I read about it in a recent FFG magazine. Said they use them for everything from wallets to boots. I been wanting to skin one of my longbows and was wondering if you think pike or muskie skins would look cool? Just a thought, anybody ever heard of this?

Iv seen a guy use a carp skin to back his bow.....looked good!!

I was thinking about trying it out first on a 2x4 to see if i like it or not. I wonder how well its gonna hold its color.

I believe there was a bow that went through one of the St Judes Auctions that had carp skin backing. It was absolutly stunning!! I did a search and didn't find it. If someone knows about it please post a link.

I am finishing a bow this week with Carp skin.  Once you scale the fish the color doesn't really stay. unless the skin is dark.  The pattern does and it looks really good.  Fish with thicker skins like Sturgeon, Halibut, and Catfish the color stays.  I will post Pics next weekend.

Dan

Do a search on all forums for Carp skin on bows, lots of post. The link for the buildalong is in there also I beleive it was march in 2005.

Sturgeon skin looks great on a bow.  I would think that Musky or Pike would look great.

If I remember right that carp skin bow was a recurve made by Jim Johnson of Legend Longbows.

                                           Craig

Give Ted at Raptor Archery a call, he has backed bows with both sturgeon and salmon.  I'm sure pike/musky would look great as well.

The Jim Johnson recuve with the skins is a Bow I sold.

Dan

Thanks guys, now really considering it even more. When pike season opens up I'll do a mockup on a peice to see how it looks. Istill dont how good they'll hold their color, I meen taxidermists have to paint them over when they mount fish. But I dont really think that'll be too much of a problem.

I have used carp skin in several quivers. It looks pretty cool. I had fun with it. Had a contest on who could write the most endearing thing about carp skin.

Here is a bow I started back in 2005 at MOJam.  I started it at MOJam and then added things I got as gifts.  One of those gifts was a set of grass carp skins from Tim Ott.



This is a collage.  I also have a tortoise shell strike plate, a handle wrap that JD Jones taught about at MOJam one year, some mesquite tip overlays and some great memories.

The bow is called "MOJam Memories".  You should have seen the rain that year.  We had a small stream flowing through our camp.  Other memories were a 2am coon shoot with Brad Merkle , a bright light and a little beer, as well as Mickey Lotz' hot dogs from hell and a great arrow made by Dano.

Tim Ott's carp skinned bows are absolutely the most beautiful self bows I've ever seen. Man, can he build a bow. Miss him around here...

John, I'm not much on skinned bows but man thats awesome.I migh have to try it.Do you apply them the same as snake skins?

Apply just like Snake skins.

them are pretty cool lookin

as a musky guy all my life since i was 4 i please ask that you try it with pike skin     from my taxidermy work i do know they lose alot of color ut for the most part the markings come through

I don't know, but I guess if I was hunting with a bow that smelled like fish    Wind direction could become really important  

Here's a page I did about the application.  Tim did all the skinning and initial washing.  They don't really smell that bad after a thorough scraping and few washings with dish soap.

 MOJam Memories