Gedeckt Part 1: Cleaning the Pipes

I'm presenting my work on the stopped wood flute in four posts, much like I did with building the wind chest.  I started with cleaning.

All I know about these pipes is they came from "an old tracker".  I'm guessing late 19th or very early 20th century.  Of course, they were covered in 100 year's worth of dirt, soot, and grime.  I started by wiping them down with a well-wrung-out wash cloth and some diluted Murphy's Oil Soap.  I was very careful not to get anything too wet for fear of warping the wood.  I was especially careful around the flue opening.

Next, I marked the exact position of the lower lip and removed the three screws holding it in place.  Apparently the pipes had been in a church with a coal furnace.  The blower was probably located in the furnace room judging by the amount of soot in the flue.  I gave each surface a gentle scrub with an old, dry, toothbrush while running the shop-vac nearby to suck away the soot.  Some of the nicking in the flue was partially clogged with soot, so I'm thinking the pipes will sound better for the cleaning.  I put the lower lips back in exactly the same place they were originally.  I then removed the stopper to clean inside the pipe body.  I used the shop-vac and brush combo with success on most pipes.  Some of them had residue from the stoppers caked on as well.  I think it may have been lamb tallow or some other such lubricant but I'm not sure.  Most of it came off with a putty knife, but I had to resort to some gentle sanding on a few of them.  I also repaired a few loose feet and loose stopper handles.

Finally, I wanted to protect the wood somehow.  The original finish was very thin.  So thin that I wondered of some pipes were finished at all.  I didn't want to try stripping whatever was there, but I was worried that any varnish or other finish would not adhere.  The pipes won't see any physical wear after they're installed so they didn't need a thick finish.  I decided to go with a simple, light coat of furniture wax, buffed to nice sheen.

Gedeckt Cleaning Album

Gedeckt Part 2: Removing the Old Leather

The next step was to re-leather the stoppers.  The stoppers must have an air-tight seal or the pipe won't speak properly.  This seal is accomplished with a leather gasket around the stopper.  It needs to have a perfect fit-  Too tight and the pipe could crack and it is hard to tune.  Too loose and the pipe won't speak or stay in tune.  The old leather seemed to be about 100 years old and was disintegrating with dry rot.  It had to be replaced.

The leather was probably attached with hide glue originally.  This is good because it is possible to remove it some day when re-packing the stoppers.  I began by scraping as much leather off as possible with a putty knife and then a small paint scraper.  The stoppers of the 16' Bourdon also had a strip of felt around them for added cushion, relieving some tension when the wood expands and contracts with seasonal changes.  This was moth-eaten and disintegrating too, so it had to be replaced as well.

The old hide glue can be removed with heat and moisture.  I asked around on the organ building forums how to go about doing this.  One suggestion was to buy a used or cheap clothes iron (it will be ruined for dress clothes almost immediately) and set it on high heat.  Then lay an almost dripping wet wash cloth over the stopper (use old ones here too).  Then apply the iron for a few seconds to steam.  I was a little worried about warping or cracking the wood, but it seemed to be the best option.  I decided to try it and it worked beautifully.  Most of the glue came off with the first steaming.  Otherwise, a little more scraping with the putty knife and another steaming took care of it!

Removing Old Leather Album

Gedeckt Part 3: Applying New Leather

After I cleaned all the stoppers, it was time to apply the new leather.  I started with the largest first (low C) and worked my way up since these would take the largest pieces of leather.  Smaller stoppers could be done with smaller scraps.  First, I cut strips of felt just a bit thicker than the originals, assuming it had compressed over the last century.  I glued it to the stopper with fish glue.  Fish glue is similar to hide glue except it can be applied at room temperature (hide glue requires a heated pot) and is premixed (hide glue has to be mixed fresh daily).

Next, I cut strips of white alum valve leather to cover the sides of the stopper.  Each hide is thickest on the animal's back and thinnest on it's belly.  I was able to cut strips of leather from various parts of the hide to select the best fit for each stopper before gluing it on.  I only glued the top and bottom edges- I didn't glue the leather to the felt.  This allows for some flexibility as the stopper conforms to the inside of the pipe for a tight seal.  The leather on the larger stoppers was originally nailed on with tacks too, so I nailed it back on again.  From 8' C up there was no felt so I just glued the leather to the wood, again only at the top and bottom edge.  The smaller stoppers were glued only at the bottom edge.  Most leather has a smooth side and a textured side.  I glued the smooth side to the stopper and left the textured side out to help grip the inside of the pipe and help it stay in tune better.  I then neatly trimmed the corners to finish them.

