Another Ken Challenge Shorty - Finished

[gstoneberg]

Go for it Darcy!!  I superglued the crack and covered it with some antelope rawhide which is now drying.  I'm hoping that'll do it.

George

[gstoneberg]

It's been awhile, but while my yew stave is resting I thought I'd work on this one and finish it up.  Kevin was over the other day and we shot it.  I had forgotten how nice it shoots.  So, I searched through my snakeskin stash and pulled one out.  It had a couple big holes in it so the top limb won't be centered in the pattern.  The bottom, snakey, limb gets a clear section of hide.  There's just something about snakeskin on top of snaky osage...

George

[SEMO_HUNTER]

Keep going George, I wanna see the whole bow when it's finished!
Yep, I love them snakes skins myself. I've got a pretty good stash of them at the moment that I'm saving for just the right bows to put em on.
1-pair of Diamondback Rattlers
1-pair of Prairie Rattlers
2-pairs of Water Moccasins
2-large pieces of black snake
1-hog nosed snake (very colorful)
1-copper head if my lil bro will ever send it to me, he killed it in his flower bed next to the house in Dallas,Tx. He said when he saw it while pulling weeds his hand was only inches away from the snake's head!! Jesus must of been looking out for him that day......praise the Lord! 

I think my next bow skinning job will be either pair of the rattle snakes or water moccasins? Kinda leaning toward the moccasins cause they have a very attractive pattern and the dark color would go with Ipe.

[ken75]

thats lookin nice a George, cant wait to see the fulldraw

[gstoneberg]

Hey SH, I had a chance to kill a cottonmouth a couple months ago and passed on him as he was jet black with no pattern at all.   The nice thing about these short bows is that lots of times they only take 1 skin like this one did.  I'd be happy to pick up that copperhead skin and hold it for you, I'm sure I have someplace I can put it...

I'll get the bow done as soon as I can, but that yew stave and the flint keep luring me away.

George

[k-hat]

She was definitely a sweet shooter!!  Powerful and smooth,  a pleasure to handle.  Didn't have the skins on last time I saw her, think i'd jump outta my own skin if i saw that thing lying around in the shop!

Wish i'da known i'd be doing this ten years ago!!  When we lived out in Greenville I can't tell you how many snakes i had to send to their maker in one year!  One in particular would have made some good bowskin:  only about 6-1/2 feet long and perty skin to boot (no idea what type, chicken?, well, dead anyway!), chased it up a tree and teed off on it's head with a 9-iron

BTW, As y'all already know, George is one cool guy, to say the least!  He's set me up with a good osage stave to work on, and is walking me through chasing my first osage ring (I've done all boards until now).  Thanks George for enabling my addiction!!     Looking forward to working that stave some more!

[criveraville]

Georgy that bow really came alive with that skin. That's a sweet looking bow.

[gstoneberg]

Thanks guys.  Hopefully the weatherman will be right and it won't make it to 100 today.  That would sure be nice, maybe I could stay out in the shop all afternoon.  However, I have a hard time staying out of the lazyboy and watching my eyelids on Sunday afternoons for some reason.

George

[SEMO_HUNTER]

Hey SH, I had a chance to kill a cottonmouth a couple months ago and passed on him as he was jet black with no pattern at all.   The nice thing about these short bows is that lots of times they only take 1 skin like this one did.  I'd be happy to pick up that copperhead skin and hold it for you, I'm sure I have someplace I can put it...

I'll get the bow done as soon as I can, but that yew stave and the flint keep luring me away.

George

Oh Yeah, I know where you would put it George .........it would keep forever once it's glued to a bow limb, then you would have to give me the whole thing bow and all just to get that copperhead skin...LOL

I actually don't kill my own snakes, I trade for them. It's actually illegal here in Missouri to kill snakes unless they are threatening you or your animals..........yeah I know that sounds like a law that a liberal bunny hugger would make.
 My state is actually very gun friendly and all that, but when it comes to certain things our conservation department is a bit on the panzy side if ya ask me.

Anyway, most of my snakes are road kill, it's ok to pick them up if you find good usable ones dead on the road. The rattlers all came from out of state that I traded for as well as the moccasins, which ARE Normally predominantly black like George said, but these 2 pair that I traded some river cane for are actually quite pretty and have lots of nice pattern that will look awesome when it's hit with a coat of Tru Oil.

I did kill a huge 5' 7" black snake not too long ago who was eating my baby wrens right beside my front porch. Had his huge body wrapped all the way around the house and the pole with his head buried in the house. I broke a plastic wiffle ball bat over the back of his head and he ended up on my trade bow for the bow swap on Trad Gang.

[gstoneberg]

I don't think that's a problem, as long as you let me shoot something with it first I won't mind giving it away.  It was hard for me to send the trade bow away without hunting with it first.  Funny how that is??

I like snakes and don't like to kill them, but for a noble cause such as backing a bow I will make exceptions.  It is very hard for me to kill rat and bull snakes though as the service they provide is so valuable.  I did have a bull snake clean out a songbird nest behind the house once too.  I didn't get there in time so I let the snake live.  I do like to eat rattlers if they're big enough, though my wife is not with me on that.

Wiffle bats are truly a multi-use tool.

George

[k-hat]

I'd probly be more likely to let 'em live nowadays myself, but back then i was a brand new father and these snakes kept coming up from the pasture behind our house, so i was a little protective.  Combine that with my lack of snake identification skill (and i just took for granted that if it was a snake, it may as well be poisonous since i couldn't for sure tell the difference), the result was a dead snake.   We've since moved a few times and i don't think we've had any snakes in the yard that i can recall.  tho the neighborhood we're in now has skunks a-plenty

[soy]

If I could offer some advice stixman, do wash the skunks before backing with them lol ...neat little bow George!

[gstoneberg]

I've worked on my bow quite a bit, but not a lot shows.  Here's the completed snakeskin back at least. 



Laying that snakeskin off center on the top limb makes it look like it's from a different snake.  I tried a racket wrap, but the nuances of the handle shape make it look really odd.  Looks to me like it will need a cordage wrap of some kind.  Have to work on that.  Going to go with a floppy rest.

George

[SEMO_HUNTER]

That turned out real nice George, looks great!

I did a wrap with black parcord and I really liked the way it turned out, feels good in the hand as well. I pulled the inards out of the paracord first so it would lay flat when I glued it down.

I don't go out of my way to kill snakes either and especially not black snakes cause they eat alot of mice, brown snakes do also and I'll even pick one up and put it in my barn when I find them.
But when they go sticking their heads in my wren houses they are gonna get whacked!!

[gstoneberg]

Finished this shorty up today.  First time I've ever stained osage...and I rather like it.  For the handle wrap I used clothesline with the center removed, ironed flat, then dyed to a light brown.  My first floppy rest.  Here are some early pics, full draw later today.

George