Primitive Archer
Information and Resources => Trading Post => Topic started by: TurtleCreek on February 02, 2012, 08:33:04 am
-
Carp fishin' is slowly but surely beginning to get better this time of year in my location, with the peak of my luck starting in march and going through May for the larger ones. I am trying to organize a list of those that would be interested in dried/descaled carp skin for backing, so that when I have a good supply of them, I can contact those on the list. Preference of the skins will be given to the first guy on the list and so on. I am doing it this way so that I don't forget anyone that has expressed an interest in my other posts. Thank you for your interest and let's hope that mother nature makes this carp season a great one. Ryan
-
what species of carp are you catching?
-
I do, I don't care what species, we don't have any here.
-
Put my name on the list.
-
I would be interested. What are you looking for in trade?
-
I am totally in for some carp skins, I'll see what goodies I can pony up for a trade!
-
i would like some too. :D
-
Hey Sir,
I'd love to get on the Carp Skin List.
Should I PM you a list of trade goods that I have available?
Or is there something in particular you are looking for?
Thank You,
-gus
-
Well Yes, I would like to try carp skin on a bow or two. Thank you for the generous offer. If you have a suggestion for a return trade just let me know. Ron
-
Count me in.
-
I would be interested. ;)
-
Hi, could I get in on the list?
VB
-
Put me on the list as well. I'll be working that rawhide and getting it stretched soon
-
Everybody that has responded so far has been written down.......... Looks like I will be fishing alot!!!!! The main species of carp will be the common carp, the same type that Keenan used on his BOM carp/sinew backed juniper. When I get a good supply of them, I will contact each person on the list in order and post pics of what's available. Last year I had cut the skins into 2 inch wide strips, however this year I will be prepping the skins to be traded and leaving them whole so that the recipient can cut them however they would like. I thought that doing it this way would give you guys more options as to how to use them, not just for decorative bow backing, but the whole skins would also make a neat decorative touch to the outside of a knife sheath or other primitive type art or projects.
-
morning turtlecreek-if yr still adding names(i know its a long list already) please add mine.
thanks!!
-
you got it sadie
-
You can keep me in mind if you get some extras, sure i can find something to trade.
Thanks !
-
I'd love to be added to the list...looks like a lot of folks like this idea, your either very kind or have a lot of free time on your hands, lol. Thanks again.
-
Hey Turtle, what do you use for bait for carp? I have only rarely caught carp and never with any regularity. I would fish for them, but I have yet to find a bait that interests them even when they are tailing and feeding aggressively!!!
They are an absolute scream on a flyrod, but again, you don't often get good bites.
-
Please sign me up. I'll come up with something good to trade!!
-
I find a pocket of slack water, usually down stream from a bridge or bend in the river where they are stacked up- the water where I find em' is usually pretty shallow- 2 to 3 feet. Then I just drift fish them with a 1/4 oz sinker and a ball of night crawlers. I catch them year round, but the pre-spawn/spawn is when I get the most action and the fish are a bit bigger too(late february through the end of may). I also use a smaller bait holder hook as they are more sensitive to that than most people think. I have 18 guys on the list so far, but if this year is as good as last year, it should be pretty easy for me to catch enough carp to make everyone happy- at least a dozen carp each trip is no problem at the "honey hole"!
-
I've never had trouble finding the carp, but have rarely had them bite any bait, especially worms/nitecrawlers. Maybe we have vegan carp here. You do make an excellent point about the smaller hooks. Their lips and barbels are as sensitive as a grizzly bear with hemorrhoids in fly season.
-
JW
do a goggle on 'Carp Boilies'. You get recipes on making carp bait from the experts.
-
We used to hunt them with Bows...
When I was a kid, back in Beggars Canyon... :)
-gus
-
We used to hunt them with Bows...
When I was a kid, back in Beggars Canyon... :)
-gus
I still do Gus. I much perfer bowfishing than spring turkey hunting. ;D
-
thanks man!!
my pops always used stink bait balls he used for catching channel cat.
he caught a mighty number of catfish with that stuff but the carp ate em up too!
sorry i do not have his recipe.
-
First batch in, bcbull you're up-PM sent
-
TurtleCreek, Way to go! Post some pics? Ron
-
I was in a rush to filet them out last night before the wife got home or I would of taken pics, next time I will. Managed to get two more yesterday so I am working on Lee Slikkers batch(#2 spot). I was pretty surprised to have come into the carp this early, I really had to work for them, a lot of "hole hoppin". The best part of the year is yet to come!
