O.K. I've been reading this thread & find it entertaining & educational, so I'll add my 2 cents to the original question. "To push and pull takes just about all my effort" "Is this just because it's new?"
Yes. The accordion and bellows are new & probably require more effort.
"I don't play much at all, just learning"
If you are just learning & not playing much than this is also a reason that playing is difficult.

I started learning, for real, on a new accordion. I found the bellows to be stiff. The solution for me & the bellows is to PLAY MORE. I found myself getting tired after playing for 1/2 hour. I found that doing push ups helped me get in better shape to play this instrument. Playing the instrument helped get it into better shape to be played by me.

I had asked for suggestions, about 3 years ago, on caring for a brand new accordion. It was suggested that I not hang it up by it's B-ass. (I believe David Sousa told me that, thanks David!) I had never heard of doing that but readily agreed not to try it. Playing is the key. Play play & play. For me, anyway, that's what's it's all about & ends up answering most of my questions about how to do it. No need to be hanging it from a tree or obsessing about it's corners & such. (unless your into that sort of thing) Enjoy Daniel!

good call Tom, glad you didn't hang yer accordion like a criminal.

Good analogy..... Don't hang the accordion like a criminal.

Use the air regulator! tap it very gently with the meat of your palm, think of the air regulator was a baby's bottom. The trick is to figure out when to do it. EXPERIMENT.

Keep them bellows like NEW. LIKE NEW

Jim

just think of it as Gravity Shoes for your accordion. Stop before the box gets glaucoma.

Some people might not be old enough to make sense of this.