Remelt Wax….Works

[32251]

Vintage….a good word for “old”….Patti Brothers unit. The reeds look to be installed by “flooding” wax all around them. I pinged the reeds and most were very dull sounding. All I had to do was press down on the aluminum body and the Reed sounded just fine. Even though it’s encased with hardened wax and you can’t feel or see it move, the Reed will not vibrate correctly if the Reed frame is even vibrating the smallest amount. This is an accordion that is not worth much, but for sure can be made playable. So I read all the info I could find on remelting wax around reeds and the prevailing opinions said don’t…..so that just made me want to do it. Lol.

I took a 30 watt soldering pencil and removed the tip and sharpened it to a good point. Then after it came up to heat, I just tested it on the worst sounding Reed by running the point right next to the edge of the Reed frame all around it. The Reed came back to life and sounded fine. Then I ran a light layer of new wax in the trench the sharp hot point made around the Reed frame. A job that would have taken hours to remove all the reeds and rewax took minutes.

I think this is a viable repair for basket case accordions that are really not worth investing hundreds of dollars in. I would never recommend this for a fine expensive unit, but for a $50 lonely abandoned box….yes.

 

[Tom]

Vintage….a good word for “old”….Patti Brothers unit. The reeds look to be installed by “flooding” wax all around them. I pinged the reeds and most were very dull sounding. All I had to do was press down on the aluminum body and the Reed sounded just fine. Even though it’s encased with hardened wax and you can’t feel or see it move, the Reed will not vibrate correctly if the Reed frame is even vibrating the smallest amount. This is an accordion that is not worth much, but for sure can be made playable. So I read all the info I could find on remelting wax around reeds and the prevailing opinions said don’t…..so that just made me want to do it. Lol.

I took a 30 watt soldering pencil and removed the tip and sharpened it to a good point. Then after it came up to heat, I just tested it on the worst sounding Reed by running the point right next to the edge of the Reed frame all around it. The Reed came back to life and sounded fine. Then I ran a light layer of new wax in the trench the sharp hot point made around the Reed frame. A job that would have taken hours to remove all the reeds and rewax took minutes.

I think this is a viable repair for basket case accordions that are really not worth investing hundreds of dollars in. I would never recommend this for a fine expensive unit, but for a $50 lonely abandoned box….yes.

Good work!

 

[Dingo40]

I think this is a viable repair for basket case accordions that are really not worth investing hundreds of dollars in.

I like the idea!

 

[losthobos]

I've used either little bit beeswax or rosin and soldering iron before and positive results.....I prefer running a scalpel through a zippo flame too the soldering iron but it doesn't hold heat as long but I'm more accurate with it

 

[debra]

Remelting old wax works as a temporary fix. The old wax has lost the bit of (linseed) oil due to evaporation and so if you want to get a more permanent result I would suggest to at least start by using a very fine (artist) paint brush dipped in linseed oil so that when you remelt the wax it can absorb some of the oil again and regain the old better composition than old wax has.

 

[JKJ]

I've used either little bit beeswax or rosin and soldering iron before and positive results.....I prefer running a scalpel through a zippo flame too the soldering iron but it doesn't hold heat as long but I'm more accurate with it

What is the formula, approx. how much beeswax, pine rosin, and linseed oil?

Also, as a beekeeper I wonder if the natural plant resin bees collect and use to seal holes and glue things together would work as well. I save both. Propolis is both easy to work with and strong. (Some beekeepers use special techniques to encourage the bees to produce more than they would otherwise, then collect it for sale.) A visiting stringed instrument maker/repair person asked if I could collect it for him as a component in violin finishes.

Propolis, BTW, has health and medicinal uses with natural antimicrobial properties.

Propolis: A Wonder Bees Product and Its Pharmacological Potentials

Propolis is a natural resinous mixture produced by honey bees from substances collected from parts of plants, buds, and exudates. Due to its waxy nature and mechanical properties, bees use propolis in the construction and repair of their hives for sealing ...

www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov

As for the heat source, second to a good temperature-adjustable soldering iron, an awl might be better than a scalpel or other thin blade since the awl can hold more heat and for longer due to the greater mass, and the tapering tip makes it easy to control the heat transfer while working. I keep one awl specifically for heating in a flame, usually heating with a propane torch turned down low. I haven’t yet had the occasion to try it in an accordion but it’s good for softening things such as wax on woodturnings and when sealing other things, and softening/welding some small plastic items. Heated to dull red it‘s perfect to make buckle and screw holes in nylon webbing.