-
Guys I can't say enough about TurtleCreeks skins. The were very well prepared and top quality all the way. I have had so many people look at this bow and the response is always about how cool the skins look. Sure can make a stick look fantastic. Thanks again Turtle
-
Thanks for the kind words Keenan. You'll really like the buffalo skins, they are a bit more transparent than the common carp skins I sent you before, so it will be interesting to see how you can affect the scale pattern by dying/staining the wood beneath it. Maybe another BOM win for ya?????? :)
-
;D ;D ;) Thanks Bro Looking forward to seeing them
-
Guys I can't say enough about TurtleCreeks skins. The were very well prepared and top quality all the way. I have had so many people look at this bow and the response is always about how cool the skins look. Sure can make a stick look fantastic. Thanks again Turtle
I concur. Ryans skins are A-1. They dont get any better.
-
Thanks PD..... This should be a boomer of a year for the carp here, I have managed to catch 7 already and that was just in the last two days. Not too bad for this early in the season as they are still not stacked up in the honey holes yet. Once they move in to the shallower pockets of slow water, I will certainly be up to my neck in skins and lovin' every minute of it!!!! I'll no longer be releasing anymore carp, I am addicted to catchin' em' now. One simple tip for the guys that will be getting some skins: For cutting out the strips(if backing a bow), get yourself a piece of clear plastic and cut it out to the width of the strip you need- the clear plastic will allow you to see the scale pattern and make sure that it runs the length of the strip and matches nicely with the pattern of the other strip you splice it to.
-
I guess if everybody else is going after carp skins I should too. If there's still room on your list I would trade for a set. I'm hoping to bow shoot some gar skins down here in Texas.
George
-
I put your name down George. Just got done scraping 12 skins tonight. I will be heading out to catch some more this upcoming Monday, Wednesday, and Thursday. I will make sure to post some pics for M-P if I get lucky again.
-
Ryan, I'd be interested in a set if you have any left over.
-
I will put your name down Pat for when I get more. I have a lot of guys on the list, 20 total(as of now). I figured that for backing a bow, I would send each guy enough length in skins to do a 72 inch bow(or if ya make one shorter, you'd certainly have enough to play with). The skins will be left whole so you can cut them to whatever width ya want. Catching this many carp will be no problem, I will be on the river all day for 3 days this upcoming week and I will keep everyone posted. bcbull at the #1 spot already has his skins getting prepped so this should go pretty smoothly. Thanks for all the interest guys, I am having a blast doing this!!!
-
Hi Ryan, I'm new to this site. This is my first post actually. Pearl Drums got me over here from the trad gang site and told me to find you. I was going to ask about using salmon skin, but that's for another day. If you've got carp skins left, I'd like to be added to your list. I saw a bow backed with one that looked spectacular, and I'd love to give it a try! I'll PM you about the salmon skin stuff later. Gotta get the kids to bed!
Thanks
John
-
Carp fishing brings back some fond memories of my college days. I used a fly rod, closed face spinning reel and waded out below a spillway dam with waders, a can of corn for bait and a short section of pipe to dispatch the carp. I probably fished 2 days a week and caught carp most every day until my arms ached. Had a surprising number of people ask me to keep them for them. Those were simpler times.
George
-
It sure can be a lot of fun catching them, after the 7 the other day, my forearm was pretty sore. Already had to refill a few spools as a few of the beasts the other day took me down river quite a ways and snapped the line. Makes me wonder how big they really were compared to the 25 to 33 inchers that I actually landed with no problems.
-
Glad to hear I am on deck...yippy! I wish I lived closer as it sounds like you are having a blast catching these buggers. I need to get more informed on when they are catchable here in MI...both with a pole and with a bow. I intend to use your skins on a bow used to for bowfishing so wish me luck! 8)
-
Caught 2 more today Lee, so I should have enough for you now- just got back and need to filet/scrape/ and descale them. After that it will take a few days to get them dry enough to ship. Pretty sweet skins, you'll like em'.
