Snakeskins, raw or tanned?

[Dave Dellinger]

To use snakeskins for backing bows, do they need to be tanned or raw or does it matter?

[Pappy]

Raw or dried,not tanned.Tanned ones don't glue down very good.
   Pappy

[Hillbilly]

Just yank it off the snake, scrape off the meat, and glue it down.

[Eric Krewson]

If you are not going to use it right away, tack it to a board with a staple gun. Put your staples through the belly scales, side to side, stretching as you go. Scrape off any meat after you get it stretched. After a couple days of drying cut the skin off the board with a pair of scissors, cut the skin loose at the belly scales.

[tom sawyer]

Tanned works too.  They usually just glycerine tan them, its water-soluble so just soak it a few days in several changes of cold water and it'll glue just fine.

[Pat B]

Lennie, glycerin tanned skins are not actually tanned but cured. I have used these before but the ones I used had been glycerin tanned about 20 years before so the glycerin had disappeared.
Tanned skins, like other leathers, will soak up moisture like a sponge so, IMO not good for bow backings.
  The first Community Bow was backed with tanned python skin so it does work but there are better options.

[tom sawyer]

Thanks for the clarification.  I knew glycerin wasn't a tan, but I didn't know anyone ever used an actual tanning product on snakeskins.  Doesn't appear that they'd rot, and they sure won't slip hair.  The glycerin jut makes them supple.  I've ordered dry skins and they can be pretty brittle.

[Dave Dellinger]

Would treating them with gylcerin make them easier to ship?

[El Destructo]

To use snakeskins for backing bows, do they need to be tanned or raw or does it matter?

Dave...it all depends on the Tanning Methods too....any Tanning of Snake Skin that is done with Glycerin's or Glycols....will have to washed good and then cleaned with Acetone or Alcohol really good to get the Oils out of the Hide before you glue them down..... I bought a dozen Cobra Skins from a Thailand Seller years back....and all of these Hides were Tanned...and glue down perfectly....but they are white....and dry....you can put them on paper without having any oily residue at all....they feel like dry fabric....and glue down as easy as Rawhide too...wet them and Glue them....I have also bought Python from Him tanned the same way and worked great too....JMO

[Pat B]

Dried skins would be easiest to prepare and to ship. Ask Mike Yancy of Pine Hollow. I bet he ships out quite a few each year...dried.

[tom sawyer]

The glycerin tanned skins are also easy to ship.  Yancey does a great job with his skins, but I've received some pretty brittle dry skins before.  You want to roll them up right after drying.

[Dave Dellinger]

I know a guy in another state that has a problem with copperheads. His dogs get bit each year, they crawl on his porch, lay on his driveway, and he has small kids too. He tries to relocate some, but others...
Just trying to find a use for them so they aren't wasted.

[El Destructo]

                                Well you found a use for them....We...on this Board will take all that He harvests!!

[Dave Dellinger]

Oh, I know! 

I thought of ya'll first 

I'm trying to get him interested in P/A. Turns out when he was young his family inherited an original bow from his G-G-grandfather. It was later stolen. He and his son need a project.

He has Osage everywhere too.   

And threw away a box of turkey feathers recently. 

[knap_123]

i'm i the process of backing a bow with some skins and the first is beautiful but all the others i have are freezer burnt and dont match. so i have a nice glycerin skin i'm soaking in the sink with warm soapy water. i'll get some alcohol or acetone and soak it in that as well and let yall no how it turns out.