snakeskin over carbon

[Michl]

Could it be that snakeskin over a carbonbacking decreases the speed of a longbow(added weight)?

[Boom Stick]

good question.  I'm thinking of the same set up for my next set of limbs.

[KrEn]

If it weighs something, it slows the bow down, glass or carbon.
Sid of Borderbows clearly states that their flat black carbon limbs are faster than even the painted(!), and more so than the ones w/ wood lams.
I guess a snakeskinn would be in between those.

I have no idea of how much it amounts to.

K

[Orion]

Snakeskins are so light that it's extremely unlikely that they would slow the bow more than one or two fps.  No one that I know of has even attempted to measure the difference, if there is any.  I'm in the process of skinning one of my ACSs.   By the way, Larry H at A&H says it doesn't make any difference, but even if I lose a fps or so, so what.  Few people can tell the difference between 10-20 fps.  They certainly aren't going to notice a one or two fps difference.  I know I won't.

[Intuit]

I just skinned my first bow this past weekend, an A&H ACS CX. Talk about jumping off a cliff!!

Be careful when you rough up the surface because it doesn't take much sanding to get down to the carbon.

As for the speed, I had crono'ed before and after and found no difference in the speed. I have not scaled it to see if the weight was bumped up.

[Big Sneaky]

Show us some pics of those ACS's that you have skinned.  I have a couple of pair of limbs I have been wanting to get skinned for a while now.

[Orion]

Intuit:  You don't have to rough up the surface.  I wipe it down with alcohol to make sure there's no dirt or grease on the limb, then size it with a thin coat of titebond, which I apply with a foam brush.  After that has dried for a day or so, I wet the skins, brush titebond to the back of the skins and press them onto the limbs. After that dries a day or so, I trim the skins to the limb edges with a sanding block, remove any remaining scales and spray with 3-5 light coats of polyurathane.  Hand rubbing Birchwood Casey gunstock finish also works but leaves a shinier finish.  I've done it this way on a half-dozen or more bows so far and haven't had a skin loosen yet.

[Intuit]

As I have mentioned in previous post, I lightly sanded the limb, wiped down with acohol to remove dust and anything residue that might affect adhesion. While I was wiping down I presoaked the skin and then patted excess water from it. I have worked with carpenter's glue in wood working and done some wall papering, this was a simple combination of both. I simply applied the glue quite liberally with the finger method.

As I applied the skin I just made sure it was down the center, but don't fret here because you've easily got 20 minutes of working time. I took a flexible scraper and worked the surface of the skin up the limb and towards the edges to press. My biggest problem is I can't wait a day for the next step so when the skin didn't slide around anymore I trimed the edges. I know this type of glue cleans easier before it fully sets so I took a damp cloth and removed any glue from the limb edges and belly.

Most of the scales were gone at this time. Next day I applied a liberal coat of spray exterior urathane and let set. Sanding in between coats smooths out the finish very nicely. Even my son the cabinet maker was impressed.

Big Sneaky - I will work on posting an image later in the week. I'm an old timer and amaze myself that I've gotten this far on the computer.

[Izzy]

I would like to see pics.Ill be starting copperhead skins on a bamboo viper next week.Looking forward to tackling that project.

[John Havard]

In order to measure any change attributable to the addition of snakeskins you must be VERY precise.  Use of a shooting machine is necessary, along with ensuring that both the before and after tests are done with the same string and at precisely the same brace height and with an arrow that weighs precisely the same number of grains per pound(to the tenth of a grain).  

I have done two before/after tests.  

One was on a bow with heavy bull snake skins.  I don't remember the exact difference in speed but as I recall it was between 1 and 2 fps slower.

The other test was with a set of very light copperhead skins.  The bow actually tested 0.1 fps faster (which means the speed wasn't effected since that's within the margin of error of any test).

The absolute truth is that anything that weighs anything will have some effect.  But based on the sum total of my tests (two is a limited data base) it appears that snake skins on a performance bow will reduce dynamic efficiency a tad and result in perhaps a maximum of 1-2 fps reduction in precisely-measured speed.

As an aside - black carbon should be painted a light (maybe tan?) color before applying something like a copperhead skin.  Bob Morrison clued me into this little trick several years ago.  If left unpainted the black carbon will make a thin skin like copperhead look dark and dull.