-
:'( :'( :'(I thought I was the first to reply, Yes? :(
-
Mullet, some guys sent me a PM to show their interest. You are #5 on the list, but since I already have enough skins for the first 2 guys, it won't be much longer and I should be working on your batch. I have been doing fairly well catching them this early and it's not even the best part of the season yet.
-
Cool, thought you forgot about me. ;D
-
bcbull and Lee Slikkers, your fish have been caught and they are currently being dried/prepped- to ensure they are properly dried( the way I like to do it), they will ship by friday.... On to #3 Soy!!!!!!!!
-
Just wanted to make sure I'm on the list somewhere.
~Barry
-
Cheers my friend! Responded to your PM...again, many thanks~
-
Yes you are Barry. Working on getting Soy's batch and you're right after him and Mullet is right after you. I will be out on the river tomorrow and thursday. I will keep everyone posted on my luck. Here's what the list looks like so far:
1:bcbull-shipped!!!!!!
2:Lee Slikkers- shipped!!!!!
3:Soy- shipped!!!!
4:Stingray45- shipped!!!!
5:Mullet- shipped!!!!
6:Mad Crow- shipped!!!!
7:Osage Outlaw- shipped!!!!
8:JW Halverson(half batch of matched sides)- working on getting this batch
9:thomas H
10:Gus
11:M-P
12:Ho-bow
13:Venison Burger
14:Stiks-n-strings
15:Sadie Jane
16:Sharpend60
17:John K
18:HickoryBill
19:gstoneberg
20:Pat B
21:Prairie Bowyer
22:jtbluefeather
23:dinorocks
24:Stringstretcher
25:David Dougherty
26:Toomanyknots
27. Brother Dan
28. Beadman
NO MORE NAMES TAKEN AT THIS TIME: ADDITIONAL SKINS WILL BE POSTED AFTER THIS LIST IS COMPLETE. I WILL ALSO BE TANNING SOME AND THEY WILL BE OFFERED FOR TRADE AS WELL. THANKS FOR YOUR INTEREST.
-
Don't get discouraged if you are later on the list, my catch numbers should increase as the season progresses and the weather warms up some here.
-
Being that most of the fish that I am catching right now are the same size as the ones Keenan used on his carp/sinew backed juniper in which he spliced the carp skin strips, I thought it would be helpful to the guys that will be getting some to know how he did it. This is the info he sent:
Ryan, I just did a butt splice because the bow was sinewed as well. I trimmed one end very straight then matched up the pattern where it matched best with the other skin and trimmed the other one to length. As you know the pattern can be smaller or larger depending on the end used. When applied to the bow I overlapped about 1/32 to allow for any shrinkage. I had also sanded them down on the belt sander to get them a little thinner because of already having sinew on the bow. This also makes them more pliable for fitting. One of the biggest helps is making sure to soak the skins long enough that they are pliable.
Originally I thought I might have to do a thread wrap at the joint but it turned out well and no one ever notices until I point out the splice.- Keenan
I hope this helps guys- Ryan
-
Thanks for the info. Ron
-
Hey Turtle,
Have you ever done a how to on prepping fish skins? And a general question from a non-angler... Does the type of fish matter for how you prep the skins?
Thanks
JT
-
JT The process on prep is similar and I don't have experience with the carp but I do know there are some definite tricks to sturgeon that are different then other fish skins. The drying is similar but the fleshing can be tricky on sturgeon.
Ryan and I are talking about putting together a tandem article on fish skin preparing and applying to bows
-
JT, I plan on beginning something like that this week- along with the help of Keenan so everyone can see the process from start to finish. I have some northern pike skins that I am going to experiment on, and right from the get go, I can tell ya that the biggest difference in prep between pike and carp will be the descaling process- so I will let ya know how that goes. I would also guess that if someone were to try salmon, which would have a higher oil content in the skin, it would take a little more to prep those to get the oils out. One thing that I like to do when drying the skins, is that I use cardboard to dry them on- I don't tack them down on wood. The fresh skin will stick to the cardboard and there won't be any need to tack it down in any way. The bonus with the cardboard that I have found is that while the skin dries on it, the cardboard will help draw out oils in the skin. And as the skin dries on it, the skin will shrink slightly- pulling the cardboard into a "reflex" much like a sinew backing does on a bow. When you see this reflex in the cardboard, it's an indicator that the skins are dry enough to peel off. The carp skins are some pretty tough stuff and they will not tear when peeling them off, they come off fairly easily. Although sometimes a little of the cardboard "fuzz" will come off with the skin, it can easily be taken off with some fine grit sand paper without doing any damage to the skin. This is just a brief answer, the info for the article will be more precise and will include pics to show exactly what I do. I am looking forward to putting this together with Keenan, I think everyone that has had an interest with carp skin as a backing will enjoy it.
