HOW I DO IT
DAY 7

(you should start at day 1)
Bob Tedrow
Tedrow concertinas
Homewood Music






                                                                           Here is the days progress














The material on the left is a vegetable tanned sheepskin skiver.  This is cut into 3/4" strips and glued into what will be the "valley" of the bellows.   I use a PVA glue here.  Pay carefull attention and see that the skiver is glued to the very bottom of the valley and that the joint can lay flat on the table.  I use an awl to help line the skiver up with the bottom of the valley.

It is important to see that the folds can lay out 180 degrees.  This prevents the joint from failing when the bellows are fully extended and provides a good working range of motion.

Let the sheet air dry for about an hour.




air dry  for about one hour.
 With a damp wool sock,  wipe down the entire back side of the assembly


fold up the assembly and place it in a clamping jig over night.  This gives the small amount of moisture in the assembly time to spread to all the layers
  




Next morning put the bellows into a sturdy clamping jig and with all your might tighten four large handscrews and four C clamps.  Every ten minutes, screw them down again.  Do this four times

  You will find the bellows will compress into a very tight bundle.  I advise you here to remove the clamps and  pull the bellows out of the jig.  Stretch the bellows out.....see that you have not used too much glue and are gluing the whole assemble together!!.     When you are satisfied that the folds are free, replace the bellows in the clamping jig and leave them for one hour.




Measuring the Bellows
This took me a good while to learn (no teacher!)  If you follow these instructions, you can make bellows of any number of sides and for any diameter concertina.  I will show the method for a six sided instrument.

With a dividers, measure the exact distance from one inside corner to the next.














Look carefully at the construction of my bellows frame.  You will see a 1/8" rabbet cut into the frame.  This rabbet will hold and center the bellows into the frame (well, in a few minutes it will)



Oh, and now you can remove the bellows from the clamping jig.  The next part is very clever, I hope you think so as well.

Bob Tedrow


Tedrow Concertinas


Day 8