snake blanks in the raw

[its_virgil]

Bad news is the skin prices are 4 X what they were last year.
Do a good turn daily!
Don

View attachment 114118

 

[Janster]

...yes, but you can get a bunch of blanks done with a skin that large!

 

[its_virgil]

The hand is Seamus's hand along with his Samsung Note phone. He bought a few really large ones for a non-pen customer. Disappointed the price per foot quadrupled from last year.
Do a good turn daily!
Don

 

[SteveG]

Glad to hear the hand was/is external to the snake skin. At first I was afraid you were finding body "parts" inside that baby. Now THAT would be an interesting pen making story. (Some times you eat the snake, some times the snake eats you!)

 

[its_virgil]

During the "snake sacking" contest the first contestant was bitten. That is why I buy skins and not do the hunting.
Don

 

[JohnU]

Wow! That's a huge diamondback! I would not want to have seen that one alive!

 

[its_virgil]

Seamus and I culled the skins as they were butchered. And yes, that one and a few others were 5.5 feet.
Don

Wow! That's a huge diamondback! I would not want to have seen that one alive!

 

[seamus7227]

Wow! That's a huge diamondback! I would not want to have seen that one alive!

I think i measured the scales on that one somewhere around 1/2" long, thats definitely a large snake!

 

[Cmiles1985]

That's quite a snake!
Don, I know you're "way up north" but do you ever venture this far south? There are rattlesnake races and a rattlesnake roundup around this area every year. I'll see if I can make it out that way and if they sell skins for a decent price. If so, I'd gladly send some for a possible trade out.

 

[its_virgil]

Seamus and I tried to keep the skins we would use for pens in the 3-4 ft range. They don't like to slaughter the small ones because they don't weigh out much for meat. Meat was selling for $18/pound. Skins at some roundups sell for $10/foot. Live snakes are purchased for $7 per pound. One guy brought in 2600 pounds of live snakes from south Tex. They wrote him a check for $18,000. We are lucky to have a snake roundup close to us (40 miles away) and , although the price was 4x what we paid last year, they had not heard of the $10/ft.
Do a good turn daily!
Don

That's quite a snake!
Don, I know you're "way up north" but do you ever venture this far south? There are rattlesnake races and a rattlesnake roundup around this area every year. I'll see if I can make it out that way and if they sell skins for a decent price. If so, I'd gladly send some for a possible trade out.

 

[penmaker56]

Hey Don, looks like a nice pair of boots to me.

 

[low_48]

Just curious Don, does the vermin population go up after a snake roundup like that? I can't imagine they don't in an area where a guy would take out 2,600 pounds of snakes!

 

[its_virgil]

Not sure about the vermin population. The 2600 lbs were brought up from south Texas somewhere. One would think that fewer snakes would affect the vermin population

Don

Just curious Don, does the vermin population go up after a snake roundup like that? I can't imagine they don't in an area where a guy would take out 2,600 pounds of snakes!

 

[SteveG]

Maybe "Rat Skin" Pens?