-
this is exciting.
look forward to the tutorial(s)
used the cardboard method turtlecreek mentioned with some salmon skins
they dried nicely and the cardboard absorbed most of the oil
if all goes as planned the carps skin may end up on my trade bow
thanks!
-
well I see I'm way down the list but yes Carp backing would be cool! If you dont have enough to go around its fine maybe next year.
-
Got ya down David.... Shouldn't be a problem getting this many carp for everyone. Kinda slow this time of year but I have been doing fairly well. With the warmer weather just around the corner here, things should pick up considerably.
-
Part way through Soy's batch(#3)
-
There sure are gonna be alot a carp backed bows here in a little bit...
-
I sure hope so....... It will be exciting to see what everyone comes up with.
-
So everyone knows how the progress is going, I will be updating the status of each guy on the list(page 4 of this post). So far it has taken 3 fish to get the length to back a 72 inch bow, and that's going by a 2 inch wide strip. Either way, each guy will be getting at least that length and possibly more depending on the size of the fish in your batch. Sometimes I will get a fish that has one side damaged and the other side will be good, if that's the case when your turn comes up, that one good side will be thrown in as an extra in addition to your batch. If you happen to have an extra skin in your batch, it would be really interesting to see someone try a strunk style wrap over the carp skin as a "grip". Once you get your skins, any input, opinions, and constructive criticism would be much appreciated. Thanks guys- Ryan
-
I've seen some wonderful bows with the snake skins covering only half the limb. Adjust my request to a half order of skins, this would be the perfect opportunity to try one! Thanks ahead of time, TurtleCreek. I gotta find something nice to send you in exchange.
-
You got it JW.... Sometimes, like just the last time I was on the river, I will catch the odd ball carp with a severe kink in it's spine. I set those aside because the scale pattern isn't straight enough to get a good pattern in a straight strip. I will also sometimes catch common carp in which the color doesn't match the rest, such as when I was working on Soy's batch, one carp's color didn't match the other two very well so I set that one aside also. I will only send batches which match in color and that will provide a good scale pattern. Like snake skin, the color/pattern can be manipulated somewhat by the color/stain of the wood beneath it because the skins are slightly transparent when dry. I plan on posting the odd ball skins for trade with pics when the list is done in case someone has plans for them other than backing a bow.
-
Ryan, I bet some of those odds ball skins would look great on a knife sheath...maybe with some beadwork around the edges, hmmm LOL
You are a Saint for helping us out with all these skins...using your own free time, etc (imagine they are more work than some of us realize)
Anyway, you rock my brother!
-
Thanks for the kind words Lee. This has been the biggest "project" I have taken on, but I am having a lot of fun doing it. Hopefully I will be able to put together an article good enough for the magazine so everyone can see how I prep em'.
-
Knife sheath? Hmmm, yes, I am seeing it. Or an inset stitched into the flap of a muzzelloader bag. Yeah, I can think of several ways to use this stuff.
Sew together lotsa strips and make a copy of Kevin Cost-more's outfit in Waterworld. Ok, I recognize I went too far.
-
LOL, don't feel bad JW...we all regret sitting through any of that movie :o
-
LOL, don't feel bad JW...we all regret sitting through any of that movie :o
I didn't watch this movie. Does that mean I actually did something smart? Ron
-
You are definitely smarter than me Ron! LOL
-
Mr. Slikkers, the carp are swimming your way!!!!!!!!
-
Most excellent! I'll let ya know when the hit the headwaters ;)
-
Rained a lot last night and it's suppose be be warming up a bit, just the right conditions to bring the carp in a little closer for my 3 days on the river starting tomorrow. I will be finishing up Soy's batch and then on to Stingray45(#4).
-
The Carp (skins) have landed my friend! All I can say is THANK YOU!!! You folks will not believe to quality of the prep on this skins...I can only imagine how much effort that must take...especially on such a large scale when you take into account all the folk's on the List. Cheers my friend!
