Caring for your English handbells is crucial to ensure their longevity and maintain their beautiful sound. Whitechapel handbells, renowned for their quality and craftsmanship, require careful handling and maintenance to preserve their intricate tonal qualities. This guide provides essential instructions on how to care for your handbells, drawing upon expert advice to help you keep them in top condition for years to come.
Gentle Handling: The First Rule of Handbell Care
The first and most important rule in handbell care is to handle them with utmost gentleness. Handbells are crafted from a necessarily brittle metal, making them susceptible to damage from rough handling. Avoid dropping or knocking your bells against hard surfaces. Even seemingly minor impacts can lead to cracks or adjustments in their delicate mechanisms, affecting their resonance and sound quality. Always lift and place your handbells with care, treating them as the precision musical instruments they are.
Polishing and Cleaning: Keeping Your Bells Shining
Maintaining the polished finish of your Whitechapel handbells is not just about aesthetics; it’s also about protecting the metal from tarnish and corrosion. The foundry ships these bells with a high polish, which can be easily maintained with regular, gentle cleaning.
Routine Cleaning
For routine cleaning, use a clean, dry, and soft chamois leather. Simply rub the metal surface lightly to remove fingerprints and dust. Avoid touching the metal surface unnecessarily, as moisture and oils from your fingers can cause localized tarnishing over time. Regularly wiping down your bells after each use with a chamois leather will significantly reduce the need for more intensive cleaning.
Removing Tarnish
If tarnish develops despite regular chamois cleaning, you can use specialized metal polishes. For light tarnish, metal polishes or impregnated cloths are effective. Using metal polish two or three times a year is generally safe and beneficial. The Handbell Ringers of Great Britain (HRGB) recommends and sells Peek Polish, specifically formulated for musical instruments. Peek Polish is excellent for achieving a mirror finish and is gentle enough for regular use.
For more heavily tarnished bells, a stronger polish like Autosol can be used. Autosol is available from motor accessory stores and is effective at removing stubborn tarnish and stains. However, use Autosol sparingly and only when necessary due to its more abrasive nature compared to Peek Polish.
Cleaning Precautions
Avoid using abrasive cleaners or buffing machines with coarse mops. Abrasives can scratch the delicate metal surface and dull the polished finish. If you must use a buffing machine for heavily tarnished bells, opt for a soft mop or jewellers’ rouge, which are much gentler on the metal. Never use household cleaning products or harsh chemicals, as these can damage the bell’s finish and potentially corrode the metal.
Storage Solutions: Protecting Your Bells from Damage
Proper storage is vital to protect your Whitechapel handbells from environmental damage and physical harm when they are not in use.
Ideal Storage Conditions
Store your bells in a clean, dry place. Moisture and humidity are primary culprits for tarnish and corrosion. Avoid storing bells in damp basements or humid attics. Light, especially direct sunlight, can also contribute to tarnishing. If you keep your bells out in a room between practices, cover them with a sheet or cloth to shield them from sunlight and dust.
Cases and Bags
Never pack your bells jumbled together in a box. This can lead to scratches, dents, and damage to the handles and clappers. Ideally, use fitted cases designed specifically for handbells. Whitechapel Bell Foundry (though now closed) used to supply custom-fitted cases for various ranges of bells. While these might be harder to obtain now, consider investing in similar fitted cases from other suppliers if available.
Alternatively, create individual bags for each bell using soft cloth or padded material. Store these bagged bells snugly in a wheeled suitcase or sturdy container for safe transportation and storage. This method provides individual protection and prevents bells from knocking against each other.
Clapper and Spring Maintenance: Ensuring Perfect Ringing
The clapper mechanism is crucial for producing the sound of your handbells. Maintaining the clappers and springs ensures consistent and clear ringing.
Clapper Buffers
Do not remove the felt buffers from the clappers, especially on larger bells (typically 18G and below). These felt buffers are carefully graded to optimize the tonal response of each bell. Removing or altering them can negatively impact the bell’s sound quality.
Clapper Lubrication
Occasionally, the clappers may become dry and start to rattle slightly. In such cases, apply a tiny drop of light oil lubricant, such as sewing machine oil, to either side of the clapper where it swings on the nylon staple pin. Use lubrication sparingly; over-oiling can attract dust and grime. Lubricate only when necessary and use just a drop or two.
Spring Adjustment and Double Clappering
If a bell consistently double clappers (rings unintentionally, often on the backstroke), it may require a slight adjustment to the springs. The springs are thin metal sheets (usually brass or copper) with felts attached at the end.
To adjust the springs:
- Hold the bell horizontally.
- Observe the clapper; it should be just clear of the surface of the bell.
- Slowly rotate the bell. The clapper should remain just clear of the metal throughout the rotation.
- If the clapper touches the bell prematurely, gently bend the springs to adjust the clearance.
Be extremely careful when bending the springs. Bend them gradually and infrequently, as excessive bending can weaken them, leading to breakage or reduced spring tension. If you are unsure about spring adjustment, it is best to consult a professional handbell repair technician.
Handle Care and Longevity
The handles of Whitechapel handbells are designed for comfortable and secure grip, contributing to precise ringing. Proper handling techniques will extend the life of the handles.
Proper Grip
When playing, grip the handles close to the leather caps. The foundry meticulously finishes the handles to be smooth and flush with the rivets in this area for comfortable handling. Gripping the handles correctly minimizes stress on the handle components and ensures a secure hold.
Avoiding Damage
Avoid putting undue stress or pressure on the handles, especially when placing bells down. Rough handling can loosen the handles or damage the leather or other handle materials over time.
Packing and Transportation: Safe Bell Movement
When transporting your Whitechapel handbells, ensure they are packed securely to prevent damage during transit.
Secure Packing
As mentioned earlier, avoid jumbling bells together. Use fitted cases or individual bags. When packing cases or bags into a larger container for transport, ensure they are snug and cannot shift around excessively. Use padding material if necessary to fill any gaps and prevent movement.
Handling Large Bells
For larger bells (22C and larger), avoid standing them mouth downwards for extended periods. These heavier bells can put pressure on the springs and clapper pegs, potentially causing misalignment or damage to the felts. Store and transport larger bells in an upright or horizontal position whenever possible.
Addressing Common Issues: Rattle and Wear
One of the characteristics of older English handbells is the development of a slight “rattle” as the staple pin wears over time. While some ringers appreciate this as part of the bell’s character, it can be corrected.
Richard Page’s document “DIY English bells.pdf” provides a record of how to address this issue yourself if you are comfortable with DIY repairs. This document offers insights into the process of repairing worn staple pins and restoring the bell’s original sound.
In 1996, Whitechapel Bell Foundry published their own guide to handbell maintenance. Although contact details are outdated, the core maintenance advice remains relevant and valuable. While this specific guide link is not available in the original text, searching for “Whitechapel Bell Foundry handbell maintenance guide” online might yield further historical documents or resources.
By following these guidelines, you can ensure that your Whitechapel handbells remain in excellent condition, providing beautiful music for years to come. Regular care and gentle handling are key to preserving the legacy and exquisite sound of these fine instruments.