JKJ

 

[JerryPH]

What is the formula, approx. how much beeswax, pine rosin, and linseed oil?

A 5 second google search showed me this:


How accurate is it? I cannot tell you.

 

[Ventura]

a nice source for such handy tooling are the surplus leftover
Dentists instrument sets.. they have a standard "set" that gets
sterilized and re-packaged after each use, but every so often
they just replace them and you can find the surplused ones at
a local flea market and such places. Varying shapes and thicknesses
and all stainless steel.. quite useful for the waxing closework

i will NEVER master the art of pouring with the traditional tool,
so it is all bit by bit for me !

 

[losthobos]

I too am a beekeeper and also a chiropodist....so I have adequate supplies of wax, propolis and medical instruments...

 

[Tom]

Had to look that one up!

 

[32251]

Here is the culprit…..dreaded WD40 residue. I have seen the same residue on other things that were sprayed with wd40 and not cleaned off. It turns into a black tar.

 

[JKJ]

Here is the culprit…..dreaded WD40 residue.

I keep plenty of WD-40 around (along with maybe 25 other lubricating products, some special purpose.)

But I use WD-40 mostly on farm equipment, sometimes spraying it to wash the dust out of a joint/pivot/slide, sometimes as a temporary fix when in a hurry. (In general it’s a lousy lubricant.) Then the joint gets the good stuff later.

One of my favorite lubes for many things outdoors, from auto to excavator, is Zepp 2000 (or equivalent). This is a heavy duty “industrial strength” penetrating grease - the clear grease is mixed with a solvent to make a very thin low-viscosity fluid in an aerosol can. Shake well and spray on even a fairly tight joint - the fluid flows and/or is drawn into the joint then the solvent evaporates, filling the space with excellent higher-viscosity grease, hard to get into a tight joint any other way. Great stuff - I buy a case of 12 cans at a time.

(I think not appropriate for accordions!!)

BTW, on the subject of lubes, for autos and any equipment that needs a grease gun there is NOTHING better (IMHO) than a Milwaukee grease gun with an 18v battery. I first saw one in use in the maintenance shop of a Kubota place and had one before the end of the week. I think everyone I know that has big equipment uses one! Besides portability, it has features like pressure settings and a dial for repeating pumps while holding down the trigger - makes it much easier to grease things like the big gear that swings the entire excavator carriage - that gear regularly needs 10-20 pumps at each of the 4 quadrants of swing, plus grease at maybe two dozen other fittings every 8 hours of use. I have pneumatic grease guns at either end of the shop but it’s so nice to carry the battery thing out in the field or use it overhead or in awkward places. (one more hint to make life easier for compulsive greezers - LockNLube; once I started using these I’d hate to live without them.)

https://www.amazon.com/Milwaukee-2446-21XC-12-Volt-Cordless-Grease/dp/B00396JTKO

https://www.amazon.com/LockNLube-fittings-best-selling-Long-lasting-rebuildable/dp/B00H7LPKKU

JKJ, card-carrying grease freak
Oops, wrote too much again - I’ll blame it on post surgery pain meds!

 

[32251]

I keep plenty of WD-40 around (along with maybe 25 other lubricating products, some special purpose.)

But I use WD-40 mostly on farm equipment, sometimes spraying it to wash the dust out of a joint/pivot/slide, sometimes as a temporary fix when in a hurry. (In general it’s a lousy lubricant.) Then the joint gets the good stuff later.

One of my favorite lubes for many things outdoors, from auto to excavator, is Zepp 2000 (or equivalent). This is a heavy duty “industrial strength” penetrating grease - the clear grease is mixed with a solvent to make a very thin low-viscosity fluid in an aerosol can. Shake well and spray on even a fairly tight joint - the fluid flows and/or is drawn into the joint then the solvent evaporates, filling the space with excellent higher-viscosity grease, hard to get into a tight joint any other way. Great stuff - I buy a case of 12 cans at a time.

