Added snakeskins to my 2015 hunting bow!

[Cameron Unruh]

#4138

This was my first time working with snakeskins to back a bow. I am pleased with how it turned out.

The skins are Redtail Boa.

[Ralph]

#27311

Lookin good. What kind of glue???

Been thinking of trying to do so myself. 😀

[Cameron Unruh]

#27324

After much research I settled on Titebond III it dries a natural color rather than the yellow tint of Titebond II. It is not a difficult process at all. If you would like I will forward you some of the instructions I followed.

[Ralph]

#27328

If you get time Cameron that would be great and appreciated.

Thanks, Ralph.

[Cameron Unruh]

#27337

Just sent you a PM

[Ralph]

#27354

Thanks, got it.

[David Coulter]

#27639

Very nice! dwc

[Stephen Graf]

#28097

That be a prairie rattler? Very nice.

I’ve done a number of bows with snake skin, but it started getting expensive. I have some copper head skins I’ve been saving if I ever make a really good bow…

And I have tried the cloth look alike skins you can get from 3rivers and Kustom King. They work pretty well too.

Nice looking bow!

[paleoman]

#28192

Very nice work. Thanks for showing us.

[Etter1]

#28350

Looks good! Grey Rat Snake?

I have a set of limbs being skinned with two copperheads right now. Big jim is working them up for me. I couldn’t risk my meager skills on my zipper bow.

[Cameron Unruh]

#28529

Thanks everyone! The snakeskin is Redtail boa. It was a snake I raised and unfortunately it was bitten by a black widow spider and did not survive.

[Stephen Graf]

#29099

Sorry for your loss… But you can’t just drop that tale without flushing out the story.

How does a black widow bite through the skin of a snake?

How do you know it was bitten?

[Cameron Unruh]

#29236

Steve – here is the short version. I once had a large collection of boas and they were in the house in what I called the reptile room. I had a variety of other reptiles as well. My wife at one point requested that I be done with that hobby. So I sold all but a couple snakes and moved them out into the garage. One day I noticed that my one Boa seemed to be paralyzed…she could not move the bottom 3rd of her body. She stopped eating and slowly got weak and unresponsive. within days had died.

I have no idea what happened but when I cleaned out her cage I discovered a large Black Widow spider. Her cage was large 2x2x4 only the front was Plexiglas the rest was wood.

I am not absolute that this was the cause of her death but I could not come up with another reason.

[Stephen Graf]

#30232

That is a bummer. But thanks for sharing.

I too had way too many snakes in the house in my youth. Bob Bader, who had been the director of herpetology at the zoo in DC was a neighbor and he kept me in snakes of the non-local kind. Together with my local snakes, I had quite the collection.

Gone, but not forgotten they are. As is Bob. He ran off to south east asia chasing a hottie and got himself killed. Which is ironic as he went to college, moved around a lot, and lost some of his hand roping cattle to avoid the war.

I retell his story that he freely told others in the hopes they would benefit from his foibles. I’m sure he wasn’t looking to finish the story in such an ironic way.

I haven’t thought about Bob in years. Thanks!

[Author]

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