Salmon skin glue

[Carson (CMB)]

Salmon skin glue is the bees knees. 

So I decided to buy some fresh "copper river" salmon  about three weeks ago form the local albertson's because 1) had just seen dauntless' salmon backed yew bow , and b) the fillets looked amazing for grocery market fish, 3) it was on sale. I skinned the filets, and smoked the meet... mmmm.  Washed the skins in the sink and found that hot water broke down the surprisingly tough hide very quickly, so switched to a cold rinse asap. Glued the skins on to a yew recurve simply by placing the slimy skins on the bow and trimming, no glue added.  I was so impressed with the addhesion, it made quick and strong bond, that I saved the trimmings.  I heated some of the trimmings on low heat (~140) as I do when I make sinew glue.  I was not impressed with the results after heating for about 6 hrs.  I threw out that batch and put some uncooked trimmings in the freezer. Today, I thawed the skin pieces out and wasn't sure what to do with them.  I remember watching the Yurok indian Homer (paddle bow video on youtube) chew a sturgeon bladder for glue, and decided what the heck.  I chewed up the skins thoroughly spitting the slurry into a small dish.  I then heated the small dish over very low heat (~100) with a vent hood on, to thicken it up.  I just applied a layer to a yew/sinew bow I have in the works, and I have never experienced my fingers sticking together so badly with any other animal glue, and I have tried several different hide and sinew glues. This stuff is sticky!  I know this is pretty preliminary, but I feel like fish glue got a bad wrap in the TBB vol.s, and I think it might be because it is sensitive to over-heating.  Also, this was copper river salmon, the meat was notable, maybe there is something to the skins on the fish from that particular watershed, but I bet any fresh caught salmon would work, I just don't know if all grocery store fillets are equivalent.

So I hope others out there will give fish glues a good try, and report their findings.  I will add to this after I use this glue batch to apply some sinew.  Cheers, Carson

[Carson (CMB)]

Thought I would add some pics to hopefully entice folks to try the salmon skin. 



Just one of the benefits of using salmon skin.   


Skins applied wet to yew recurve, reverse strung.


Skins trimmed up and dyed with leather dye (would use water-based dye if I did it again).


Glue after chewing and spitting skins into dish.


Freshly applied back sinew using salmon skin glue.  This was the first time I used salmon skin glue and it was really nice to work with.  This was the third course of sinew on this yew paddle bow.  The previous two being applied with sinew glue.  Allowed to dry and then sanded with 150 and 100 grit between each course. Quickest and neatest course of sinew I have applied to date (which is only about 7).


Humidity around 50%, so the glue will set up nice and slow to begin with.  After several hours, I move it near a source of forced air flow, to speed up the drying a bit.

[Carson (CMB)]

First time I tried this one!  Another benefit of reverse stringing, is that the curing bow is very mobile, making it easy to move from one microclimate to another.  This method seems to really speed up the drying.  BTW, the bow is also spinning, but at a rate about 1/5th the speed of the fan, set on highest speed.

[RyanY]

That's so cool. Those skins look great and the meat has me drooling.

[sadiejane]

very good CMB.
have used salmon as "decoration" on one bow and love how it looks.
but i dried it out and glued it on....hmmmm
have read numerous places that saliva is part of the equation when it comes to some glues
wonder if it would work the same without chewing it
man that smoked salmon looks yummy. one of my fav fishes to smoke
look forward to more experimenting and how ya find the end results of that bow
can hardly wait to see pix of it all ready to shoot!
thanks!!

[rossfactor]

I should give this a try.  We have been having a wonderful year salmon fishing up here on the NW coast.  My buddies got 8 in and hour and a half the other day.  No shortage of skins.

Gabe

[BowEd]

Great thread there CMB.Thanks for sharing.I've got a sinew backed hickory bow drying here too.Reverse braced.I put mine on top of a dehumidifier and a fan blowing across it.Sits at 45% humidity at 85 degrees.Maybe fish like carp or any fish can be used for glue....ya think?

[Badger]

  I believe if you boil the heads you will get quite a bit of gelatin for glue out of them.

[MWirwicki]

"...and decided what the heck.  I chewed up the skins thoroughly spitting the slurry into a small dish."

Whew, you ARE dedicated!  The salmon steaks look great!  Still can't get my tummy to settle thinking of chewing those skins.   

[randman]

I'm with you Matt, I couldn't stomach chewing on those skins. I wonder if pounding them in a mortar and pestal and spitting on them once in a while would do the same thing.

[Carson (CMB)]

Matt, Randman, it wasn't all that bad, then again, I eat the skin when it is on a piece of smoked fish. Good for the skin, hair, joints, brain, and heart.  I will admit there was a moment where I had to stop chewing and just do all I could to keep from gagging.  I am looking forward to trying sturgeon air bladder next!  Randman, it might do the same thing, but wouldn't be near as fun!

Thanks Ryoon and Sadie Jane. I ate several pounds of smoke fish in the couple of days after.  It was awesome.  I also smoked them with chips from roughing out vine maple staves with a hatchet.  This primitive archery stuff really gets me looking for materials everywhere!

Sadie, I have a feeling saliva is an important part too.  Chewing sinew gives it a completely different feel than soaking it in warm water. 

Gabe, do it!  If nothing else, save some skins, dry them out for later, or cook the heads like badger said.  I would be willing to trade for dried salmon skins.

Thanks Beadman, I imagine sinew and hickory make quite the combo.  As for other fish, I think the natives new what they were doing when they used salmon skin and sturgeon air-bladder. I don't know that any old fish skin will work.  Salmon skin is pretty different because they are anadromous, so the skin has to deal with both saltwater and freshwater at different life stages. 

Badger, I know robustus says that glue made specifically from the roof of the mouth and gills of sturgeon creates a great glue. Will have to try the salmon head too.