Mujitsu and Tairaku's Shakuhachi BBQ

Hi costademaria. 

Filler or glue in a superficial crack won't prevent it from opening.  And putting that stuff in there might actually make the crack harder or messier to properly close up if/when it does open into a functional crack. 

Are you able to post a photo?  Maybe it's superficial enough to not affect the value at all.

-Darren.

and i know about the glue which leads to cracking.may be some kind of elastical silicone based thing?

that were my thoughts also

never thought of that but seems very good idea and about the superglue and the dust . i just wanted to tell that here in the shops we have 2 kinds of wood fillers.one of them is an expensive and is composed of very fine particles and sands for a seconds and the other one seems to be superglue with wood dust/from the smell and the touch when dry/.  once i had an old car for for construction work and closed a small hole with the second  one. but it broke after a few days. i just say this , that to my experience the car body filler is the strongest filler i know and stronger than epoxy glue also,if it glues to metal and plastic  and is resistent to car body vibrations and forces is good enough for me, in fact i use it for many things.today i will try and color it one potion and mix with dust other potion and will glue some cracked bamboo i have, a little test.will post the result here. in fact will cut 3 rings of the same bamboo,make one split and seal with epoxy, wood filler, car body filler. without 1 to one comparing is not worth speaking.also  will go to make some space in the freezer:-)

costademaria wrote:

never thought of that but seems very good idea and about the superglue and the dust .

Yes, I had never heard of bamboo dust and superglue before seeing it on Perry Yung's Blog. The internet is a great source, because when I first read it, it said CA glue, It took another google search to find out that CA glue is the same as superglue. I guess mixing glue with sawdust is common, because I know repairers of historic European flutes have used a white glue and sawdust mixture to repair cracks for years. The "fake wood" epoxy I used was called Loctite Five Minute Epoxy Putty. It comes labeled with other names (maybe different brands) that suggest it being used for repairing broken wood objects. It comes as a cylinder shape of stuff a putty consistency with blue on the outside and gray on the inside. I think that what happens is that when the blue and gray substance gets mixed, it's like mixing the the two parts of regular epoxy. I'm under the impression that it is just epoxy with some kind o fiber added to give it a putty-like consistency. The biggest problem I had with it is that the amount needed for an utaguchi is so small that it was difficult to get a piece small enough that had the gray and blue parts mixed right. I was also very careful to not get the stuff on the bamboo, I used masking tape to prevent that. The tape prevented the bamboo from getting messed up when I took a file and emery paper to the utaguchi too.     

costademaria wrote:

a little test.will post the result here. in fact will cut 3 rings of the same bamboo,make one split and seal with epoxy, wood filler, car body filler. without 1 to one comparing is not worth speaking.also  will go to make some space in the freezer:-)

That's a good, scientific way to go about it, I'm looking forward to seeing your results. As far as making room in the freezer, like Kyroeiflutes mentioned, it's only if there are live insects inside, like in my djembe. My djembe of course won't fit in the the freezer, but fortuneately here in the US New England states, we've got sub-freezing temperatures right now (I never thought I'd be saying that). Thanks for that suggestion, Brian, it's certainly worth the effort to try it and I'm glad you mentioned it at a time during the year it's so easy to try.

Here's a link to Perry's Blog. There's a reference to the CA glue and bamboo dust mix on the front page right now, but you'll have to dig through the archives to find the example with before/during/after pictures.

http://www.yungflutes.com/log/

Be advised:

Both of those products, the two-part Five Minute Epoxy Putty and the auto body filler (usually sold as "Bondo") are quite toxic, especially
in the pre-mixed state. The toxicity is probably reduced after cure, but I'd be loath to make anything I'd put in or near my mouth with it.

Epoxy is notably toxic, in any form, and Bondo is made of polyester resin, the same basic stuff used to lay up fiberglass.

eB

Thanks for the warnings about toxicty. I'm not very concerned wth what I did with the utaguchi considering it's such a small amount and cured, but in the future the CA glue seems to be the way to go. I was a bit confused by the instructions with the epoxy putty as it was because on one hand it had a warning to avoid contact with skin, but on the other said to knead it before applying. I tried latex gloves for the kneading but it was too sticky and resorted to just using bare hands.

and just to share some buying experience with you people i want to tell you that this 100 years bamboo turned to be a great looking enormous fat shack but as i expected it doesnt play at all, i mean at all. the bore was in fact rectangular. some body wanted to make a shack and then disappointed from the attempt just threw it in some corner/for a hundred years. today i repaired the utaguchi with epoxy and smoothed the bore to round shape. at least the finger holes are perfectly in tune/it plays B/ and are well undercut. i like it very much but there would be a lot of work to turn it to sth usefull. at least i am brave as there is nothing to spoil just to make better. in fact i bought it very cheap and for now will think of it as a raw pice of bamboo .

hi, for all the instruments needed look here http://www.mejiro-japan.com/system/index_e.php?c_id=51   and soon i will post some pictures of the most important instruments and tools home made and very cheap. may be they will serve to s.b. cause the real ones are quite expensive

if it sounds ok is ok then. i think that the notes on the second dont play easy cause the utaguchi is quite deep but may be this was done for a more vibrating ro. check it when you are in a good playing condition and if so start filing the blow end/not changing the angle/ bit by bit untill you achive the easy 2 registers./first repair the cracks cause from blowing you will change the moisture content and may be other cracks will occure.
and so far can tell you that definetely i find good the sound of the old bamboo. i am sure yours will have a very good sound when you repair it. search for the mellow/to vibrate in the sweet/ cause this is the real sound of an old bamboo.

i just gave you there a proposal to find telephone line, 2$ 5meters at any chinese shop. it has steel inside, would not stretch and will not harm the bamboo caouse of the plastic cover. damp it hard ,bind it hard, dry it like this then when dry with this new form take the wire off  and do what you like/ now you will have enough time to decide what to do it cause its dry in this new shape

costademaria wrote:

i just gave you there a proposal to find telephone line, 2$ 5meters at any chinese shop. it has steel inside, would not stretch

I thought the stretchiness of the fishing line was a good thing because it's what allows the binding to put more force on the flute than what you use when you apply it. Also, if the flute shrinks a little when it dries with the stretchy fishing line around it, the line is still applying force because it was stretched, and will still be stretched but just by a little less. If it was some kind of non-stretchy binding material, if the flute shrunk a little after drying, the binding will become loose.