WARNING: THE VENOM IN THE FANGS/MOUTH/GLANDS WILL … · Step three: At the neck use a sharp knife...

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WARNING:

THE VENOM IN THE FANGS/MOUTH/GLANDS WILL STILL BE

POTENT AFTER THE SNAKE HAS DIED FOR UP TO TWENTY

YEARS!

IT IS POSSIBLE FOR THE POISON TO ENVENOMATE YOU

AFTER THE SNAKE HAS DIED, SO IF YOU ARE NOT

ABSOLUTELY SURE HOW TO HANDLE POISONOUS REPTILES

THEN PLEASE DO NOT ATTEMPT THIS COURSE.



Part One: Skinning

First we need a serpentine volunteer, preferably one that has shuffled off this mortal coil via natural causes (as is the

case of the Ball Python and Rosy Boa that I will be using in the photos), or was the victim of vehicular tread

compression syndrome (roadkill). Obviously there are areas of the country where the hunting of snakes is legal and

encouraged due to overpopulation, but please remember that snakes do perform a valuable service to the

environment and keep rodent populations in check, so I don't encourage the over harvesting of these animals any

more than I condone the poaching of game animals.



Now that we have our volunteer, a good washing of the skin

in warm water and dish soap will be an optional first step to

remove any foreign matter or possible mites that may have

attached themselves to the skin.

Step one: Place the snake on the cutting board and remove

the head as far up on the neck as possible. In the case of

venomous snakes remove the head and at least one inch of

the neck below the head for safety. The venom glands of

the vipers are located inside the head (as they are modified

salivary glands) and the removal of the extra one-inch of

neck will help to ensure that these glands, as well as the

venom, have been removed.

WARNING: THE VENOM IN THE FANGS/MOUTH/GLANDS

WILL STILL BE POTENT AFTER THE SNAKE HAS DIED FOR UP

TO TWENTY YEARS! IT IS POSSIBLE FOR THE POISON TO

ENVENOMATE YOU AFTER THE SNAKE HAS DIED, SO IF

YOU ARE NOT ABSOLUTELY SURE HOW TO HANDLE

POISONOUS REPTILES THEN PLEASE DO NOT ATTEMPT TO

HANDLE THE CARCASSES IN ANY WAY.



Step two: Once the head is removed I make a

vertical slit in the center of the belly scales and,

while trying to stay as superficial as possible

continue the cut the entire length of the animal.

TIP: try to stay as midline as possible while

making your cut as the scale side is usually the

least interesting, pattern wise, and will be the

excess area that is to be pinned down and cut

away later.

Optional Step: At this point you can remove the

internal organs if you wish to get them out of

the way, but it isn't really necessary unless you

plan on utilizing another part of the snake.

WARNING: THE VENOM IN THE FANGS/

MOUTH/GLANDS WILL STILL BE POTENT AFTER

THE SNAKE HAS DIED FOR UP TO TWENTY

YEARS! IT IS POSSIBLE FOR THE POISON TO

ENVENOMATE YOU AFTER THE SNAKE HAS

DIED, SO IF YOU ARE NOT ABSOLUTELY SURE

HOW TO HANDLE POISONOUS REPTILES THEN

PLEASE DO NOT ATTEMPT TO HANDLE THE

CARCASSES IN ANY WAY.



Step three: At the neck use a sharp knife or razor

to separate the skin from the meat. Work slowly

and carefully here taking care to make your cut so

that it leaves as little meat on the skin as possible.

However, it is better to leave a little meat on the

skin than to penetrate the skin with your knife. I

like using a paring knife or a rounded Xacto razor

blade for this process.

Step four: Work the skin away from the meat all

the way around the neck and make sure you have

separated enough to get a good pinch grip

between your fingers for the next step.

Step five: Slowly and carefully peel the skin away from the body. If you made some good separation in the beginning

it should peel away easily, kind of like peeling a banana (although there is a little more effort involved). I like to use a

paper towel to help with the gripping of the carcass and/or the skin. Be careful as it is easy to try to peel too quickly

here and tear the skin if you should encounter an area of resistance, so go slow and feel for anything that interrupts

the smoothness of the peel. Carefully use your knife and work the area until it releases.



If you are careful, the skin will come off in one beautiful piece with little to no flesh still attached to it. The skin will

be soft and rubbery and is ready for the drying process.

Part Two: Drying

Step six: Now it's time to pin the skin to a platform. I like to use a long mailing tube, but any piece of cardboard or

wood will work. Start with the skin, scale side down, and place the first pin (or nail) in the point nearest the edge of

the belly scale by the neck. Take the opposite side of the neck and stretch it as far as it will comfortably go, don't

force it of the pinned part will tear free, and pin that side down. Repeat this step every inch or so until the entire

length of the snake skin is pinned to the platform.

Once pinned you may notice a couple of things about the skin:

1. It is significantly longer and wider than you thought it was going to be.

2. The flesh side has a cloudy, semi-opaque appearance to it. This is not extra flesh or membrane that needs to be

removed, so leave it alone.



Step seven: Air drying means exactly that. assuming you took your time and worked the skin around the neck away

without a lot of meat adhering to it you probably don't need to worry about fleshing the skin; regardless, I never add

salt...it really isn't necessary. I also never add any other tanning products to the skin as I want the skins to be air-

dried as opposed to tanned. The process of tanning a skin is great for making wallets or other applications where the

leather is going to be used in some kind of garment; however, we are going to be gluing it to a bow limb and, the less

chance of the glue interacting badly with a tanning product, the better.

The drying process can take a couple hours to a couple days depending on where you live. I live in the desert where

there is very little humidity, so a smaller skin (like these pictured) take about an hour, but the larger the snake the

longer the process will take. You can also use a regular fan (not a hair dryer) to speed the drying process if desired.

