snake skin pens

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Anthony,

You've done what I hope would happen with my little 2 1/2 year old - Maintain her mother's beauty but carry about a subtle sense of "don't worry about my father cleaning his Glock in the back shop" but rather "worry about you imitating this headless snake if you don't watch (with innocent, daddy's-girl smile)"[:D]
 
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I made my leather pen by getting some three quarter inch dia. leather disks about one quarter inch thick and gluing them togeather. I then drilled and prepared them just as I would a wood blank. I used a slim line kit with a euro. band

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Okay, so I couldn't wait till the first of the year to make my snake pen. I am trying several attempts, in case some don't make it. The first five barrells from the left, have the skins glue over the tube. I am going to try and cast them in resin tonight. Several have said this is easy. Doesn't seam easy to me, when you never did any casting.

The barrel on the right, is a pen completed I am going to post. I glue the skin over an undersize cut blank, and put about 10 coats of poly over it. That should hold it in place. If it doesn't, I can always shoot it. [:D] I was comfortable making it this way, as it is simular to veneering which I done before. Anthony


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Here is a close up of the finshed pen with glued on skin over an oak barrel vs a skin under the resin casting. The glued on skin has developed some type of reaction as you can see some reddish brown lines. Don't know why, I am thinking maybe sanding with some dirty MM ? Even though the casting went bad, I was able to turn a little of it, to see what the results would be. The resin magnifies the skin real nice and definately seals it from any damage to the skin.


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SAVE YOUR MONEY! Just tried to glue the died cobra skins to tubes, the CA reacted with the skin or dye and ruined it. You can try another type glue, maybe contact cement or something else, but CA won't work. If you want to try, do it on a test spot of the skin, before you take the time and do all the cutting. I know someone else bought the skins from Implora as well. Anthony
 
When I bought lizzard (to make Lizzy, an Americana BP) the seller told me to use carpenter's glue. I glued the skin directly to the bottom tube, and to wood on the upper tube, with Titebond II. Several months later, when I sold the pen, it was still holding up good. The glue did not penetrate the leather much, but seemed to hold well. The color was not affected.

I did not put any finish on the leather, just some clear SHOE polish.
 
Lou, I will try tomarrow, my camera is at the office and I have to much glue stuck to my fingers. I can't even feel them typing. The skins were more like real thin finished leather, the scales were very smooth. They skins are processed to make other things such as wallets and stuff. As soon as the CA hit the skin it totally change the color, darkened it and made it real blotchy. I am going to try some other glues, but not tonight, still have to go down & finsh my rattle snake glue ups, just came up for some caffine and a break. Anthony

Fred I am honored to speak to you , 1002 posts, and still have plenty of hot air left. LOL I will try the carpenters glue, have plenty of that, and I have to find my contact cement, use to do allot of veneering, but not for some time. I'm sure it is around.
 
Good call Fred, the carpenters glue worked fine. You and Lizzy allready had it figured out. I used the carpenters glue to glue the cobra skins to the brass tube and no staining to the skin. It doesn't have to hold that good, because I am going to cast these in resin. At least try to cast again. Anthony
 
Glad it helped, Anthony! I have some assorted lizzard scrap, and a complete ostrich leg skin, for my upcoming Ozzie pen. I will probably get some snake when I get a chance.

I am very curious to see what the seam looks like when you are done, Anthony. When I did the Lizzie, the Titebond color blended well with the leather color. I cleaned and tooled the seam a bit, and it looked fine, but you could always see it of course.
 
Here is the phot of CA glue on the cobra skins, note how it darkened and stained the skin, right behind the spots I applied carpenters gloe, not staining, the barrel laying in the skin was applied with carpenters glue, looks as natural as the skin. Thanks Fred.

Something about gloves I can't get use to. I just have to have junk all over my hands when I make something. That's why I liked pottery for such a long time. Where was Demi, when I needed her. Anthony




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Thanks for posting it, and glad it worked, Anthony! I am curious to see the seam side. Would you mind posting a pic?

