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[Winston Smith]

I often see Mr NCB, among others, mentioning "paste", and using it for the likes of removing glued tape/paper etc from bellows. (Am I right, there?) As I've got a set of bellows, on my recently acquired Viceroy, which seem to have been quite heavily patched up with masking tape, or something similar, I wondered if this is the cornflour paste which was mentioned somewhere the other day? And if it was, how, exactly, is it made up and left on for?
(I'm already aware that the Viceroy probably isn't worth bothering with, but I still intend to try to make it playable, thank you.)

[Broadland Boy]

Nick will probably offer chapter and verse from his considerable experience but yes, as it is gloopy it is also a useful means of applying something wet that holds on for long enough and doesn't evaporate too quickly, so that the moisture can transfer to the older type water softening glues which can then be scraped off with whatever they are retaining. A little plain flour and hot water made to a paste will do for releasing, the warmth may be beneficial. Making a decent paste to glue with is a little more particular and may already be on a thread somewhere.

In the spirit of mutual cheapskating economy Edward, I've just discovered a little tip to share with you. Find a pipesmoker (may not be so easily found as we are not far off entering the realms of mythical beasts) who smokes St Bruno, armwrestle them for the empty plastic pouch before it hits the litter bin (or retreive from bin if armwrestling is not your forte!), guard it carefully. When you next need a valve or two, carefully cut from the pouch, reeds over 25mm long may need two layers glued together and you may need a bit of wire for a spring on bass reeds. 

Well the all on one plate guts from something cheap and nasty that has been lurking under the bench came to the surface the other day so thought perhaps it was time to see what it sounded like without wasting time or resources, there may be a bit of valve flutter but its inaudible against the wind whistling through the folds 
 

[Winston Smith]

Thanks Richard, the masking tape stuff just comes to bits when pulled off dry, and I should imagine that a paste would retain the moisture long enough to penetrate without getting the rest of the bellows wet.
As for the "economic" valve material, I would have thought that baccy pouch plastic would have been too flimsy? (But then I'm always unsure whether you're being serious or just taking the ****.)
I had wondered if acetate sheet might suffice? My sister has some for slides (or something, I don't know!) and it seems to be fairly flexible but still retains a semblance of stiffness. The curly leathers which I can see, I've had off, rolled them in the opposite direction and stuck them back down again, they don't sit exactly flat, but I imagine they will close properly when a breath of wind hits them. (These are on my £7 wonder, not the expensive Viceroy.)
p.s. I'm struggling in unknown territory here, and need serious advice from those of you who "know". And, I'm not yet forum-wise enough to always realise when someone is kidding, or who it might be who only kids

[Theo]

Tp.s. I'm struggling in unknown territory here, and need serious advice from those of you who "know". And, I'm not yet forum-wise enough to always realise when someone is kidding, or who it might be who only kids

Being completely serious:  I'm all for finding money-saving ways to fix things, but plastic valves are so cheap and the valve is so critical to getting reeds to play properly that it is one thing where I would always advise buying the parts made for the job.

[Nick Collis Bird]

I don't think paste will do the trick because I'm sure that masking tape glue is not water soluble like Sellotape. If so then Benzine (lighter fuel) is the next thing to try. That's how we remove Sellotape anyway.
PS don't smoke St. Bruno whilst doing it. 

[Winston Smith]

Thanks Theo, but you're such a spoilsport sometimes! (But, then again, I know that you're always right, too.)

Thanks also Nick, casting my feeble mind back to motor bodywork repairs in the 60's, yes, the glue's not water soluble.

[Broadland Boy]

No taking the ****, tis not allowed on melnet!
Theo is absolutely right, however I didn't have any proper valves to hand nor was there serious intention to renovate, just check if it was as ugly sounding as looking (it was) I suspect smokers or heavily pub used boxes of yore are well down the fettlers favourites list, even after total immersion in industrial grade Febreze 

Old masking tape certainly has something resinous in the adhesive similar to sellotape, (the absolute bane of document conservation) although there are new low tack varieties which should not be quite so bad on the browning aspect but probably will be no easier to remove after 20 years drying.

Nick has the most accessible solvent pegged and compared to cellulose thinners which tends to be the first port of call here for anything non plastic is pretty safe - after all people have carried little containers of it around in their trouser pockets for decades without being burned to a cinder on a regular basis.

Oh for those heady days when when you could just use Carbon Tetrachloride without all the worry of actually knowing that it ate brains 

[Malcolm Clapp]

Good old lighter fluid. So many uses.
Getting hard to find in Oz though. Even tobacconists no longer stock it.
For anyone in Oz looking for it, try Mister Minit, the shoe repairing/key cutting franchise found in all good shopping centres. (I think they have overseas outlets too; not sure whether they carry it though).

[Malcolm Clapp]

And on a seasonal note: lighter fluid is handy for getting (most) shop price tags off of items you want to give as Christmas presents, especially CD and DVD cases.