Snake skin

[D]

At my parents house there has been a snake skin hanging on the wall for about 15 years or so.  They decided to give it to me the other day.  Its about an 8 foot python skin.  My uncle had it as a pet a number of years a go and when it died by a rabbit claw scratching it on the inside it was tanned and hung on the wall for decoration.  So on to my question.  I'm wanting to put it on a bow, what do I do?? I've never snaked a bow.  I just read about needing to get rid of the scales. How do I do that?? After it being on the wall for so many years do I need to oil it or condition it in any way??  To my suprise its not stiff or anthing.  What do I use to glue it on with??  Sorry for the 20 questions all in one post and Im sure this has been posted on here a number of times already.  Thanks for any input.

David

[don s]

the skins that are used to back a bow are not tanned. they are just dried. the chemicals used in tanning probably won't work because you need to glue the skin to the bow. i don't think the glue will work with the chemicals. don

[Stiks-n-Strings]

No tanned snake skins.

 maybe you can use it for an armguard or a quiver

[Adam Keiper]

I've always read that glue won't adhere well to tanned skins.  BUT, I've used tanned skins a couple of times with Titebond and had perfect results.  That dogma, I suspect, might be due to poor results with other glue(s). (Hide glue perhaps?)

[SEMO_HUNTER]

I would definitely still use it as decoration for a quiver, armguard, arrow wraps or caps, ect.
Use some contact cement for gluing it to leather and super glue for arrow shafts, or some other hard setting adhesive......super glue may set too fast for shafting? Just guessing.
I've glued leather with contact cement with good results.

[Osagetree]

Send the skin to me for evaluation!  

[J.F. Miller]

I have successfully glued tanned snake skin to hickory backing, and I think I used titebond II(was 15 years ago). don't know how well a tanned skin would stick to glass, though. you would probably have to use barge cement or something of the like

[DV of WI]

I have about 5 skins all were skined and dried on a board with salt applied. If washed and rinsed can these be used for backing. Do they need to be rinsed and washed to get rid of the salt.
My understanding is you do not want to use salt and hide glue together bad combination.

[Osagetree]

That's the way I do my skins. Wash with dawn dish liquid and warm water,,,, rinse with cold,,, apply damp skin with titebond II or III. Then dry, trim and seal.

[SEMO_HUNTER]

Why did you salt them? No need to, skin them, lay out on a board and scrape any excess flesh or fat from the hide, then tack them down to dry. They dry in about a day, but I leave mine for at least 2 days then trim up the outside edges, roll em up and store them.

A good rinse should get rid of any salt and your gonna need to put them in a bowl of water before gluing to the bow anyway, but don't do that till your ready to stick them to the bow.

I use Elmer's Wood Glue because it dries clear, the TB glues leave a yellow hue behind, but I can't speak for TBIII because I've never tried it before.

[RM81]

TBIII worked well for me (on a glass bow).  Didn't notice any yellow hue behind the skin.

[Osagetree]

Semo, the salting may not be required but, it sure keeps the flies off of mine.

This past weekend I skined a bow with a copperhead skin. I did it the way I always do.... But, I screwed it up real bad and sadly had to remove it and wasted the skin.
But, as I scrapped it all off there were little black dots spread out across where the skin and glue had been. I had never done that (scrape off a skin) so this may be common but unkown to most,,,, I think it was the start of mold!
It has been very humid and the bow and skin set for a couple days before the mishap.

Anyone ever see this?

Hey Matt! How ya been?

[D]

Ya know after reading DV of WIs post about drying it on a board I remeber my parents talking about the snake being longer than they skin but that is the longest board that they could find to tack it to.  I'm gonna have to ask them to see if they remember. Like I said its been a number of years ago. The skin isn't like leather soft of or anything.  I didn't know it made a difference if it was tanned or not. hum.  Is there a way to tell of its been tanned or just dryed??  Thanks for all the help so far everybody

[D]

Ok so I've talked to everyone that I know of that knew anything about the skin.  It was dried on a piece of plywood not tanned.  So now that I feel better about that part.  What next?  The main thing I'm curious about is how I get the scales off??  When I cleaned it up with a wet wash cloth some of them were coming off on the cloth.  Its probably a simple answer but I just don't want to damage the skin.  Thanks again for the help everybody

[John Scifres]

Glue it on first and then take the scales off.  First using duct tape and then scraping with your finger nail.  IT takes some time but is worht it.