D.I.Y. Bagpipes Seasoning

Seasoning, also known as dressing, is used both to make the leather bag of the bagpipes airtight, and to absorb the humidity from the piper's blowing so it does not accumulate on the reeds.

This page is in no way meant to detract from the excellence of commercial products like Sil-Seal ®, Highlander Bag Dressing ® or Hardie's Airtight Seasoning ®, but it may happen to you too that you are caught short, and are in dire need of some sort of seasoning right now, without waiting for a commercial product to be mailed to you.

It did happen to me, when I searched the Web in vain for a DIY recipe. So I have put here the following recipes, gleaned from various sources, as a service to pipers everywhere who may find themselves in the same predicament.

Here is a collection of recipes gleaned on bagpipes lists, from the Internet and from various piping books.

We shall ignore the smart aleks and their reply "Recipe: Dont be a miser, spend some bucks and purchase a can of Airtight Bag Seasoning" which are not completely helpful when caught in an emergency, and we shall concentrate of actual recipes.

From Jason Austin on the Bagpiper list at Yahoogroups I got this:

"I learnt to play about 45 years ago in a small country town in
New Zealand and we used molasses to season the bag.
It gave the bag a lovely sweet earthy smell !"

And from Ian Richmond on the same list I got this recipe:

"1 part glycerine (available in a drug store),
1 part rubbing alcohol,
2 parts honey, no heating required.

This is a recipe given to me by George R. Duncan over forty years ago."

I have tried this last recipe on a bag which had required re-stitching of part of the welt, and found that it did not stop the leaks at the needle-holes, maybe because I live in a hot climate ant it remained liquid, and was blown out through the needle holes it should have stoped.

Remembering a recipe I had read years ago in a Breton piping book, I modified the above recipe to:

30 ml glycerine,

30 ml rubbing alcohol,
60 ml honey,
10 grammes granulated gelatine dissolved in
30 ml boiling water.

The gelatin in this recipe makes the seasoning set stiffly when it cools down, and this plugged perfectly the needle holes in my bag.

Obviously, like Hardie's Airtight it needs (re-)heating before you can use it.

Now here are some recipes gleaned in various piping books. Please note when considering the recipes from Britanny that Bretion pipe bags were usually made of dog skin or goats skin, which are both more resistant than the sheep skin or cow skin traditionally used for Scottish Highland pipes.

According to the College of Piping "Highland Bagpipe Tutor" Volume II (1971 edition)
you can season your bag with a mixture of olive oil (for the skin) and brown sugar (for the moisture).
No proportions are given, only that you must adapt them depending on the climate,
and whether you are a "dry blower" or a "wet blower".

"Treacle, honey, syrup, glycerine, glucose, gelatine and the white of an egg" are also mentioned in passing.

"To begin with you cannot do better in Scotland than use pure honey."

"Seasoning in an emergency
Sometimes you may have to season the bagpipe and play it the same night. When this happens, mix a small quantity of honey and glycerine in equal proportions, and warm in a pan. Do not dismantle the instrument, but take out the middle drone. Pour not more than one tablespoon into the bag by way of the middle stock, making sure that the bag is held in such a way that the seasoning floaws to the back of the bag. Rub in as well as you can, clean out the middle stock, and replace the drone.
It is useful to know about this, but try to avoid landing yourself in such situations."

PM MacLellan's "Piper's Handbook" is unusually silent on the subject of the composition of seasoning
(the only one he mentions "comes in a can, please follow the makers instructions"),
but in an interesting aside, he states that should one happen to change from one type of seasoning to another,
one should first rinse out the bag with warm water to which some Dettol has been added.

From David Schultz, in far-away Australia: Back in the 1950's we used to use a mixture of petroleum jelly (vaseline ) and honey. I can't remember the proportions but both ingredients were heated and mixed together and used in the same way modern dressings are used.This mixture was so successful I can only remember seasoning my sheepskin bag a few times in 7 years of constant playing.The pipes were then stored away for about 30 years.After this time they were not completely airtight, but could still be played.The bag appeared to still be in perfect condition.I'm sure that had I seasoned it with the same mixture again it would have been as good as new.

The composition of commercial seasoning is a closely-guarded secret.
Yet it is rumoured that Hardie's famous Airtight Seasoning is made mostly of lanolin suspended in glycerine and a small amount of lye.

In his treaty "Skol ar Biniou", Dorig le Voyer, a Breton pipe maker, proposed several recipes for "stouv-toul", or seasoning.

Molasses:
Boil molasses on a low fire to thicken it; when it reaches the consistency of gelatine use it,
after letting it cool so as not to damage the leather with excessive heat.
Not advised in very humid conditions, as it absorbs too much water and seeps through the leather.
Gives the instrument a bad smell.

Glucose and oat malt
Perfect airtightness, but not to be used by occasional players: if it dries out the bag remains stuck together,
and becomes impossible to inflate.

Neatsfoot oil (Huile de pied de beuf)
This makes the leather airtight, but it also weakens the leather and in hot weather it seeps through and spoils the piper's clothes.

Neatsfoot oil and resin
Boil two parts of resin in one part of oil, apply once it has cooled down.
Leaves an oily deposit on the reeds, which tends to make them too soft.

Sugar syrup
Best avoided, since the pure sugar causes the leather to perish very quickly.
Only acceptable in small quantity as an addition to some other recipe.

Glue, sugar and glycerine
Take a 3 cm by 3 cm (1 1/4" by 1 1/4" for the un-metric heathens) square of joiner's glue (bone glue or leather glue) and steep it in water overnight; it will become jelly-like.
Heat up this jelly on a low fire until it has the constistency of table oil.
Add 1/4 volume of glycerine, and a tablespoon of sugar.
This mixture, heated for ten minutes (avoid boiling) is introduced lukewarm in the bag.

Glue and glycerine
Take a 5 cm by 5 cm (2" by 2") square of joiner's glue (bone glue or leather glue) and steep it in water overnight;. place it in a pan with an equal volume of glycerine, melt on a low fire, use warm.
Should the bag dry out, you can return it to a supple state by pouring a little glycerine into it.

Yves Castel suggests in his "Methode de Biniou et Bombarde" to use mixtures of honey and glycerine,
or of seal fat and glycerine; no proportions are given.

He also proposes a recipe popular with pipers in earlier times, a mixture of vegetable oil and egg white, heated on a low fire till the egg white begins to coagulate; again no proportions.

On the subject of how to season you bag, I refuse to re-invent the wheel; please have a look at the very clear explanations you will dind on the relevant page of Andrew T. Lenz, Jr.'s excellent piping website.

If you have a seasoning recipe that could be added here, please send it to me if possible with source or reference.

Last revision: 27 09 2007