Hello MMD readers and Mr. Grant Chapman -- Thanks, Mr. Chapman, for the
explanation of what is Chatterton's compound.  I'm sure the information
you sent might be useful to other MMD members although this is no help
for me.

I didn't want to know what it was but where to find and buy the stuff
since my old time supplier doesn't exist anymore.  They ceased to sell
that product in 2002 and closed their doors four years ago.  I already
know what the product is 'cause I've been using it in the past for
sealing tubular pneumatic organ tubings and attaching weights to reed
tongues in reed pipes when I'm voicing them.  I'm an organ builder and
voicer since 1981.

As for using the recipe Mr. Chapman gave to us, that I already had too,
some ingredients are still available and are wearing the same names.
In fact, they all kept their old names.  Stockholm Tar is still
produced and some old style pharmacists can get some for me.  It is
used in dermatological preparations and shampoos.  The resin to be used
can be of many sources, one from the makers of colophane for string
instruments bows.  It's sap from a pine tree that is still in use
today.

As for gutta-percha (sap of the Palaquium gutta found in India), that's
the one very difficult to get.

  "The main reason for the abandon of Chatterton's compound is the
  scarcity of its main component gutta-percha and the fact that after
  few years the compound dries and become brittle.  During the second
  half of the 19th century and the first half of the 20th century,
  gutta-percha was used for myriad domestic and industrial purposes,
  and it became a household word.  In particular, it was needed as
  insulation for underwater telegraph cables, which led to unsustainable
  harvesting and a collapse of the supply (sic)."

It seems that, after that, the production never caught up to such level
and was slowly abandoned when electrical and waterproof insulation
turned to PVC and neoprene products, and the plant itself becoming
rare.

Also, in the process of making Chatterton's compound there is need for
a pressure boiler equipped with the necessary spigot.  That I don't
have in my shop.

As for the appearance and way to use it, it came in sticks of different
diameters, like sealing wax.  Most common were the 3/4" diameter sticks.
And it was used in the same manner as sealing wax, heating it over an
alcohol lamp flame (for sealing tubing) or heating with a lighter (for
voicing pipes).

If there's some pipe organ voicers from the UK within our members that
are still using Chatterton's for weighting the reeds tongues they
surely have a supplier for it.  I'd like to know of one and import
what I need cause there is no supplier left that I know here in Canada.

Gilles Chouinard, organbuilder
Laval, Quebec, Canada