Would like to see all kinds of snake skins over black glass. The copperhead skins do look dark on black glass,and i only have the one set.

Cane brake on Morrison Shawnee:



Eastern timber rattler on Morrison ACS longbow:



Both jobs done by Bob Morrison, the skinning master. He could back a bow with newspaper and make it look outstanding.

Morrison ILF

Cotton Mouth Moccasin, Parried Rattler, and Copperhead over carbon.

Beautiful skins.

Lost Arra, your top bow is a canebrake(timber rattler) and the second bow is an eastern diamondback i believe, not a timber rattler.

This is another copperhead over black glass next to just a skin.It makes it darker but not bad.Its a poor picture because i dont have good light in here but it will give you an idea anyway.

The canebreak/timber rattler is one that changes a lot when its put on a bow.It will not look anything like the snake did live.It changes to nice greyish white with dark markings.Looks great though.Timber rattlers if a large one, also look good if you slit one skin down the middle and use the one snake for both limbs.A cotton mouth works even better like that if its a large one.Copperheads and rat snakes have small scales and have a smoother finish them some of the other ones if you prefere that.Rat snakes come in diffrent colors and patterns depending on the species and they are great for bows too.A cornsnake is outstanding if you can find them.

This is a juvinile cottonmouth, a common ratsnake and a cornsnake.Again , the light is poor so the pic is redish but it maybe can give you an idea of the diffrent patterns.These all change a good bit when on the limbs but all still look good on black.I will try and take some more pics outside with good light of some on bows.

Here's a few pics of a Jack Kempf Little Grizzly  that I did this past winter. I do believe that the skins were donated from a rat snake.  Enjoy        

Mo

Thanks for the correction Kituwa.
I got my skins/bows and "eastern" names mixed up on photobucket

Momo, that is a good example of what i was saying about ratsnakes,there are a lot of diffrent subspecies.The more common ones where i live have a lot of green on them when put on a bow even though they dont look green on a live snake.Ratsnakes are called a lot of diffrent names too depending on where you live.Here most people just call them all chicken snakes.That would include the common ratsnake,oak snake and corn snake.Eastern diamondbacks also have a lot of green look over black glass.Another thing to think about when buying skins is,use the smallest skin that will still cover the limb.That way you get more of the pattern on your bow.Ratsnakes are usually long and narrow skins so they often will cover both limbs with one skin and being narrow you will not lose a lot of pattern.
Some people dont like the idea of killing snakes but where i live the poison ones are almost like a plauge and everyone i know kills them on site.I have never noticed any decrease in the population from killing them here.It is dangerous here to just walk outside after dark in your yard withought a flashlight.Walking much in the woods durring warm weather is asking for it.Saying most snakes will move out of your way when left alone is simply not true here and a rattlesnake rarely rattles until after he bites you.The rattlers get very big here too, a 6ft diamondback or timber rattler is normal here.A boy killed a diamondback down the road this spring that crawled in his ground blind while turkey hunting.It was 9 foot 6 inches long had 22 rattles and was as big around as a mans leg.Its head was bigger than a mans hand.Trust me, if you see a snake like that crawl in your blind you will kill it too,lol.

You can paint the back with a lighter color before application of skins if you want to lighten them up.  I have used tan and white.  I like tan better.  Use a matte finish paint.

Wow, looks great. Would someone share how to do this for us DIYer's?

Roverritch,there is a good thread on it here in the HOW TO section.It is not hard to do really.There are some that like to use super glue over the skins and some that say they have had problems from that.I have done a lot with the super glue and never caused a problem but i dont usually use it now as it works just as well without it.The type of varnish prolly has more to do with how good it turns out and lasts as anything.Most people use tite bond white glue to put it on and it works well but just make sure there are no little lumps in the glue and no loose scales get on the glue because it doesnt take much under the skin to look like a BB when it drys.The varnish i like is helmsmen spar urathane semi gloss.Some people say they have had varnish yellow after a while but none that i have done ever did that.Morrison is well know for doing outstanding snakeskins and his are some of the smoothest i have seen.There is someone else here on the board that does a great job but if i remember right he was not wanting to do as many as he used to.Like i said though, its not something that is hard to do.The biggest thing is cleaning excess glue off before it drys and not getting varnish on things you dont want it on.Dont try and glue on a dry skin, it has to be soaked in water to make it soft again.There are ways to use a dry skin and contact cement but that is hard to do unless you are a pro.Skins are also not hard to remove if you ever decide too.I just removed some from a Kodiak and you cant tell they were ever on the bow.

One more thing, when you trim the skins after the glue is dry, you want to trim so just the slightest hint of the glass shows around the skin.It will look better and wont leave anything to catch the skin and cause it to lift up.You can see that on the pics of Momo's bow above. Use a very sharp single edge razor blade and becarefull not to life a splinter from the glass, just use light pressure on the skin, its easy to cut.Cut toward the bow not away from it. You can fix smaller holes real easy, some hole are really just a small slit in the skin and nothing is missing so you just push them clossed while glueing up, they wont show after its done.If a small piece is missing you can cut a scale from an extra peace if the skin and add it in. If done right you will never know its there.Snakewood here on trad gang is a sponser and he is one of the best people to get skins from.Also his prices are usually the best you will find.He advertizes some for sale here off and on but you can contact him and he prolly has what you are looking for if he dont have any listed.Mike yancey is a sponser here too and he has some exotic skins from time to time.

Carpet python

Diamondback on my Hill Country Bobcat.

I have to redo a set of limbs.  I painted them first and some of the paint let go.  It was gloss, because that was the only tan the small local hardware had, but I will not paint before I apply skins to the limbs..