After a lot of debating, and then researching it, I finally took the plunge and skinned my Thunderstick MOAB.

First, many thanks to everyone here who answered my questions on a few other threads, and offered so much good advise. I sorted through a lot of ways to skin a stick, and tonight I glued it on.

To say I was nervous would be an understatement.
The though of taking 80 grit sandpaper to my T-Stick was about as appealing to me as writing a check the IRS.

I talked to longbowjim of Whisperstick for quite a while this morning, asking him a few questions. He talked me through the process, and really put my mind at ease( except for the sandpaper part). A big thank you for sharing your knowledge and experience.

I used Prairie Rattler skins, and the glue up went perfectly. I debated on going with a super glue coating, and decided against it. I looked all over and finally found some Tru-oil finish at a local gun shop, which is what I decided to use for a finish.

I'll wait a couple days for the glue to dry completely before I start that, but it sure looks good so far. I'll post some pics of it when I get it done. Sure makes the bow look nice.

This brings another question. For lack of imagination, I pretty much have the name "Meat" for this bow. But with the facelift, it takes on a new personality. Would it be considered bad luck to rename a bow? I'm thinking Sneaky- short for SneakySnake. But I'm not sure if changin a name would be bad luck. ( I know it can be to rename a boat,without re-christening it). Maybe I'm just being superstitious.

we need pics

Here are a couple pics after glue up and trimming. I have to let it dry for a couple days, then will apply several coats of Tru-oil finish. So far I'm real happy with the way it turned out.

That is really nice looking John! How about a brief description of how you went about it- what glue did you use to adhere the skins?

Very nice! what glue did you use and did you rap with ace bandage over night? I have done this before on self bows using hide glue I also scraped the scales off after gluing, did you do the same thing before applying the Tru-oil? I have a SS from 3 Rivers I would like to do this to.

Dave

Looks good. I'd name it snake meat.

Hey bud,Good job! I love snake skins on bows, i have parrie rattler that i did on my monarch long bow back in jan. it can be addicting! wound up skinning a bow mount quiver and my tomahawk handle, i'll just have to buy another bow so i can skin that too!!LOL

Looks really good      

Meat Sneaky!

Looks good!

Introducing "S.S.Meat" LOL
Nice job John! Everything looks and sounds good so far. I will be skinning a Bob Lee with Prarie rattler this weekend. It's a bow that I picked up for my wife for her birthday. If it comes out as good as yours looks I'll be happy,happy,happy.
I have also been doing some research on how to's and I have narrowed it down to three different methods that I like the best. Now, to pick one.
What method and glue did you choose?

JOHN

Very Nice!! Great Job!

Very nice looking!!    
My wife wants to skin a bow that she wants me to make for her---why, I can only guess since I've only made one and it cracked!
Any way, she already has the skin picked out and bought--Saharan Rock Viper! What glue did you use? And any tips on how you did it?

Ben

Hey BEN, Got any pics of that snake skin? A Saharan rock viper Sounds very interesting!

JOHN

By the way. My wife picked her own skins out too! last year at ETAR

I found the skins on ****, and still have one mor set. I got the skins fresh, frozen and overnight shipped. When the mail arrived, I took them out, stretched and stapled them to a piece of plywood and finished scraping any remaining flesh off and dried for a couple days. They dry pretty fast. Them trimmed the white underbelly skin off both sides. I then laid the skin flat and scraped the scales off with the edge of a knife. This was really easy to do, going from head to tail.

I sanded the limbs, until I got down to the clear glass under the finish so I wouldnt have any problems with glue not adhering to the bow. This was the part I was really nervous about. I took my time and then cleaned with denatured alcohol. Soaked the skins for 5-10 minutes in lukewarm water. I laid them out on paper towels and blotted all the excess water off, then laid them out on the bow to dry run the glue up. I cut them to length, leaving a little extra past the overlays, which I trimmed later.
I rolled the skin up so I could set it on the limb and unroll it onto the glue, so I didnt glue on the outer skin.
I smeared Titebond III on the limb, and unrolled the skin, getting it centered on the limg. I used a small spring clamp to hold one end in place While I stretched the skin on, and smoothed it out, then rolled it with a round stick of hot melt glue to push the skin into the glue. I worked the skin tight and flat, pushing out any air, but being careful not to push out all the glue. Removed the clamp, trimmed the ends tight to the overlays.

I forgot to mention I taped off the entire bow with that green Frogger painters tape.

Any squeeze out I wiped off with a wet rag. I let it set for about an hour to tack up good, and trimmed the edges, using a new razor knife blade. Its easier once the skin dries more. After everything was pretty dry, I trimed the edges again hold the blade about 45degrees angle to the limbs.

A couple others here mentioned in some older threads that sometimes superglue applied to the outside of the skin had problems getting a clody appearance, so I am not going to use super glue.

I will finish it with Tru-Oil, probably 5-6 coats with a light sandding between coats.

Like I mentioned before, I learned how to do this through a lot of others here on TradGang.
This was my first attempt, and so far so good. The hard part is done. Many thanks are due those who so freely share their knowlege.

This was a fun makeover of a great bow. This bow is one of two thundersticks of mine, and my go-to hunting bow. Its finish bears a few scars of hunting wild places, chasing deer and elk.

The skins give it new life, and I cannot wait until its done to shoot it again.

Thanks TradGangers for walking me through the transition.

Oh, I forgot to mention. I think the new name will be "Viper".

Great job...love Prairie Rattlers!  I'm thinking about doing the same to my Savannah.

Josh

:clapper:Good job I will have to try that this summer.Scary part for me is getting the skins.  

Jim from Whisperstik bows is a friend of mine and he helped me skin one of my bows as well. It looks like it was made with the snake skin on there! Diamondback is what I used. He seems to really have a handle on how to skin a bow and have it come out looking like it was straight from the bowyer.