u/silas_shoal68

Been chasing a slow air leak on my 1960s piano accordion for about two months. Every time I played a soft passage I'd hear this faint hiss, almost like a whisper coming from somewhere near the bass side corner. I assumed it was a cracked gasket or maybe a warped reed block, so I spent a weekend pulling the grille off and checking every reed valve I could reach with a flashlight and a dental mirror.

Turned out it was one tiny fold in the bellows paper that had come slightly unglued from the cardboard frame underneath, right at a corner crease. You could barely see it unless you flexed the bellows under a strong light at a weird angle. I'd been staring at reed blocks and valve leathers for weeks while the actual problem was sitting right there the whole time.

Fixed it with a small dab of hide glue worked into the gap with a toothpick, then clamped the fold flat overnight with a binder clip and a folded towel for padding. Tested it this morning and the hiss is completely gone, even on the quietest bass notes.

Mostly posting this because I know a lot of us jump straight to assuming it's the reeds or the valves when something sounds off. Worth checking every fold and corner of the bellows paper itself before taking anything apart. Mine is an old Settimio Soprani, so the bellows paper is original and pretty delicate at this point, but it held up fine with a careful regluing.

Anyone else had a leak that turned out to be something embarrassingly small like this?

Been using a Chemex for maybe eight months now and for most of that time I was just eyeballing the grind setting on my hand grinder. Coffee tasted fine, never bad, but always kind of flat and a little muddy toward the bottom of the cup.

Last week I got more disciplined about it and started writing down the click setting every single brew along with total brew time. Turns out I'd been grinding noticeably finer than I thought, closer to a pour over sweet spot but still tipping into medium-fine territory that was choking the flow through the filter. Total brew time was creeping past 5 minutes for a 30g dose when it probably should have landed closer to 4.

Backed off two clicks on the grinder and the difference was immediate. Drawdown finished faster, the bed drained clean and even, and the cup lost that slight bitterness I'd been blaming on the beans themselves. Bloom looked more active too, more of that dome shape instead of just a wet puddle sitting on top.

Kind of embarrassing it took this long to just track numbers instead of trusting my gut every morning. Anyone else find that writing things down, even something as basic as grind clicks, made way more difference than expected once you actually had data to look back on instead of relying on memory of "yesterday's cup was good"?

Spent most of Saturday redoing the same melon basket base for the third time because the ribs kept twisting to one side once I started weaving the belly. Turns out I was inserting them at slightly different angles every time instead of eyeballing off the same reference point on the hoop, so of course they drifted. Once I marked the hoop with a pencil at even intervals before inserting anything, the whole thing sat balanced on the first try.

Feels like one of those lessons that's probably in every beginner book but you don't really absorb it until you've wasted an afternoon proving it to yourself the hard way. I've been weaving for about a year now, mostly flat reed stuff, and this was my first real attempt at a round rib shape. The instructor at the guild meeting mentioned marking hoops months ago and I nodded along without actually doing it.

Used brown ash for the ribs since that's what I had soaking already, and half inch flat oval for the weavers. The color contrast ended up looking better than I planned, kind of a happy accident. Next one I want to try is a full sized egg basket, but I'm going to mark that hoop before I touch a single rib this time.

Curious if anyone else has a trick for keeping ribs evenly spaced besides just marking the hoop beforehand. I've seen people use a spacing template cut from cardboard but haven't tried it myself yet.

Started this pair back in July using veg tan for the uppers and a pre-curved welt I split down myself from about 10 iron leather. The first boot took me almost four evenings just to get the welt stitching consistent, and honestly it still looks a little wandery around the toe where I had to fudge the stitch spacing to make it come out even.

The second boot went way better and I think it's because I finally slowed down on marking my stitch line with the wheel. I was rushing that step before, figuring I could eyeball corrections later, but that never works once the awl goes in. Took my time this round, checked the spacing three times before touching the awl, and the difference in the finished welt is honestly kind of embarrassing when I compare the two boots side by side.

Lasting was its own fight too. My last allowance was a bit generous on this build (maybe 3/8 inch) and I ended up trimming more than I expected once everything dried on the lasts overnight. Next pair I'm going tighter from the start and seeing if that saves me the extra paring step.

Still have the outsole and heel stack left to go, using a single layer of 8-9 oz for the sole with a stacked leather heel. Planning to bevel the edge by hand instead of the burnisher this time just to see if I like the look better, even though I know it'll take twice as long.

Curious if anyone else finds the second shoe in a pair always comes out noticeably better than the first just from muscle memory kicking in, or if that's just me being slow to learn each time.

Inherited this wall clock from my grandfather about two years ago and it's been sitting there running fast for most of that time because I was too nervous to touch the movement. It's a simple pendulum regulator, nothing fancy, probably from the 1950s based on the case style and the stamp inside the back panel.

Finally sat down with it last weekend and did the thing every guide tells you to do first: just let it run for a full week and log the error each day before touching anything. Turned out it was gaining almost four minutes a day, which is a lot more than I expected from the way it sounded when it ticked. I figured the beat was uneven just from listening to it, but the actual timekeeping error was worse than the sound suggested.

Adjusted the bob down maybe two full turns on the threaded rod, which felt like way too much at first. Slower pendulum, lower bob, that part I had memorized from reading old clock forums for weeks before I actually did anything. Checked it against my phone's clock every twelve hours for three days after that and it's sitting at under thirty seconds a week now, which honestly feels like a miracle for something I did with a screwdriver and a flashlight at the kitchen table.

What surprised me most was how much the beat evened out just from leveling the case properly first. I'd been so focused on the pendulum length that I didn't think about the wall mount being slightly off, maybe a degree or two, but enough to throw the tick-tock rhythm noticeably lopsided. Once I shimmed the bottom of the case with a folded matchbook, the beat sound alone told me I was close before I even checked a timer app.

Still debating whether to have someone look at the escapement since there's a faint catch every few swings that I can't quite diagnose by ear. Anyone else run into that kind of intermittent skip on an old lever escapement, or is that usually just pivot wear at this point.