Removing snake skins

[Wapiti Chaser]

Anyone ever try to remove snake skins from a glass bow ? The person that put them on said he lightly sanded the limbs and used titebond glue then it has several coats of poly. The bow has clear glass and I would like to see the veneers under the the glass.

[tree dancer]

I have it was a lot of work.
Some will peel off but  I had to sand most of the glue off.
Turned out ok ..
George

[riverrat 2]

I have as well. tree dancer is right. Be prepared for some blisters. I used nail polish remover,and acetone on a cloth to get things loosened up a bit. I also employed a hard plastic scraping tool to "assist" the skins off. You will get a feel for it as you work. When you get close to the original surface,I switched to hot soapy water,and a good dishcloth. I also rubbed alot of glue off with good ol' finger friction,rub-rub-rub. Afterwards,when all was gone,lightly sand,and finish with you choice of clear coats. rat'

[Brock]

I have many times but not with Titebond...I only use the Elmers Carpenter Glue...it is water soluable for easy clean up and removal when needed.  I need to take mine off every few years...or did when I wore bug spray with DEET in it as I always lean my face up against my upper limb on stand...just habit sometimes. Anyhow...with our humidity and rain storms in early bow season that start 15 August....it only last two or three years of DEET abuse.

Now with THermacell not as much an issue...

Good luck with the Titebond removal....


On mine...once the sealant is compromised just soak in warm water and they come right off...from the sounds of it yours are not going to be that easy.  :(

[Wapiti Chaser]

Sounds like its possible. Just worried about the damaging the glass   I figure if it looked bad I could always just spray can camo the limbs

[Orion]

Usually comes off pretty easily if you run a single edge razor blade under the skin almost flat against the glass.  Once you have it positioned, run it along the length of the limb.  When the skin is off, can use the blade at about an 80 degree angle to scrape some/most of the glue residue off.  Then lightly sand with 120 grit,then220, then 320 and refinish. Good luck.

[Pat B]

TiteBond glues will release at 150 deg(F). If your bow was glued up at a higher temp that might be an option. If you are careful you could use a heat gun and a scraper.