Anthony, I worked in graphic arts for almost 25 yrs. That means printing. Working with printing presses and ink is a very dirty job. Most printers have badly stained fingers and nails. I got used to wearing gloves almost from the beginning. My coworkers chided me about it all the time, they said my hands looked like a woman's. Of course, women had a different opinion ....

It is a matter of getting used to it. Properly fitting gloves are a must. Talcum powder inside helps a lot. I just hate the glue in my fingers!
 
Anthony something is strange here, your cobra does not look anything at all like the photo's of cobra that Rich K. just posted. I wonder who has the wrong stuff. Check out the photo's that Rich put up they really are nice.

Wayne
 
Wayne, if you look at the scales, they are the same, mine are died skins. The trick is to not use the long part of the scales. Rich did have some nice ones, I still think the rattlers look the best.
check this link out to all these skins.

http://implora.com/products.asp?category=Snake+Skin&subcategory=Leather+Hides

Anthony
 
Anthony, am I correct to assume that you were using CA to glue the skin directly to the brass tube and the CA stain is from the under side of the skin? Wonder what would happen if I used that carpenters glue to stick the skin to a narrowly turned blank and did the CA on the outer side of the skin????? I wonder if it would stain this way too or would the scales protect the surface a bit better?
 
Your right Ed, the stains are from the underside. Since the top of the skin is somewhat finished, I don't know if it would stain. I would think so. Only one way to find out.........Anthony
 
Anthony I thought that Rich's pen that is black with the white sposts was cobra. That doesn't look at all like what you show here. His rattler is pretty nice also.

Wayne
 
I hope I'm saving you guys time & money. [:p]

Eddie, I put some CA on the outside of the skin, same results,still discolored.

Cast the cobra skins in resen, they turned dark brown. (another bad option)

Oh well, if I ever get another snake pen, it;s gonna be pretty expensive. [:D]

Anthony
 
Wayne, the scales are fairly simular. If you look at the yellow skin that is stained from the CA, it seperates the scales. I am sure Rich used a higher grade natural skin. I am sure cobra skins vary greatly, just like rattle snake skins do and people skins. The ones I got where the cheap scraps that cost 5.00 apiece. I think they were from the high mileage snakes.

Rich has some real nice ones, I like the faceted Baron with the cut in center ring. That was pretty choice. Oh well, I guess I'll make my way down to the shop and start my casting project, or at least read about all the crap I got today to do the casting., Anthony
 
I finally finished a snake pen that is acceptable to be sold. I was having the same casting problems using a cylinder type mold, as others. Hard to center, drying of the resin, sticking, you name it, I had it.

I was able to cast them in a flat mold, when I finally got a good cast, I ended up scrapping the barrel because as Alice stated earlier today, the resin shrinks, didn't know that at the time and the sanding dust was able to get between the cast and the skin. (note the foggy barrel.

To remedy this, I sealed the ends of the barrels about 5 different times during cutting, turning & sanding. It still was able to get into the Baron, which is not accetable, and my daughter now owns it as a trophy.

The Statesman did come out good, But if you look close, there is just a slight dust in the cast.

The Ligero is comparing a skin glued over a wood barrel vs the skin in a cast. As to which is better. They both have +/-

The skin really looks good under the cast, but you don't have the feel of holding a snake pen. The Ligero feels better in your hand even with all the Enduro coats over it.

I am not going to be making allot of these, Just something I had to do. Anthony



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Those are awsome, Anthony! If you don't want to make a lot of them then you better not show too many of them, because a lot of folks will want them.

Originally posted by penworks
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...I am not going to be making allot of these, Just something I had to do. Anthony
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Talk about venomous words!!! Anthony, those look awesome! You should email those pics to the company selling $1000 pens... see if they ... *bite* [;)] (sorry for the BAD pun)
 
Yes, the clouding is exactly what happened to me. Do you think that if it skin is cleaned with something that will evaporate like denatured alcohol prior to casting it would prevent the clouding??