-
Glad you like them Lee.... Doing this has really created an addiction to carp fishing for me!!! It has rained all day here which is a major bonus because the water levels on the river have been fairly low. But with the rising water level, I am expecting the carp action to pick up as it will create more current breaks and pools in the shallower water. I have the next 3 days off and plan to spend every second of day light getting more of these "bugle lipped bass" for the rest of the crew. I will sure be busy, but havin' fun as it will be well worth the time spent. Thanks again for the kind words- Ryan
-
Bugle lipped bass! hehehe
Fly fisherman call 'em "false bonefish", too.
-
I've heard them called lots worse than that!! Usually by walleye fisherman fishing the spawn in a river after foul hooking one, fighting it for 20 minutes on 6lb line and declaring to all their buddies it might be the new state record... :o
George
-
Only managed to get two common carp yesterday, 27 to 28 inches long. I had a third one, went to put it on the stringer, stringer broke from the log it was tied to and started to go down the river. Not thinkin', I grabbed for the stringer, lost my balnce and fell on my back loosing the hold I had on the third fish and into the river it went. I did get the stringer back with the other 2 fish on it. So far each time I have been out I have either tumbled into the river or have slid down a steep bank and gotten covered in mud, but at least I have caught fish. I guess that's what happens when you fish those hard to get to spots:) I will be back out on the river tomorrow to get Stingray 45's batch and hopefully stay on my feet!!!!
-
Only managed to get two common carp yesterday, 27 to 28 inches long. I had a third one, went to put it on the stringer, stringer broke from the log it was tied to and started to go down the river. Not thinkin', I grabbed for the stringer, lost my balnce and fell on my back loosing the hold I had on the third fish and into the river it went. I did get the stringer back with the other 2 fish on it. So far each time I have been out I have either tumbled into the river or have slid down a steep bank and gotten covered in mud, but at least I have caught fish. I guess that's what happens when you fish those hard to get to spots:) I will be back out on the river tomorrow to get Stingray 45's batch and hopefully stay on my feet!!!!
Long way from the grace and artistry of a fly fisherman making those lovely sweeping casts at a wild brook trout. But frankly, I'd rather go fishing with you! Sounds more exciting.
-
And another two today before the blizzard started..... Done with Soy's and part way through with Stingray45's and then Mullet will be up. I will be heading out again tomorrow if the weather cooperates.
-
If anyone would like to see an example of a prepped skin, check out Allmostpighunter's post in the bow forum "Carp skin question"
-
As M-P requested, here's a pic from today's efforts:
-
Looks too cold to fall in the water carp fishing... I'm gonna have to take my fishing poles out of the storage tubes from moving (4 years ago). You're having entirely too much fun getting bow backing. :)
George
-
It's a blast!! Everyone should be pretty happy with what they'll be getting
-
The list has been updated on page 4 of this post.... Mullet, you're up!
-
Thanks, Those fish look a lot prettier and bigger than the ones I used to bowfish for in Nebraska. The Nebr fish were usually a muddy brown. Ron
-
The skins look a lot better the closer they get to being on a bow!!!
-
Ryan, those sure look good. I see some nice bows laying there! You are changing the face of archery :o
-
I used my first Ryan set of skins this weekend. Killer stuff man!
-
Notice the bugged out eyes on the bottom one in the pic... both eyes were sticking out a good half inch when I caught him, never caught one like that before. Now I gotta get to building my specialized carp skin processing table- "The Carp Master" :)
-
Notice the bugged out eyes on the bottom one in the pic... both eyes were sticking out a good half inch when I caught him, never caught one like that before. Now I gotta get to building my specialized carp skin processing table- "The Carp Master" :)
It's called "exopthalmia", bacterial infection causes swelling and bug-eyes. If untreated it can become permanent and/or cause blindness. Apparently in his case led to death!
-
Actually Keenan Turtlecreek is changing the back of archery... ;D ;D
-
And I like to think I am cleanin' up the river at the same time:).... Gotta get another reel spooled up and I will be hittin' the river for Mullet and Mad crow's batch.. I am havin' way to much fun doing this!
-
Cool stuff here!! What are you using for bait?
