Lead corrosion in organ pipes III. Report on a workshop ‘Bleikorrosion’ in Bremen by Jaap Jan Steensma

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Jaap Jan Steensma Lead corrosion in organ pipes III. Report on a workshop ‘Bleikorrosion’ in Bremen
Het ORGEL 113 (2017), nr. 6, 40-43 [summary]

In recent years there has been increasing attention for leaden organ parts that sometimes begin to corrode without apparent cause. Research projects up till now have been devoted primarily to developing knowledge of the range, newness, urgency, and causes of the problem. Measures that are currently in use are washing/rinsing of corroded material, replacement of material, application of lacquer to uncorroded parts; but the results have been neither permanent nor satisfactory.
The Amtliche Materialprüfungsanstalt [Official Materials Testing Institute], part of the Stiftung Institut für Werkstofftechnik [Foundation for Materials Technology] (in Bremen), has since 2016 been coördinating a project in which the other participants are the Arp Schnitger Institut für Orgel und Orgelbau (a department of the Hochschule für Künste Bremen) and four organ builders: Jürgen Ahrend Orgelbau (Leer), Gebr. Hillebrand GmbH Orgelbau KG (Isernhagen), Orgelbauwerkstatt Bartelt Immer (Norden) and Orgelbaumeister Rowan West (Altenahr).
The official title of the project is ‘Entwicklung von Maßnahmen zur Verminderung von Bleikorrosion an Orgelpfeifen aus dem 17. und 18. Jhdt.’ [development of measures to diminish lead corrosion of organ pipes from the 17th and 18th centuries]; it runs from van 1 October, 2016, to 30 September, 2018. The project coördinator is Herbert Juling, and the Arp Schnitger Institut has designated Koos van de Linde to work on the project. Op 26 September Messrs. Juling and Van de Linde gave a workshop ‘Bleicorrosion’ [lead corrosion]. This article reports on this workshop.

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