(I think not appropriate for accordions!!)

JKJ. Have you tried Teflon spray on any accordions? I am having good success with DuPont non-stick dry film lubricant.

 

[Ventura]

I keep plenty of WD-40 around (along with maybe 25 other lubricating products, some special purpose.)

BTW, on the subject of lubes, for autos and any equipment that needs a grease gun there is NOTHING better (IMHO) than a Milwaukee grease gun with an 18v battery.

JKJ, card-carrying grease freak
Oops, wrote too much again - I’ll blame it on post surgery pain meds!

i like CRC products myself.. 5-56 in general and 6-56 is the tougher marine formula

but as far as Grease goes, i know some Southern Boys in old Mississippi who
(pretty much all of them" were in the army, then Reserves (not many other jobs
for young fellas down that'a way)

anyhow, they swiped at least a dozen 55 gallon drums of grease from the
motor pool at Camp Shelby and still have most of 'em out in the woods
near the Graveyard if you need one

 

[JKJ]

A 5 second google search showed me this:


How accurate is it? I cannot tell you.

I saw that but it didn’t make sense to me (specifically, the “oil or lanolin." following the period after “1/4 part rosin”.) I was hoping for a “tried and true” recipe someone had long experience with. With a bit more searching I copied a few more recipes and opinions from people, some from this forum:

• learned from Gordan Pietanesi (Columbo & Sons Accordion in San Francisco) was 2/3 part beeswax to 1/3 part rosin.
• In the book "Repairing You Accordion" by Pietro Deiro, it lists a formula as one part beeswax, 1/8 part [linseed] oil, and 1/4 part rosin.
• In "Accordion Repairs Made Easy" by John Reuter, he list the following ingredients: equal parts of beeswax and rosin, plus "a few drops of linseed oil or lanolin."
• Alfred Fisher lists the ingredients as beeswax with 5% rosin and 10% glycerin.
• you can always buy it premixed from someplace like Deffner.
• Here at Hobgoblin we have a premixed wax formula in a good sized block. It is 2/3 beeswax,1/3 rosin (light colour is best) and some drops of linseed oil, there is also a few drops of a secret ingredient but this is not necessary
• 2/3 beeswax and 1/3 rosin with a few drops of linseed or olive oil
• I learned the hard way to not add linseed oil or any other substance to pure beeswax other than rosin. My personal mix is 4/5 beeswax and 1/5 rosin. Adding a petroleum product to the mix will only cause it to harden in time. Just a reminder - the rosin is used only for it's adhesive properties. Linseed oil will also make beeswax adhesive, but will cause the wax to harden and crack in time.
• 
  
• And this from landro in 2016: I did end up making 20oz of reed wax. Much simpler than i thought. The first step is to put 4oz of pine rosin (small pieces) into a large coffee tin can placed on an electric burner set on low-med heat level allowing it to melt slowly vs burning and ruining it. The rosin needs much higher temps of to melt than beeswax so it has to be melted prior to adding the beeswax which melts at 140 `F. The rosin melted soon enough and then I added the 16 oz of beeswax pellets to melt in slowly , stirred well and poured into wax paper lined 10" sq alum (disposable) sheet pans to cool and harden. Now I can cut into manageable sized pieces for repair or whatever. The cost was about $8 US for the rosin and $12 for the beeswax. (all available on Ebay) Later note: After the wax is set up and cooled , the wax paper can be peeled off and the wax wrapped in a plastic food (cellophane) wrap or a plastic baggie for storage.

I would love to hear more opinions and formulas which have proved successful.

And a perspective about one ingredient mentioned: I’ve read on woodworking/turning forums not to use olive or other vegetable oils in finishes due to the chance of it turning rancid over time. Perhaps the relatively small quantity or the other ingredients prevent this in accordion wax. But ”boiled” linseed oil is used in a lot of wood finishes, often in large proportions. Beeswax too, I sometimes use only beeswax, rubbed on by hand or melted into the wood surface. But unlike fastening/sealing reed plates, woodturning finishes are quite thin. I usually prefer finishes that soak into the wood and don’t build up on the surface.

