Another snake question...

[Skye]

I just learned of the snake skin pens, real kewl.

My question is; Are the skins cut and wrapped so that there will be an obvious line somewhere or are the skins you use skinned in away there will be no seam? The only way I can see for it to be clean would be if the skin was like a sock and slipped over the pen, which would be very hard. Seems more likely that it's wrapped. Does everyone have a hard seam in the pattern but just never show it on their pics? [?]

Thanks, great site!

 

[Bob A]

Great question. I have wondered the same. I ordered some skins just last night and was going to just dive right in and see what happens. I could never get the swirl in my castings with the colors so I decided to go with the snake skins.

 

[Teniko]

On some of my pens the seam is more obvious than others. The blanks I have received from AS have so far been the best at seams being blended in.

<br />

If you look close you can see the seam. This was not purchased from AZ but the seam did not interfear with it being sold.

 

[its_virgil]

I've shown a cigar pen to show the seam in just the past few days. There is a thread on just this topic. The skins are cut and wrapped around the tube and overlapped just a little. The seam is almost invisible when you learn how to do it. There have been two or three good snake skin threads in the last week or two. The most rescent is entitled "discoloration when castintg..." and here's the link:
http://www.penturners.org/forum/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=11631

And here is the picture of the cigar seam side. Where's Waldo...I mean Seamo []
do a good turn dailyu!
Don

<br />

Originally posted by Skye
<br />I just learned of the snake skin pens, real kewl.

My question is; Are the skins cut and wrapped so that there will be an obvious line somewhere or are the skins you use skinned in away there will be no seam? The only way I can see for it to be clean would be if the skin was like a sock and slipped over the pen, which would be very hard. Seems more likely that it's wrapped. Does everyone have a hard seam in the pattern but just never show it on their pics? [?]

Thanks, great site!

 

[its_virgil]

Here is the other thread that deals with snake skins and seams and ...
http://www.penturners.org/forum/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=11677

Do a good turn daily!
Don

Originally posted by Skye
<br />I just learned of the snake skin pens, real kewl.

My question is; Are the skins cut and wrapped so that there will be an obvious line somewhere or are the skins you use skinned in away there will be no seam? The only way I can see for it to be clean would be if the skin was like a sock and slipped over the pen, which would be very hard. Seems more likely that it's wrapped. Does everyone have a hard seam in the pattern but just never show it on their pics? [?]

Thanks, great site!

 

[Skye]

Great! Yeah, I'm normaly a 'search function nazi' on other forums, I promise I searched first, lol

I'm going to check those out.

Yeah, that cigar, I can baaaaaarely see the seam, geat job!

I imagine if you can manage to cut the overlapping edge at an extreme inward angle, the 'skin' below the scales may not show. Cant wait to try , gonna be a little while though.

Thanks for the info and links!

 

[its_virgil]

Thanks and I think you just figured out the seam secret. []
Do a good turn daily!
Don

Originally posted by Skye
<br />Great! Yeah, I'm normaly a 'search function nazi' on other forums, I promise I searched first, lol

I'm going to check those out.

Yeah, that cigar, I can baaaaaarely see the seam, geat job!

I imagine if you can manage to cut the overlapping edge at an extreme inward angle, the 'skin' below the scales may not show. Cant wait to try , gonna be a little while though.

Thanks for the info and links!

 

[jpick22]

Now, let's see - you want to cut the skin at an angle to possibly hide the snake "skin" under the scales for your "overlapped" area.

First, I finally did a little measuring this week-end. Working on a 7mm slim-line "chassis" for wrapping my snake skins, I measured the diameter of the tubes first. I then glued on the skin and then re-measured the diameter. The increase in diameter was .020" over the tube by itself. This means that the skin is actually .010" thick. (for my particular snakeskin) For a fair comparison, .010" is about the thickness of 2 or 3-sheets of printer paper And you're thinking of cutting .010" at an angle?

Why do so many people make such a "case" concerning the overlap . . . . first, you'll never get to a point you can "butt-join" the two ends and not show at least a fine line of brass showing through - not on a regular basis. Secondly, who's kidding whom? It's a little piece of snakeskin that's glued around a tiny brass tube. It was once a scary serpent that moved around in the rocks or bush or desert to where ever. It rattled when frightend and would bite and kill things it wanted to eat. THAT'S the whole point of these pens - what you're looking at is the remains of a GENUINE rattlesnake (or whatever snake) - and now, you're holding it in your hand as a wonderful pen.

That's it - not, "Well, I hope the seam is straight and hidden, so people will like it". " Sell the SIZZLE (OR RATTLE)- NOT the SEAM!

By next weekend, I'll try to post some pics of the 5 I glued up last week. I overlapped them, maybe 1/8" and for the most part, one would never see the overlapped seam.

To all of you - don't put so much importance in your seam - folks know that you can't really sew the two ends together and slide it over the tubes like a sock! Relax and just make some - they're quite fun to make.

I will shortly have a new tutorial (took pics throughout this last making of new blanks) that I hope will answer a lot of questions - once and for all, concerning anybody making some snake blanks - and the procedure for wrapping, supporting and embedding of blanks for casting in PR - lots of pics.

Jay

 

[GaWoodworker]

Some skins are great at hiding the seam if you line it up correctly - other types of skins are impossible to hide the seam. Genereally speaking, snake skins that are tanned are softer and blend in better to hide the seam while dried snake skins have a more defined edge that creates a visible seam.

I just finished making 8 sets of pen blanks and cannot see the seam on any of them. 8 successes in a row should tell you that it is not really hard to hide the seam. Once you do a handful of tubes, you will get the hang of it and will not have much trouble either.

 

[Joe Melton]

All of the snakeskin pens I have made came from very small snakes. The skin was carefully removed from the body without cutting lengthwise, and then stretched over the tube. Hence, no seam!
Joe