Snake shed as viable sinew covering?

[Mo_coon-catcher]

I'm curious if any body has tried snake skin shed as a decorative backing. I've it two in great shape, one that's usable, and should have another in the next day or so. They all have about 3' of useable surface. I'm wanting to incorporate then into my trade bows. There is obviously no color from the pythons on them, by they have the scale pattern, and retained the pythons stripe/banding patterns. I'm wanting to use them to cover the sinew backing on one bow and am curious if it'll be strong enoug to act as a moisture barrier when glued on with TB3. And if they would even look decent when glued on. Or if I'd just be wasting my time.

Thanks,
Kyle

[lebhuntfish]

Kyle,  that's an awesome idea! I'm sure it will work, especially with TBIII. It will be a tedious job though. Those sheds are mighty thin. You might want to thin down your TBIII with just a tad of water. It will slow down the drying time and make it easier to work out all the bubbles with that shead.
I'm pretty sure I've seen snake sheds on a bow here before.

Patrick

[bradsmith2010]

I don't think it will give you much protection,,it could look nice, and if you finish it with something like poly,, it could look great,, but I think it is just too paper thin to add much protection without some other protective finish applied,,

[Pat B]

It can and has been done but like Brad said it won't give you protection so it will be purely decorative.

[bubby]

Paulsemp has done it but the shed skins are very fragile and you only get one shot at them

[PEARL DRUMS]

The TB3 under it is what will protect your sinew the best. Use plenty of it in every crack and crevice if you decide to use those sheds and you should be fine.

[paulsemp]

I've only done it once and the only problem I see is the fact you cannot get the shed to lay flat all the scales are little Pockets that hold glue. So there's definitely excess glue under it. First time you string it and shoot it it sounds a lot like a bad hide glue job. As Bubby said you got one shot and they will fall apart if you try to shift them too much. If I remember I'll take a picture and post it

[Mo_coon-catcher]

Sounds worth trying to me. I'm counting on the glue to do most of the moisture barrier and thinking the sheds will just help as a holder for the glue. I'll try it on the self bow first to see how I like it. That way if I don't like it or I have trouble I can remove it much easier. And I can work out some kinks on it first. If I end up messing up the first pair of skins I should have a couple more in a month or two. I will say that when freshly shed the skins are a bit tougher than expected. Most of the time the snakes shed their skins in a roll,so when I find it I just unroll it then lay it flat to dry. I'm hoping by misting them with water it'll bring them back to close to where they were fresh.

Kyle