After two years of being really hard on my Baki gourd calabash, the cork gasket needed replacing. I clean the gourd with pure alcohol about once every two weeks and it has made the cork hard and the cup doesn't seal well. I don't know what kind of glue was used, but it was really tough to remove from the gourd. I have now lightly sanded the old glue off. I bought a bit of 3mm cork for model railroad track, which hasn't arrived in the post yet. I am wondering what kind of glue I should use to make the future removal easier. Rubber cement won't be strong enough and might impart a strange taste. Wood glue would work but that will be hard to remove in the future. I'm thinking epoxy, because heat from a heat gun would soften the glue, but might damage the gourd. Any suggestions?
Gourd Calabash Repair Question
- Thread starter tozert
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On clarinets they use rubber cement for the cork.
I'm guessing that white glue would work well for the gourd. You shouldn't really need to remove the cork for any reason if you keep the alcohol away from it; but if you ever wanted to, you could soften the white glue with hot water. The cork should be conditioned with lanolin every few years to keep it from getting brittle.
Check out http://pipesmagazine.com/forums/topic/cleaning-a-gourd-calabash-pipe-questions
I'm guessing that white glue would work well for the gourd. You shouldn't really need to remove the cork for any reason if you keep the alcohol away from it; but if you ever wanted to, you could soften the white glue with hot water. The cork should be conditioned with lanolin every few years to keep it from getting brittle.
Check out http://pipesmagazine.com/forums/topic/cleaning-a-gourd-calabash-pipe-questions
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