You will know when the skin is ready by that cloudy, semi-opaque side that is facing up will become completely

transparent. Give the skin a feel at that point, it should feel like dry paper, and at that point just take the pins or nails

out and roll it up until you are ready to use it.

You now have a perfectly air dried and preserved snake skin that you can either cut to size or leave whole as you

wish. I store my surplus skins in a plastic zip bag until I am ready to put one on a bow's limbs.



Now that we have successfully skinned our

volunteer and air-dried the skin, the next step is

to apply the skin to a bow. The bow I am going

to use is a Penobscot Indian style bow , which

has long been touted as primitive man’s first

maneuver into the realm of compound bows.

Basically, it comprised of a short bow attached

to the back of a longbow and strung tip-to-tip.

As you will see in the following pictures, the bow

isn’t finished and I still have a lot of smooth

sanding/finishing to do; however, the bow is in

as close to perfect tiller that I can get.

Remember snake-skins will not increase

draw weight, performance or in any way

protect the back of a bow the way rawhide,

sinew or other backings can, so make sure you

are happy with the way the bow is performing

before you apply the skins.

(The above statement also means that I don’t

have to worry about the skins taking the bow

out of tiller, which is a good thing.)

The skins I will be using in this case are

going to be from a different snake than I used in

the prep instructions and are from a large

Coachwhip snake that a Texas friend “acquired”

for me. I put the dried skins in a cup of warm

water to get them pliable. The goal here is to

have them nice and loose as opposed to

rehydrated, so it only takes about five minutes

of soak time.



This skin is a basic white with flecks of brown scattered through it. I really like the coppery brown color the skin has, but I noticed that the space between the scales is very transparent. My thinking is that I have white and brown so maybe a little green would be nice? Maybe dragon-like when it’s all done, which I think will be kind of unique, so I apply a very light coat of Fiebing’s Leather dye “Green” to the back of the short bow (Pic #3). I like this brand of dye because it dries in minutes as opposed to wood stains that generally have oil bases and take forever to dry.

Once the dye is dry, about 2 minutes, I take the

skins out of the water, place them scale side down on a

paper towel and pat them dry .



Now we are ready to start the glue up. First I apply a thin

coat of Titebond Liquid Hide Glue to the back of the bow,

the sides of the bow and to the skins. This process in

woodworking is called “sizing” the wood. Basically it is used

when gluing raw wood because the wood will absorb a

certain amount of the glue and draw it into itself and away

from the surface of the wood. This leaves bare spots that

are basically glue-less and can cause the skin to lift off the

bow.



Now we are ready to start the glue up. First I apply a thin

coat of Titebond Liquid Hide Glue to the back of the bow,

the sides of the bow and to the skins. This process in

woodworking is called “sizing” the wood. Basically it is used

when gluing raw wood because the wood will absorb a

certain amount of the glue and draw it into itself and away

from the surface of the wood. This leaves bare spots that

are basically glue-less and can cause the skin to lift off the

bow.



Once this layer of glue is ALMOST dry I apply a heavier layer

of glue to the back and sides of the bow and apply the

skins. Once the skins are lying on top of the bow then you

can make any adjustments to take out the wrinkles or

adjust the orientation of the skin’s pattern by simply

shifting the skin over the bow back as desired. This skin has

little pattern, so I just make sure the skin is lying flat and is

wrinkle free .

A helpful tip at this point is to roll your finger over the skin

in one direction (from the riser to the tip) in order to help

remove any excess glue or air bubbles from under the

skin. I say “roll” your finger, because sliding your finger

over the skin can cause wrinkles or otherwise disrupt the

alignment of the pattern in the skin.



I like to give the glue 48 hours to dry before moving on to

the next step, which is to cut the excess skin away. I take a

utility knife/razor to the belly edge of the bow and remove

the excess skin not attached to the wood. This is why I glue

the sides of the bow as well as the back (even if I am not

going to leave the skin on the sides) because it holds the

skin in place very well for the cutting.

Once the excess is removed, I take a sanding block

with #60 grit sandpaper and sand the skin on the sides of

the bow off leaving a nice straight, clean edge off the back

of the bow. Only sand in one direction , which would be

perpendicular to the bow and pushing away from the skin

(pulling toward the skin can cause even the best glue up to

lift).



Now the only thing left is to remove the scales. There are many ways to do this, but I find the best way to do it

without potentially damaging the skin is to use a piece of soft scrap leather and rub the scales off . The scales on this

skin came off pretty easy, but there are some skins that are stubborn in giving up the scales. In those cases I would

use a piece of fine steel wool but, rather than just rubbing back and forth, I rub the skin lightly and only in the

direction of the scales (head to tail).

Optional step: If you have any issues with the edge of the skin coming up, then apply a small bead of crazy/super

glue to the edge of the skin and (while wearing a rubber glove) smooth the bead of glue along the edge of the skin

and wood to help it adhere.



Finished! We have successfully applied the snakeskin

to the back of a bow . The only thing left to do now is

finish the rest of the bow and seal the entire thing,

skins and all, in Polyurethane, Tru-oil, Tung-oil or your

favorite finish.

Stay strong, shoot straight and for more information

and many other archery related build- a-longs visit

my YouTube channel:

www.youtube.com/user/BoarriorBows

http://www.youtube.com/user/BoarriorBows




http://www.traditionalarcheryacademy.com




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Eventually we were able to build a full range of

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One problem....We never gave the bows a proper Brand

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WARNING: THE VENOM IN THE FANGS/MOUTH/GLANDS WILL … · Step three: At the neck use a sharp knife...

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