Hello OrganNet:

Interesting to hear about the great Perflex experiences.  We've had
a few too.  Evidently the word about that vile substance has not
got out to everyone.  Some people are still touting it to organ
enthusiasts, much to their later dismay.

********** RE-DOING PERFLEXED STUFF

A couple of people just apply the leather with PVC-E adhesive right
over the perflex residue.  It seems to work just fine, but when you
next releather the organ you'll just have to deal with the darn stuff
all over again.  Or maybe someone else will...

BTW, Perflex has an estimated shelf life of 13 years after manufacture,
and that's just about how it works out when you consider time in the
distributor's and supplier's inventory.

********** RE-DOING LEATHERED STUFF

If leather has been applied with hide glue, we have found that you do not
have to go down to bare wood.  We just pull the old leather off (which
leaves a nice, fuzzy surface), hit it a little with 80 or 100 grit, and
put the new leather on.  Hide glue is, after all, its own solvent.

The new high-chrome leathers are a bit of a bear to securely glue because
of their high oil content.  We have started using high-tack fish glue
from Columbia Organ Leathers instead of hot glue in some applications, as
it holds the chrome leather better.

********** NEVER USE PERMANENT ADHESIVES / 25 YEAR REBUILDING

I assume that Texx is referring to non-structural glue joints, and
certainly not to such things as sliderchest grids.

We do all our woodworking with Titebond, including laying up of our
chest grids.  Then, we gluesize the active channels with Titebond
diluted 1:1 with water.

One of our sliderchests got hit with a water leak over the weekend, and
all we will have to do is put some new felt-and-leather on the pallets.
Imagine the mayhem if the grid had been assembled with hide glue...

Why should we assume rebuilding in 25 years (or less if pneumatic chests
are used)?  Releathering the bellows is not really rebuilding; neither
is releathering bass chests.  Of course, if you are still using
pneumatic main windchests it's a different story.  (IMHO, e/p chests
are a wonderful example of obsolescent technology that really needs
to be abandoned.  They have nothing much to recommend them, either
mechanically or tonally.)

********** ORGANCADD

I'll post some general information on our CADD system, probably next week.

**********

Best wishes - -

AJO

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Allan J. Ontko                                      [log in to unmask]
Ontko & Young Co. Inc.                                   Pipe Organ Builders
Charleston, South Carolina                                OrganCADD Software
            Tradition and Innovation in American Organbuilding
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