I let the glue cure very well over night before replacing the stoppers.  This rank had pierced stoppers from tenor F on up to the top.  This gives the rank a bit brighter color, more like a Chimney Flute.  I had already decided to add a colorful Chimney Flute that I was rather fond of and I was concerned that the tone would be too similar.  I wanted my Gedeckt to have more of a hollow, dull sound for contrast.  I experimented with coverig the chimneys with blue masking tape to listen to the tone quality.  Also, I
would have to tune the completely covered pipes a little sharper, so I wanted to make sure the pipes still spoke well if completely covered.  The experiment seemed to work fine.  The tone is a bit duller and softer too.  I 'permanently' closed the chimneys by gluing a small piece of leather on the inside of the stopper, over the chimney hole.  Some day if I change my mind and want to open the chimneys up again I can easily remove the leather.

There are a ton of photos in this album.  I took pictures of each step on several different sizes.  There are a lot of little steps.  I was also experimenting with the new iPhone and decided to make a video of the process.  The video doesn't work here in the blog so I'm going to have to figure out how to post it on YouTube and just link to it there.

Applying New Leather Album

Gedeckt Part 4: Refinishing the 16' Bourdon

The last step with the wood pipes was refinishing the 16' Bourdon.  These 12 pipes did not belong with the rest of the rank originally, but I wanted them to look like they did.  The Bourdon was painted grey, presumably to match metal pipes in the original installation.  I thought about stripping the grey paint, sanding them down, then staining and varnishing them to match.  Then I had visions of the console- picking the wood putty out of the grain with an awl and I quickly abandoned that idea.  I took a treble pipe to Sherwin-Williams to find a shade of brown that was close enough.  I explained to the sales lady what I was working on, and she suggested I try painting a faux wood grain.  She dragged a stain-soaked rag over a paint color swatch and I was impressed at the result.  I bought a can of Butterscotch paint and headed home.

Before I could paint, I had to sand the glossy grey paint so the new would stick.  I sanded out many scratches and gouges, but didn't worry about removing all the old paint.  I had the stoppers out for re-leathering and I also removed the lower lip and the foot so I could paint them separately.  The stopper handles were originally black, so I gave a fresh coat of black paint.  The lower lips of the 8' octave are already painted black so I painted these to match, being careful to not get paint near the wind way.  The feet were various colors and finishes, so I painted them all black so they would match.  Then I turned to the pipes themselves and gave them two coats of Butterscotch latex paint.  The color was alarming, but I trusted my color swatch and forged ahead.  I did not paint the upper lip either.  It had not been painted grey and I figured several coats of finish might affect the voicing. I left them the original bare wood.  I let the paint cure for 2 weeks.

For the first coat of stain, I used some Sherwin-Williams "Oak Mantle" that I already had on hand from another project.  I used a sopping-wet rag to wipe the stain on irregularly, then dragged the rag over it to give it some wood grain.  I started with low C because it will be hidden behind the swell box.  By the time I got to pipes F through B (which will be prominently visible) I had my technique down pretty well.  I let the stain cure for a couple days before making any judgments.

When dry, I decided the color was a little too reddish and light.  I had a can of 'Pecan' stain too that had a rather dark pigment without much color in the carrier.  This time, I used a squirt bottle to apply the stain.  A bit more messy, but a lot faster and a lot more fun!  I wanted to add a few darker highlights (should that be 'lowlights'?) rather than make it uniformly darker.  The squirt bottle worked very well.  I dragged the rag through the stain again to give some graining.  It was tricky to create convincing graining on the mitered portions, but it worked well enough.

I let the stain cure for a few days before applying a coat of satin varnish.  On close inspection, it's obviously wood that's been painted to look like wood.  But from a distance and when your eye is distracted by the rest of the organ, I think it is pretty effective.  I also used this technique to paint a previously painted cold-air-return grate in the living room to match the oak trim and it worked pretty well on that too!  In the comparison picture below, the Bourdon are on the left and the Gedeckt are on the right.

 Bourdon Refinishing Album