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Re: English horn loose bell ring adhesive

Author: Chris P
Date: 2026-04-12 00:01

Clean it all up to remove all traces of previous adhesives both inside the bell ring and around the bell itself - you can use acetone on a cotton cloth or cotton buds/Q-tips as that will make light work of both dissolving and degreasing everything.

Then carefully scribe some scratches into the wood around the recess on the bell and also on the inside edge of the bell ring to roughen it up - you can scribe them in a spiral (or helix) around the circumference like record grooves, or scribe opposing angled scratches to form a series of XXXXXXXX on both surfaces (rotating the bell and going ////// and then going \\\\\\ to form the XXXXXXX scratches). That will give the adhesive something to key nicely into on both sides which will reduce things coming adrift. The gouging up will also make the bell ring a slightly better/tighter fit if it's become loose.

Use a 30 minute epoxy (Araldite, Bob Smith Industries, etc.) as that will buy you loads of time to fit it and clean up any oozage (first with a dry cloth, then a going over with either isopropyl or acetone to remove all traces). You have a good 5 minutes of faffing about time with epoxy, then make sure the bell ring is fully home and set it aside for 24 hours to allow it to fully dry.

You can stand it either way up once fitted, but if you're standing it upright, place it on some plastic or waxed paper so it doesn't stick to the surface you've set it down onto which is the last thing you want. You can always weigh it down to make sure nothing shifts while the epoxy sets or clamp it between two boards with a sash clamp.

Once fully dried, check and go over any epoxy oozage, dribbles or fingerprints with acetone to remove all traces. Any stubborn bits can carefully be nudged off with a blunt metal edge or hard plastic scraper, but don't dig into the wood when doing this or scratch anything out. Any discolouration left on the wood from the footprint left behind from a hardened epoxy dribble or caused by wiping over with alcohol or solvents can be put right by rubbing in some bore oil.

Former oboe finisher
Howarth of London
1998 - 2010

Independent Woodwind Repairer
Single and Double Reed Specialist
Oboes, Clarinets and Saxes

NOT A MEMBER OF N.A.M.I.R.

The opinions I express are my own.

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