How do you remove snake skin backing from limbs?

[David lozzano]

Hi there gang,
How can I remove snake skin from a set of recurve limbs? they  seems to be pretty well glued to those limbs

Thanks for any info

[kevsuperg]

Not sure but I'd be interested to know.
 Any idea what glue was use, titebond, hide glue etc.
 Might make a difference on how to remove them.

[4runr]

I have applied quite a few over the years, but never removed any.
I would say it depends mostly on if they were applied over glass or wood.
Removing from glass would be the easiest and safest in my opinion.
After having refinished a lot of bows, it no longer scares me to take sandpaper to glass limbs. As soon as you get through the finish, you know you hit glass. It has a different sound and feel. You have to get pretty aggressive to damage the glass.
If I was to remove skins from glass, I would start with 100 grit paper and start where you can do the least damage to the glass, at the riser, or fades. See how it comes off and how much sanding does it take. Make sure you are sanding on the skins and NOT on the edges of the glass. If you touch glass stop sanding in that area and move on. If 100 grit is too aggressive, go to 150 etc.
If you've never done anything like this before, you might want to hire a pro to do it. There are sponsors that do that sort of thing.

[Preston Lay]

I have applied several and removed a few. I carefully start peeling an edge using a razor blade. Sometimes the skin will start lifting off and you can peel all the way. Other times it's been a sanding process. I use a fine grit paper and carefully sand off. I finish off with 0000 steel wool. All the skins I have removed were glued with titebond.

[Orion]

Never removed them from all wood bows, but have from glass laminated bows.  I use a single edge razor blade.  Work it under the skin and shave it off.  Then I sand off the glue residue with a block and 120 grit.  Continue with progressively lighter grits to at least 400 before refinishing. Be sure to use a flat block or you're likely to sand some small indentations into the glass.