JKJ

 

[Ventura]

the restorative and preservative properties of having a "volatile"
component in the reed-wax to help keep the leathers and such
soft and pliable in an accordion are somewhat established in
lore and history

then i was taught to always keep a small bit of rag soaked in Linseed oil
inside ones mantle clock for, again, the purpose of having a "Volatile"
conditioning the enclosed atmosphere

so it makes sense to me that linseed oil should definitely be part
of the reedwax mixture

i discount the "it will cause cracking" as a problem because that
seems to take 50 years or so and is worth it to have wax joints that
can better withstand vibration or shock, which an already brittle wax
mix (pure wax and rosin) would presumably be more susceptible to

 

[JKJ]

i discount the "it will cause cracking" as a problem

Thanks, makes sense.

Also, I remembered some of the beeswax in my rather large stash is a darker color and probably has some propolis already in it. I probably filtered it less. I do all the processing from honeycomb to wax blocks by hand and don‘t pay much attention to the color.

If buying beeswax, note that some is yellow and some white. To make white wax some processors apparently simply filter the hot wax through finer filters under higher pressure while some use a chemical bleach. The latter might be less desirable for accordions, don’t know.

When extracting honey from the comb the “cappings” wax is sliced off to release the honey from the cells and the rest of the comb in the frame is typically saved for reuse year after year, getting a little darker with time as the bees walk on and crawl partially inside the cells, spreading bits of propolis and other things. The white cappings wax is the newest, most pure and valued, made fresh from honey every year. Wax from “brood” chamber comb, where the bees are raised, gets darker every year until it’s black. I wouldn’t use old brood comb wax for candles or anything, we just throw it away when it gets real dark and let the bees build new brood comb.

JKJ

 

[John M]

. . . so it makes sense to me that linseed oil should definitely be part
of the reedwax mixture. . .

Buy it now -- especially the "Raw" linseed oil. The large stores -- Home Depot, Loew's, etc. don't have it. I found some at a local "old time" hardware store. It is the best wood preservative. It will darken the wood. I use it on my wooden bridge. Also it is excellent for keeping concrete from deteriorating. I use it on the chimney caps of my house. After many years, the caps have turned black but the concrete is excellent.
Another product that is difficult to get is Turpentine. I mean the real stuff -- Pure Spirits of Gum Turpentine. You can get odorless mineral spirits, but it's not the same.

 

[JKJ]

Buy it now -- especially the "Raw" linseed oil

Ace hardware still carries the boiled linseed oul here. Amazon offers it in quantities from small to 5-gal. Woodworking stores (Rockler, etc) carry it. I usually buy in quantity and use it around the farm - wooden trailer beds, barn doors, tool handles, etc. I heard from other woodworkers that some common products are now banned in California causing much consternation and long drives to smuggle them from another state. (I’d hate to live in California - apparently everything there causes cancer. )

For some applications, products that contain boiled linseed oil, such as Watco “danish“ oil, may be good. I use it a lot in woodturning. Some patience is needed but six or more coats slopped or wiped on then wiped off each dried overnight can result in a thin protective finish that enhances the figure but doesn‘t give the thick, plastic-coated look. It can be buffed if glossier is wanted.



We don’t use “raw” linseed oil due to the drying time. BTW, I’ve read that some products labeled “boiled” may actually be chemically treated instead of processed with heat. But I’m neither a chemist nor a linseed oil producer.

JKJ

 

[Ventura]

yes John, many common basic products we took for granted
as always available in the past are had or impossible to find now..
the last gas station to offer Varsol around here is long gone

and as for propolis ! part of my Life Journey was spent with the
Farming communities of central Pennsylvania, and i had many
friends among the Amish, Mennonite, and the BeeKeepers
of the German Baptist community

being invited to the Beekeeper's summer Ice Cream social
was a highlight, and i still stop up to see the Knepper's from time
to time though their patriarch is gone, the grand old Beekeeper himself..

Propolis was a study and almost a cult in itself for them, with
meetings on the subject and traveling speakers almost like
Preachers on the Revival circuit

it was always a sadness for me that i was unable to ever get permission
to share my accordion Music with any of the gentle sects, though i
offered to each community an introduction/demonstration into Music that was
based on only good ideas and feelings and required no electricity..
they trusted me for many worldly things, but not for this.