Cipriano
-
Mostly night crawlers.... But when they are stacked in the shallows, I will use a brightly colored dough bait and I will sight fish em'. Funny thing happened last week, I got out at sunrise to catch a few for the guys on here and the carp were not up in the shallows yet. So I switched to a jig and twister and figured I would try for some walleyes until the sun got a little higher to warm up the shallows and bring the carp in. First cast with the jig into the deeper current and I got a hit!! Fought the fish for awhile thinking I had a monster walleye on, and it turned out to be a carp.... totally engulfed the jig. I don't usually catch carp on soft plastics so I was totally surprised by that one. Next cast, same thing. So those two finished off Soy and Stingray45's batch. Found a new spot where the carp are running a little larger and in higher numbers, so I am expecting this list to go pretty smoothly and the action to pick up considerably. I fish on my days off so I can spend my entire day out on the river and when the temps start to consistantly be in the mid 40s and higher, I will be fishing before work, after work, and on my days off until everyone gets their skins.
-
Hey guys, I also plan to start saving the air bladders from the carp I catch to dry them out for making fish glue. I have someone that is going to test them out to see if they make a good glue and I plan on posting the results. Just another addition to the
"2012 Carp Quest."
-
Ah TC!
A Man after my own heart!
Can't wait till my boys are old enough to take fishing with me.
It will be a joy to get some consistency back into my fishing schedule!
Hope you catch a Bunch!
-gus
-
One of the guys I work with lives on a Lake they have introduced stearil carp for grass control. Welllll,, he told me their are some almost 3' long. He said he is feeding them bread and we are going to give it a shot with dough balls. Carp will be a first for me.
-
3 footers :o :o Go get em Eddie
-
I put some of those sterile grass carp in my pond in Nebraska and before we left those puppies looked like submarines. And, no weeds could grow in the pond either. :( When the cottonwood seeds were falling on the water I was able to kill a couple with the rifle off the deck. Too bad I didn't realize you could back a bow with them back then. I have a picture of one of them that went 35lbs.
George
-
Mullet- the original white wonder bread is one of the types of "dough" baits I use, the small bait-holder treble hooks(with the little spring on the main shank) work great. I wet the bread slightly then squeeze it onto the hook. A size 10 bait holder treble should be about the right size for a carp that big. It's the release of the starch into the water as the bait sits there that brings them in. I have even heard of some guys taking a potato sack and filling it with boiled potatoes that have been cut up- they tie it to a rope with a weight in it and then toss it out into the water as a sort of "chum bag" and then cast their baited poles into the general area of the bag. Good ol' corn is a good bait too, especially when sight fishing.
-
Headin' out within an hour or two. Just spooled up, packaged some skins, and I will be out to get some "pucker mouth trout" for Mullet and Mad Crow.
-
Is it too late to get on the list, I appreciate it. B Dan
-
I will put you down BD for when I get more
-
Currently prepping the batches of skins for Mullet and mad crow.... Osage outlaw is up next. Great 2 days of fishing: 10 common carp and 1 big mouth buffalo. Things are startin' to pick up!
-
Saw a clip last night from the "Only in America" Show "Larry the cable guy" was helping s fish processing place netting Carp. The showed and huge net full of really big carp. My thoughts were instantly thinking we should give Larry a call for a follow up story! >:D >:D
-
I will have to check that one out!!
-
No longer taking names at this time. However, once the list is complete, I will post the skins as I get them.
-
Got mine and they look great...however I belive that you shuld change your handle to duct tape ;D what a lot of work you must go through .packing,shipping ,and product are all above the call of duty!!!man i hate to see you wrap christmas gifts (heavy taper) >:D just having fun ...thanks a million realy am more than happy. ;)
Thad
-
Glad to hear you're happy with them.... and yes, I got carried away with the duct tape on the packaging, but I was out of my usual shrink wrap so it was duct tape to the rescue!!! Here's a pic of Mullet's batch of skins, just got done descaling them, smoothing them out, and they are in front of the fan drying. Will take about a day to get them fully dry and then a wipe down or two with rubbing alcohol to help remove some of the oils and they will be good to go. Hope ya like em' Mullet!!!!!
-
WOW! those are some neat colors. Thanks a lot, Ryan.
