread help stop air from escaping. The thread should be attached to the pin in a tenon so it will not break loose and spin around the pin if the hemp is stuck to the socket. When this happens, it can take a lot of time to get the joint back apart. The attachment is made by dragging a foot or so of the starting end of the thread through “cobblers’ wax”, thoroughly coating it, with the waxed layer being the first layer wrapped on the wood. This is a product un- known to cobblers (repairpersons). It’s shoe- makers who use it and they call it coad, hand wax or other names. I will refer to it as black wax in this article. It is adhesive and for this rea- son is used to attach the base wrap to the pin in the tenon. It can melt in heat, so it is best not carried in your pipe case unless well contained. The joint is tightly wrapped with further layers Ted Anderson at the 2012 NPU Tionól, with Hilari Farrington, Benedict Koehler and Kevin Rowsome Terry Moylan

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2012-09-21T00:00:00

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