have a customer who killed his own copperhead and wants to use the skin on the rod,i have never worked with SS,so my questions will be many in the coming month.for starters,how should the skin be treated,or not,to prep it for install,second,will the head be usable??the customer is going to do the prep work,i just don't know what to tell him.any and all answers are greatly appreciated,thanx,Spike

www.southriverrodsllc.com

You might need to do a Google search for that info, most Skins I've used came Tanned

i have tanned some and used them including copperhead. go to Tandy or some of the taxidermy sites and you will find some stuff to tan it. I skinned it and put it on a board stretched out with the solution on it. after it dries you will need to soften it. I used neatsfoot oil and it worked good to soften the skin and make it easy to work with. i then had to lean it with denatured alcohol to get rid of the oil which will repel epoxy finish. i hope this helps

I bought a skin at one of the ICRB's with the head still attached and I'm still noodling on how to use the skin with the head. Maybe work out a hook keeper in the mouth somehow. Still thinking on that one.

You got good advice. Go tanning!

Terry

I used a snake skin that my son killed. I just stretched it out and put borax only on the inside. Left it for a couple days and wiped the borax off. When I used it on a rod I wetted the skin with water to soften it so I could wrap it onto the blank and used color preserver to adhere it. Color preserver, then epoxy. If you soak the piece of skin, the scales come off. I did one without scales and one with scales. They both came out fine, even though I totally winged it! I don't know how you're "supposed to" do it.

Greg
Aptos, CA

awesome advice guys,keep 'em coming

www.southriverrodsllc.com

Mike Barkley made a rod with the head in front of the reel seat if my memory is correct. It looked like it was swallowing the rod. Email him. He may have a picture of it. Really cool looking. May not be practical for fishing with though.

David Dosser
Coshocton, OH

Chris,

Go to armbreakercustomrods.com (Florida) and you will see so much "unique" fishing equipment your head will spin like Linda Blair's did in the EXCORCIST . . .Beautiful creations - and one with a Rattlesnake's head too!

The snake skin should definitely be tanned with no oils of any kind in or on the skin. Will "bite" you in the butt sooner or later.

Charlie

When you go to put the skin on the rod I would suggest painting the area under the skin white. The copperhead skins are so thin they are almost translucent and you will loose a lot of the pattern if put over a dark blank. You could also use white or metallic thread. If a more muted color is desired then don't worry about it. You can see one I did here. [s40.beta.photobucket.com]



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 01/28/2013 03:52PM by John Pope.

John, you may want to delete that photo from the forum and post it over on the photo page. You can link to the photo from the forum, but Tom asks to not post pictures here. Just a heads up.

thanks alot guys,i think i got my head wrapped around the curing process,we will see when the skin gets in my hands.at least the customer is doing the curing so if it won't work i wont be responsible

www.southriverrodsllc.com