Help with Raw Snakeskin

[gerryr]

So, I'm driving down the road to get some MS and there's a dead snake in the road, Bull Snake about 2.5-3' long. I have no clue what to do with it so I could later cast it in PR.

 

[wdcav1952]

Well, I would think you would skin it first. [][] Other than that, I haven't a clue.

 

[gerryr]

I always knew I could count on you William.[][]

 

[JimGo]

I asked about this a while ago Gerry and have been trying to find the thread. If I recall correctly, the directions were to slice it in half, then tack it to a big board Scrape off as much of the meat as possible, then rub the body with salt to help the meat dry off as much as possible. Repeat the salting and scraping process a few more times, and try to leave the skin outside too so it will dry as quickly as possible. Finally, the skin gets soaked in antifreeze for a while (can't remember exactly how long) to keep it flexible. I'll try to find the thread so you can get better, more accurate info.

 

[Skye]

Interesting method, dont know what's best. The person I get mine from makes the stuff feel like it's made of cotton, great stuff. I dont know about using antifreeze, it seems it would be hard to totaly remove and there's a good chance it'll react with the resin. Never know though.

I want to say I heard in passing about tanning with some sort of vegetable oil solution made for tanning.

As far as getting the skin off, just cut the head off, clip a little line down the belly scales, continue all the way to the tail. Scrape the meat off the skin towards the head, grab the skin, pull off like a jacket.

 

[Nolan]

My experience has also been as Skye stated -Cut off head, split down belly, pull skin off from tail to missing head, tack to board and salt (lots). If you get it started good when you pull it from tail to head the meat should not stck to skin but should stay with body. In a slaughter house I worked in in highschool we used a tow winch to pull the hides of the cows (saves 30 min). As far as antifreeze I wouldnt think so but who knows what folks find to work for them.

Nolan

 

[rtparso]

I will throw this in for what it is worth. The AF (glycol) softens the skin and makes it pliable. For board mounts we used to use salt and arsenic only. The arsenic kept it from becoming bug food. Since it will be encased in epoxy why not just dry it with salt?

 

[Skye]

How dry will the salt make it? You want it to be like Tshirt material when your finished. Super thin and folds like cloth.

 

[gerryr]

Anybody use a product called RepTan? Marketed specifically for tanning snake hides.

 

[rtparso]

I don't know how exactly but salt draws the moisture out of the hide. The salt also penitrates the skin. as far as being pliable does it need to be very pliable if you are wrapping it around a tube?

 

[Skye]

Yes, I've found it does. The tubes being as small as they are require the skink to have to have the feel of cloth. I let some skin dry out years ago from a snake I skinned and just left to dry, no way would I be able to use it.

 

[its_virgil]

My experience with "home brew" snakeskins has been: skin, scrape, salt, soak in chemicals, soak in chemical removing chemicals, let it dry, glue on tube, cast in PR and the skin goes black...unuseable. I've done 4 snakes myself and none did as I had hoped. I've decided it ain't worth it when I can buy skins that are excellent quality and perform surperbly when cast in PR and only cost 40 cents per <s>ounce</s>INCH (sorry about this mistake). The chemicals cost more than two whole skins. Just my $.02 worth.
Do a good turn daily!
Don

Originally posted by Skye
<br />Yes, I've found it does. The tubes being as small as they are require the skink to have to have the feel of cloth. I let some skin dry out years ago from a snake I skinned and just left to dry, no way would I be able to use it.

 

[Charles]

Yes ethylene glycol works, soak for 1 week and take it out. try to descale it so the scales won't catch the PR resin. cut and glue. There is a product that TANDY LEATHER makes for "tanning" snakeskin but I have not used that. There is a thread here somewhere on casting in PR which has good info on plugging the tubes with wooden plugs. Very good info there. Good Luck Let us know how your type of snake works out.

 

[Bev Polmanteer]

Gerry, After mine has dried completely from the salt,it will be very stiff now. I brush the salt off real good and then rub it with glycerine which you can get at any drug store. Make sure it is just plain glycerine and do this a couple times a couple days apart. When it has soaked up the glycerine brush the front side with a very soft brush, I use a paint brush,to get the little scales off. Hope this helps [8D]

 

[its_virgil]

My mistake: On a post in this same thread I reported the snake skins at 40 cents per ounce and It should have been 40 cents per INCH.
Do a good turn daily!
Don

 

[gerryr]

I think I will just buy the skins.

 

[JimGo]

You could always make a belt out of the skin Gerry! [)]

 

[gerryr]

The amount of skin that wasn't basically destroyed by the moron who ran over it isn't enough to make a belt.[!] Unfortunately, there are far too many people around here who think any snake is a rattlesnake and will go out of their way to kill them.[V]