Primitive Archer
Main Discussion Area => Bows => Topic started by: aaron on May 08, 2019, 04:00:37 pm
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This post may take me a while to create- stay tuned.
Sturgeon backing is very similar to rawhide backing, but the skin is very oily, so you have to get those oils out.
The Sturgeon I am using is the Green Sturgeon from the Columbia River.
Sturgeon have a row of scutes (sharp, bony plates) along the spine and smaller ones along the lateral line. Typically you get 2 skins from each fish each having a row of small scutes down the middle.
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First the skins are washed in soapy water to remove some of the slime. Next they are scraped of the flesh. I use a wooden tanners beam like what you would use to scrape a deer hide. A dull draw knife does most of the work, and a smaller, more curved dull blade can get the stubborn bits. A scraper can be made from a modified drywall knife. The skin is quite tough, but extra care is taken when scraping over the scutes. One tanning beam I have has a groove for the scutes to sit down in. There are "strings" like sinew attached to the flesh side which are hard to scrape off- I cut them with a razor.
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Looking forward to following this!
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The skins are washed and rinsed multiple times in cold water and dish soap. You can add boraxo or other things to help degrease. Fish skins rot quickly, so keep them cool and don't take too long. Next, the skins are tacked out to dry. They will weep oil as they dry- dab with paper towel. Once they're dry, a small curved blade can scrape off any remaining flesh. I use one with a sharp square edge. Then, I wipe them down with acetone to remove more oil.
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They can be stored dry indefinitely. When you're ready to back the bow, you have to choose your layout. Each skin is dark grey on one half and light grey on the other. You can cut the skin lengthwise and use one half or the other OR you can use the center section of each skin with the scutes down the middle. Most skins are about 40 inches long and taper from about 5 inches at the head to 2.5 inches at the tail. This drawing shows all possible combinations of layouts. For this How-To, I'm choosing layout "e" because the whole bow can be backed with just one skin. I'm going to experiment by staining the outer limbs black to see how this affects the final look of the skin. (Spoiler- the stain shows through the lighter half of the skin making it look almost as dark as the dark half.)
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The skins are once again wiped down with acetone to degrease. . Scrape them one last time if there's still some flesh. sand the flesh side with 80 grit to remove a layer of "membrane" that looks like fine criss-crossed lines. Then, soak them for a few hours to rehydrate. Rinse them in soapy water off and on during this processRinse again and drip dry for 15 min. Roll them up in a towel to dry. Leave them rolled up in the towel for a while until they're dry enough but not too dry. they should be flexible and slightly stretchy. At minimum, they should be rolled up a couple hours. Now they're ready to apply. First pic shows flesh side after sanding. In the back ground, a small scraper with a curved edge that is square and sharp like a card scraper before burnishing.
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Before you do the sanding mentioned above, cut the skins roughly to size- removing irregular edges and excess length. After the towel drying, carefully cut them again to about 1/2 inch wider than the bow. Prepare the bow back for glueing by at least giving it a light sand. I sometimes wash the bow with soapy water and rinse.
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Have a pot of warm water nearby so you can clean your hands often. Next, apply glue to the skin and bow at the handle. Just do a 3 inch section at first. Titebond sets up pretty quick, so hurry. Avoid excess glue. secure the glued end with painters tape.
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Glue a 6 inch section and begin wrapping. Don't try to glue down the whole piece, do it in 6 inch sections or else the glue will set up. I use a type of gauze wrap that's stretchy. Be careful to keep the skin centered on the limb, covering the entire back and sides of the bow. Skin on the sides will be removed later (or you can leave it on if you do a really careful job cutting and gluing). As you wrap it, smooth out the skin and press it down with clean fingers to avoid globs of glue stuck under the skin. Try not to get too much glue on the belly or the gauze. If you wrap it too tight, you may leave indentations on the skin. Once you get to the tip, secure the wrap with tape. Not too much tape- it hinders drying. Let it dry overnight.
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Unwrap carefully being careful not to pull up the skin edges. Bits of gauze will be stuck to the bow. Let the bow dry if the skin is still soft. Use a coarse file or rasp to remove the skin from the sides of the bow. With the skin side facing you, rasp away from yourself to avoid having the rasp peel up the skin edges. Sand smooth. You can see in the bottom photo the effect of staining the limb black. This whole limb is covered in the lighter colored skin, but only the outer limb is stained. The inner limb looks lighter and is translucent like rawhide. Repeat the process for the other limb.
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I did a quick handle wrap of sturgeon and ugly back nocks epoxied on and wrapped with sinew. I just have to do some final sanding and apply a finish.
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That’s a white sturgeon....
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(-P
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Thanks for posting the tutorial! I love how those skins look on a bow.
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That’s a white sturgeon....
oops! correct-a-mundo!
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Well done - exactly how to do it :OK ! Bob
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Thanks for sharing. I've never done any fish skins before, but I love the look of sturgeon and would like to try it.
Bjrogg
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This is awesome aaron, thank you very much for sharing it. I'm bookmarking right now in case I'm ever lucky enough to acquire some skins. They sure are hard to come by.
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This is perfect timing. I got a pair of skins last summer, and I will be putting them on a bow soon.
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thankyou aaron. really interesting
Have you ever tried to tan the sturgeon skins (not for bow backing..)?
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I have made shoes from fish skin, and i swear, its much stronger than most of animal skins.
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When I've put them on, I dyed the surface of the bow even when the darker piece of skin, the piece above the lateral line, was used because even it can have patchy areas that vary in color, i.e. darker or more transparent. Dying the bow before putting the skins on makes for a more consistently dark background, which makes the white spots on the skin stand out better.
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thankyou aaron. really interesting
Have you ever tried to tan the sturgeon skins (not for bow backing..)?
no, but I hope to do some bark tanning on them this summer.
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That’s a white sturgeon....
oops! correct-a-mundo!
Lol come on man you know better😁😎 looks good! It does look like you’re fleshing salmon/stlhd skin with a drawknife I think it got mixed it, same working principle I guess.
I love how much sturgeon skins shrink. The only downside is the edges always try to peel up with a vengeance!
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Bumping this for selfish reasons. I'll need it soon and I don't want to lose it.
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Ok.... I'll head down to the Columbia and try and pick up a slot sized surgeon. This is definitely on my bow to do list. Thank you for posting this.
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First off that is amazing! True craftsmanship. I can't help wondering how hard it would be to use scutes for your knocks or if they would even be recognizable after shaping? hmmm I may to get some sturgeon skin...
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Just one question: I plan to glue sturgeon skins to a sinew backed bow. It seems like hide glue would be a better option for me. your How-to shows using tite-bond wood glue. have you ever tried it with hide glue? would there be different considerations, or a different process at all if you did?
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Thank you for the great build-a-long. I always wanted to do a sturgeon backed bow when I was still in Michigan. But, no sturgeon in Oklahoma. John
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Just one question: I plan to glue sturgeon skins to a sinew backed bow. It seems like hide glue would be a better option for me. your How-to shows using tite-bond wood glue. have you ever tried it with hide glue? would there be different considerations, or a different process at all if you did?
I've never used hide glue, but I believe it would work and the same method should apply.