Originally posted by penworks
<br />I finally finished a snake pen that is acceptable to be sold. I was having the same casting problems using a cylinder type mold, as others. Hard to center, drying of the resin, sticking, you name it, I had it.

I was able to cast them in a flat mold, when I finally got a good cast, I ended up scrapping the barrel because as Alice stated earlier today, the resin shrinks, didn't know that at the time and the sanding dust was able to get between the cast and the skin. (note the foggy barrel.

To remedy this, I sealed the ends of the barrels about 5 different times during cutting, turning & sanding. It still was able to get into the Baron, which is not accetable, and my daughter now owns it as a trophy.

The Statesman did come out good, But if you look close, there is just a slight dust in the cast.

The Ligero is comparing a skin glued over a wood barrel vs the skin in a cast. As to which is better. They both have +/-

The skin really looks good under the cast, but you don't have the feel of holding a snake pen. The Ligero feels better in your hand even with all the Enduro coats over it.

I am not going to be making allot of these, Just something I had to do. Anthony



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Alice, the clouding is coming in between the cast and the skin after you start cutting and sanding. It has nothing to do with the casting. As soon as I removed the blanks I tried to seal the end of the barrels with CA. This helped. I kept doing it after every step. It still managed to get into the Baron. I am also assuming, the CA entering under the resin cast, is drying clear. I don't think it would fog, but maybe that is what I am seeing in the Statesmen, Really don;t know.
 
In my case on the snake skin, the clouding was there before I did any turning, infact I never got to that step. When I got up in the morning after letting the fresh casting sit, it was cloudy. I had another one that was fine at first but got cloudy after about 4 days.???
 
The snake skin that I have is brown and an unknown species from the phillipines. As soon as I put CA glue on the back of the skin it turned VERY dark brown, almost black??!! Does this happen with rattlesnake??
 
Alice, sounds like you have the cobra skins that are tanned & processed. go back a page or two on this thresd and see if the examples I gave are what you bought. That happend to me as well with those skins. I tried to tell you to save your money. The yellow one turned completely brown when I casted it.

Anthony
 
I went back and read all of the posts. I do not believe these are cobra. They are just plain brown with no markings. I got them really cheap $4.00. I wanted to use them to try the whole thing out. I am glad that I did! I have one mor idea I am going to try before giving up. I'll let you know. AC
 
I also tried to make a rattle snakeskin pen and I did just glue it to the tube with no problem. I coated it with several coats of
ca and I was really happy with the results. However I could not get it off the mandrel. It took about an hour of cutting between the
bushings with a razor and alot of hammering. I finally got it off
but ruined my bushings, oh well they are cheap. I put the pen
together and showed the family eveyone loved it. Now for the bad part, I just tried it and it does not twist now it is a cigar pen
and I must have damaged the tube any suggestions to try and repair it. Sorry I am droning on but I lovd the pen and would hate to trash it.
 
Paul, the hammer thing could have something to do with it [:D] I thought hammers were for fixing engines [:D]

But if you said you put it together, then I am assuming all the pieces went together correctly and the press parts went in. So I don't know where the problem could be. Does it twist at all, or frozen?

Anthony
 
Anthony, would you be kind enough to describe the process you used to cast the skins? I'm thinking of doing a pen with stingray skin, and may try one cast and one glued with CA on the outside (the skin is black, so hopefully any discolorations won't show TOO badly).
 
Jim, I used Ca to glue the skin on the brass tube. Try a couple of drops on a test piece to see if it reacts to the skin. If it does, then use carpenters glue.
Cast your covered tubes in clear polyesters resin in a flat mold. That is tougher than it sounds. You have to secure them to keep from floating around. I used base wax plugs and potatoes to keep the resin out of the tubes. Before you cut them, seal the ends with CA. Dry sand only all the way to 1200MM, NO WATER! then buff, that's it in a nut shell. Good Luck. Anthony
 
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