"Before and After" Bow (Finally posted)

[Almostpighunter]

I was looking through my old posts when I realized I never put up pics of how the "What in the...?" bow turned out. Thank you Pat B. for the new and highly appropriate moniker for the bow.

Initially the skins matched before soaking; however, after applying to the bow, it turned out that one of the snakes was "in blue" and about to molt prior to being harvested. Quite a shock when my bow began to shed its skin for a pretty new one  .

Stats:

Diamondback rattlesnake backed Hickory.

58" (56" ntn), 59# @ 29"

See my bow shed @:
http://www.primitivearcher.com/smf/index.php/topic,20657.msg283016.html#msg283016

[Elktracker]

Boy o boy you can really get that Hickory very thin, hope to work some someday. Looks great!

[Pappy]

Great looking bow,very nice work.
   Pappy

[half eye]

sweet bow, good profile, and ya got to love hickory......
rich

[hammertime]

Yeah looks nice tiller,stain and snake skin,very cool-Hammertime

[George Tsoukalas]

Very nice bow. Jawge

[Thomas]

I love the colour of the stain on the belly. What is it?

[Almostpighunter]

Thanks for the nice comments guys 

@Thomas: Thanks for the compliment! The stain is just Fiebing's Leather Dye, Light Brown. I coated the belly with the dye until the brown was dark enough that it no longer had that slight "yellowish" quality to it. Then, once dry, I sanded the bow unevenly with 80 grit sandpaper so it left some areas dark, medium and light brown as well as bare wood. Then I applied the dye again until I got the final result and sealed the bow with a satin finish. The idea was to get a more weather-worn look. Not sure I got that but it I s'pose it turned out nice enough.

- Mike

[Josh]

Looks nice!  Bookmarked for February BOM contest too! 

[profsaffel]

That's a fantastic use of black around the handle. Makes the redish brown tint 'pop'.

[eagleone]

nice work