Curing a snakeskin

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Cwalker935

Cwalker935

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Richmond, Va
I just killed a 2' long copperhead. He was in a difficult area to get to so I lost 6" or so of the skin due to using a hoe and hoeing it closer to the middle than I wanted. I have peeled the skin off but do not have any glycerin on hand. I have about 17" of the skin. I rinsed the skin in water to remove the blood. How should I store the skin until I get some glycerin? Is refrigeration an option? A quick response would be greatly appreciated.

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My wife actually had some glycerin in some soap making supplies so I now have the skin in a glycerin/alcohol solution. Any tips on curing and casting would be greatly appreciated.
 
Cwalker935 said:
My wife actually had some glycerin in some soap making supplies so I now have the skin in a glycerin/alcohol solution. Any tips on curing and casting would be greatly appreciated.
Click to expand...

Been wanting to do this for a while now. Only problem is findin the snakes lol. I seem to remember then all over the place this time a year a few years back. But thinking back, I haven't been seeing snakes or even hearin about snakes bein seen in quite a while. We have one guy at work the used to kill 8 or 9 a year and would tell te horror story about it wanting to kill him lol... Every snake... Every year. Ain't heard a peep about snakes from him in a few years lol. Where'd they go!?
 
roll and freeze. I can help with the curing if you need.
Do a goo turn daily!
Don

Cwalker935 said:
I just killed a 2' long copperhead. He was in a difficult area to get to so I lost 6" or so of the skin due to using a hoe and hoeing it closer to the middle than I wanted. I have peeled the skin off but do not have any glycerin on hand. I have about 17" of the skin. I rinsed the skin in water to remove the blood. How should I store the skin until I get some glycerin? Is refrigeration an option? A quick response would be greatly appreciated.

View attachment 152431
Click to expand...
 
its_virgil said:
roll and freeze. I can help with the curing if you need.
Do a goo turn daily!
Don

Cwalker935 said:
I just killed a 2' long copperhead. He was in a difficult area to get to so I lost 6" or so of the skin due to using a hoe and hoeing it closer to the middle than I wanted. I have peeled the skin off but do not have any glycerin on hand. I have about 17" of the skin. I rinsed the skin in water to remove the blood. How should I store the skin until I get some glycerin? Is refrigeration an option? A quick response would be greatly appreciated.

View attachment 152431
Click to expand...
Click to expand...

Thanks, I plan on using the approach described in this thread:

http://www.penturners.org/forum/f43/curing-snake-skin-63020/
 
Just to add my 2 cents and as usual everyone has their different ways. I skin and scrape all the meat and fat off with a spoon then wash the skin in Dawn Dishwashing soap and cool water. Then I'll take a towel and press all the water out I can. Soak the skin the the 50/50 soloution for 2 days and let dry. Then I'm done. I do try to remove the oil and the scales from the skin before casting. Don't strech the skin because that will distort the pattern of the skin. I also paint the brass tube with the color that will bring out the color of the skin or if I want something light or dark to go with a kit or type of wood.
 
I back longbows all the time with snake skin. We actually do not desire to have glycerin based products used as it hurts the adhesion between the wood and skin. Most bowyers use borax to dry out then soak in water before glue down with titebond III. Finish overtop with poly of your choice, more than 12 coats. I have some longbows for over 10 years, and the skin looks great. And that's shooting them, being stretched back and forth. I plan on trying this on casting myself. Just to experiment.

 
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I skin and dry snakes a couple times a year for casting also. I don't put anything on them. I skin, scrape and wash in dish soap, then tack down on a board and let dry. After a few days I roll them up like paper and they're ready to use. I have a box full that I've been picking from. Never had a problem. I prefer my skins dry and not tanned when it comes to casting. Less issues with resin adhesion.

Love the Bow too! That's one of my future goals.
 
Skeels said:
Cwalker935 said:
My wife actually had some glycerin in some soap making supplies so I now have the skin in a glycerin/alcohol solution. Any tips on curing and casting would be greatly appreciated.
Click to expand...

Been wanting to do this for a while now. Only problem is findin the snakes lol. I seem to remember then all over the place this time a year a few years back. But thinking back, I haven't been seeing snakes or even hearin about snakes bein seen in quite a while. We have one guy at work the used to kill 8 or 9 a year and would tell te horror story about it wanting to kill him lol... Every snake... Every year. Ain't heard a peep about snakes from him in a few years lol. Where'd they go!?
Click to expand...

All the snakes came to our house. We got 40-50 snakes last year on our property. My brother always has a snake horror story to tell. :biggrin:
 
Kenny Durrant said:
John you don't have trouble with the colors fading? Also what do you use to glue the skins to the tubes CA?
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They fade a bit as they dry but that's just the scale covers, and you'll scrape them off, I use a Popsicle stick so I don't damage the skin. Yes I use CA. Be sure to let them cure and degas. Once the skins get in the resin they aren't dry or faded anymore.
 
Thanks to Cwalker and everyone else for their input. I have some new ideas to try and maybe that will help better some of my castings. I should have a new batch of snakes coming so I'll have something to experiment with.
 
Kenny Durrant said:
Rolandranch what kind of snakes? They are easy to skin and as you've read they are easy to prepare to cast. The problem is choosing the method for preparation.
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The snakes are Diamondback Rattlesnakes. I have casted quite a few blanks but have not quite got it down yet... still experimenting. At least I've got plenty to work with. :)
 
Rolandranch said:
Skeels said:
Cwalker935 said:
My wife actually had some glycerin in some soap making supplies so I now have the skin in a glycerin/alcohol solution. Any tips on curing and casting would be greatly appreciated.
Click to expand...

Been wanting to do this for a while now. Only problem is findin the snakes lol. I seem to remember then all over the place this time a year a few years back. But thinking back, I haven't been seeing snakes or even hearin about snakes bein seen in quite a while. We have one guy at work the used to kill 8 or 9 a year and would tell te horror story about it wanting to kill him lol... Every snake... Every year. Ain't heard a peep about snakes from him in a few years lol. Where'd they go!?
Click to expand...

All the snakes came to our house. We got 40-50 snakes last year on our property. My brother always has a snake horror story to tell. :biggrin:
Click to expand...

Well send them back!!! I need a couple lol. I fid find done decently cheap hides online I can practice with. Cheapest I found was rat snake, 10 bucks for a little I've 30"... Should give me some practice lol.
 
Going to try casting a slimline tube to see how it goes before moving on to bigger tubes. Prepped and ready for casting. Thanks for all the info.

image.jpg
 
Here's one I finished last night (1st pic). You can see by how dark the skin is that I painted the tube black. In the other picture, I did not paint the tubes for the two on the right and the two on the left were painted black. I have been thinking about trying some other colors as well... still experimenting with things.

Hope yours "turns" out well.

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Walker after you trim the ends square with the tubes put some C.A. on a paper towel and seal the ends before turning. I've noticed I don't have near the problems with that happening when I do that. To try to save the blank do what Roland suggested and do the other next time to try to avoid the trouble. If it does happen and you can't repair it turn the ends off and segment the ends of the tube and put the same material on the bottom part of the pen. I do this as well as casting small pieces of skin to use on slimlines. It's a little more work but it still makes a nice pen.
 
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