Has anyone used fish skins for buttwinds? I tried this year with porgy skins without success. I think I should`ve skaled the skin before installing.

You can do a reliable job of gettting fish skin decoration on a rod in a number of ways. Take your own fish skin pics, then print the images on Papilio decal media, or find suitable images on line, ones that are not copyright protected, and print them onto the media. Or buy the Mudhole Skinz decals. I have done the first two with good success. I have a bass Skinz I bought, and while the detail is good, it looks a little darker/duller than I would like. I think some of their other ones might be better.

It helps if you are adept at manipulating images in a graphics program like Photoshop or Paint Shop Pro. The "home taken" images work best if they are images of fish that do not have a lot of silver, as it does not reproduce well on a printer, at least not on my inkjet. But fish like bass, perch, brook and brown trout, pike, walleye, and most likely many other do fine. With experimentation you will find how to take good photos.

Print at max quality settings. Biggest challenge is manipulating the images to get lifelike scale sizes.

Actually, I was trying to glue a dried real fish skin on the blank. The large scales prevented the skin from rolling around the blank. I used 3M spray glue as an adhesive without success. Pictures and decals are nice but I want a more natural look. Mudhole sell dried snakeskins by the inch so I thought of doing something with actual fish skins.thanks.

Peter,
It should work to apply the real fish skin to the blank, however you are correct, remove the scales first. The scales are not flexible enough to allow a smooth finished product. Make sure you get all the air out from under your fish skin when applying it to the blank. I have used shark skin, fossilized shark teeth and stingray skins on rods before with awesome results. Cover with plenty of epoxy. Good Luck !!

James Carnes
Osprey Custom Fishing Rods
Charlotte, North Carolina
www.ospreycustomfishingrods.com
704-589-9601

Scaling is a must. Also, the best thing after that is to scrape the skin down with a razor on the "Inside Side. You want to get as much of the unwanted flesh as possible, similar to tanning. I also suggest that you can put the skin in a tray or shallow plate, outer skin side down and treat the skin by first wiping with rubbing alcohol and allow to dry, then a thin layer of salt to toughen up and further remove any of the natural oils. these oils could present a issue for you when you epoxy. these oils could cause (ironically) the finish to fish eye a bit. The key is to have as clean a skin as possible from any "by products" the skin may have on it. I had a friend of my family take it another step and apply a very fine coat of hair spray or similar to the underside of the skin to seal it up to the skin as a sealer. Preserving the skin in this manner will prevent any break down if the over time. If you know a taxidermist, It may be well worth discussing ideas he may have. I wanted to try a bluefish skin once, But was advised by my taxidermist buddy NOT to use Bluefish, Mackerel or Weakfish due to the high Oil content of these species. (I'd bet Salmon whould be another of concern too.)

Don't know if you've ever tried using casting resins. It may be possible to fasten the skin to the handle with whatever means necessary, then stick it in a mold and pour in the casting resin. After it has set you would need to turn the handle on a lathe to get to the desired size.

A while back Tom posted a picture of a clear acrylic handle. Just imagine the same concept except with the fish skin under the surface of the handle.
[www.rodbuilding.org]

Thanks,
Chad Huderle

Huderle Custom Rods
Prior Lake, MN