-
That's the way they look when they are still wet and on the cardboard... when they dry and you take them off the board, they will be slightly transparent(barely) so you can tweak the appearance of them slightly by the color of what you glue them to. As an experiment you might want to try, take the two boards that they will be shipped between and stain or dye each side of each board a different shade or color and then once the stain or dye dries completely, lay the skin on the board and see what it looks like with the one color underneath it, then try the next, and so on. It will give you an idea of what base color will make the skins look the best. There's a lot of possibilities!!!! You can also sand them slightly to thin them out and to make them more pliable as they usually end up being about the thickness of the plastic on a milk jug(sometimes slightly thicker. If you have seen Keenan's carp/sinew backed juniper, I believe he just put them right over the sinew back without dying or staining the limb surface, and with just the color of the dried sinew back- those skins look awesome, Keenan definitely knows how to make those skins look the best!
-
The warmer water temps are here!!!!! I will be on the river this friday and will hopefully be up to my neck with carp as they are starting to stack up in higher numbers!!! Osage outlaw and JW are up!!!!!
-
The status of the list has been updated on page 4 of this post
-
I can't wait :)
-
I should definitely have a boomer of a day with the carp tomorrow, the best weather yet!!!!
-
Things have slowed a bit due to a much needed home improvement and a car accident, but I will be back at it within the next couple of days. I apologize for any delays.
-
Heck TC, No Worries...
I just hope Everyone is Okay!
Family First!
-gus
-
Home improvement sounds like a good idea. The car accident sounds scary... I hope everyone came out OK! Ron
-
I appreciate the kind thoughts guys.... Everything and everyone will be ok, just need a day or two to get things back in order and I will get crackin' on some more skins. The average size of the fish I have been getting is increasing which is great!
-
Take care of the important things. Carp skins can wait. Hope everyone is OK from the accident.
-
Hope all is ok Ryan
-
My name is Beadman.Hello there.If you have enough I'd like to get on the list too.Great deal you getting after this.Thanks.
-
No injuries, just vehicle damage.... Luckily, I will be back on the road just in time for my days off so I can get back to fishin'.
-
The list on page 4 of this post has been updated.
-
Here's your batch....
-
Ryan; I got mine today, they look great! And the sinew backed yew bow was tillered today, also ::).Thanks, buddy. Oh, you do know how to pack them. ;)
-
Glad you like them Mullet, can't wait to see the bow you're makin'!
-
Only managed to catch 4 nice ones over the last 2 days.... It was shoulder to shoulder down at the dam due to the walleyes coming in so I had to take a less than favorable spot, but still managed to get enough for Osage Outlaw's batch and part of JW's. You sure do get some strange looks walkin' past all the walleye guys with a stringer full of carp.
-
Those look great. I can see a sheath with a carp skin inlay in my near future. With a matching bow of course.
-
The list has been updated on page 4.
-
I think I"m on the list. I'll be going out also and I had the idea of sendign you frozen skins. What do you think?
-
Prairie, do you mean sending me frozen skins and then having me prep them?
-
I'm thinking my wife wonlt allow me to prep them.
-
You're right.... she probably won't. I wait till my wife goes to bed or I work on them during a day that I have off and she works. Anyways, if you can figure out how to ship some frozen skins, I will definitely prep them for you.
-
I saved your instructions... Does the process stink?
I dried a squirrel hide once and that wasn't actualy too bad.
-
It does have an odor to it and there are things you can do during the prepping process to help reduce that, but it is nothing like the lingering odor you get after sanding/grinding bone or antler.
-
I got my skins today and let me tell you, they are fantastic. I can tell that a lot of time has been taken to clean them up. I can't wait to put them on a bow. Thanks again Ryan.
-
Are there any skins left? I could spare a few hardwood arrows, but I need an alternative means of shipping, I'm outta boxes :-[, or maybe I could clean out my misc arrow box...
I make all my boxes from Fridge boxes cut and folded into a triangle.
-
NEED NEED fish skins sooner than I figured. Woud trade a shortie recurve in boo backed hickory for several sets?
-
I got my skins today and let me tell you, they are fantastic. I can tell that a lot of time has been taken to clean them up. I can't wait to put them on a bow. Thanks again Ryan.
They Sure look pretty in the photos...
:)
-gus
-
It does have an odor to it and there are things you can do during the prepping process to help reduce that, but it is nothing like the lingering odor you get after sanding/grinding bone or antler.
I don't get an odor from sanding bone or antler. I made a sanding drum for my lathe. Then I set it on low with coarse grit. Low friction = low heat = no smell. Then I use files and such to get it close.