Digging in

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Ah. Those are bellows tops.


And the shafts are the whistle chambers for the cuckoo.

Hey I learn!

The reason they were in separate pieces is that the actual bellows material had deteriorated to the point of fully separating from the shafts. 



Might have been leather?

Removed the shafts from the case.



You can see the hole for the air from the bellows and the whistle hole below.


OK decision time. 

Get new bellows or replace the leather/paper and keep the existing bellows tops and base.

Timesavers has replacement bellows tops. 

Here's an interesting tidbit. The bellows tops on this boy are not rectangular rather trapezoidal. The smarties on the NAWCC board say that means old.

Tried heat and trimming the glue from the base to see if I could remove the bottom plate of the bellows.

No luck. That is some old glue.

I fear there's no way to put in new tops without me mashing the hell out of the shafts.

Decision made. Repaper these bad boys.

Apparently Tyvek paper is the stuff. Seen below. Thin, highly-flexible and airtight.


Cyanoacrylate glue and some careful preservation of as much of the original cover paper as possible.


And they work! 

Cuckoo!

Hey there's no back on the clock!

Do I need one?

Well there's supposed to be a gong.

I have an idea.

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