Snake skins

[Beendare]

I went through a phase where I was putting snake skins on my limbs....and never really saw much of a performance drop. It was a time when I was shooting 11gpp- 11.5gpp arrows so that might be the reason. Does anyone have accurate info on how much performance you lost by skinning the limbs?


Pic is the bow I just sold with rattlesnake skins on the limbs. I had not shot it in years, time to send to someone who will use it- it didn't take long even for a lefty. This was a one on a million bow.

I just bought some skins from a guy and am thinking I might skin a set of my Uukha limbs. I don't really care all that much but I might have to test it before and after if there isn't a lot of info out there.

Any commentary is welcome...

 

[cck311]

I don't have the foggiest idea. My guess is for a guy with a 30 inch or so draw length like you, not enough to matter. For a guy with a maybe 27 inch draw length like me, I don't want to lose a single fps!

 

[Blackcow]

I’ve never weighed skins either, or chronographed before and after. But I’ve handled plenty and they don’t weight much, I bet the adhesive ends up half the weight of the skins. So maybe try this. Weight the skins, then rip off about an equal amount/ length of duct tape. I’d just wad it up and put it on the scale and keep adding pieces till it’s the same as the skins, plus maybe a quarter or half plus for the glue. Chrono before, then add whatever length of tape and chrono that. It won’t be perfect, but should give you an idea. If it’s close and you can live with the speed, go for it. Personally, whenever I’ve done Limbsations or camo tape, I always cut the tip end short and tried to make it look kinda like spliced limbs. It’s the weight towards the tips that gets ya. Just an idea.

 

[InkedElkSlayer]

Since commentary is welcome…

A snakeskin recurve is badass. Go take your badass, cool looking, snakeskin recurve out this fall and kill a big bull.

 

[Beendare]

I’ve never weighed skins either, or chronographed before and after. But I’ve handled plenty and they don’t weight much, I bet the adhesive ends up half the weight of the skins. So maybe try this. Weight the skins, then rip off about an equal amount/ length of duct tape. I’d just wad it up and put it on the scale and keep adding pieces till it’s the same as the skins, plus maybe a quarter or half plus for the glue. Chrono before, then add whatever length of tape and chrono that. It won’t be perfect, but should give you an idea. If it’s close and you can live with the speed, go for it. Personally, whenever I’ve done Limbsations or camo tape, I always cut the tip end short and tried to make it look kinda like spliced limbs. It’s the weight towards the tips that gets ya. Just an idea.

That is a good idea with tape- blue tape as the first layer.

It will be a problem getting an accurate ‘before weight’ as the skin will still have the scales. You rub those off 1/2 way through the process before sealing.

Its true, these skins weigh nothing… the waterproof wood glue and 5 coats of poly probably add up to more than the skin itself.

 

[Btaylor]

Never heard of anyone actually checking for performance loss. I cant imagine it would amount to much at all. They prolly dont check because it makes a bow look sexy and lethal and that's mentally worth more than a foot per second. If there was a noticeable drop, someone would have picked up on it and it would be commonly discussed, I would think.

 

[pirogue]

Doesn’t preparation and installation of the skin play a part. I’ve seen snakeskins that were very supple and some like a board. And as for adherence to bow, what you use and how much you use can alter the limb’s performance.

 

[LostArra]

I've skinned plenty of limbs and never considered the effect on speed. One reason is I don't own a chronograph which I believe results in large expenses to chase a number on both trad and especially compound bow setups.

My first guess is that your beaver balls on the string have more of an effect than properly applied snakeskins.

I'm guessing the skins weigh less than equal size duct tape.

Also do we know if the snakeskin might actually improve performance in the same way sinew affects a bow limb? If so, it's probably very very small (or zero) on glass backed limbs and at least possible on a self bow.

After typing this I'm going to return to not worrying about it. They look just too cool on a bow to sweat the speed factor.

 

[Beendare]

Doesn’t preparation and installation of the skin play a part. I’ve seen snakeskins that were very supple and some like a board. And as for adherence to bow, what you use and how much you use can alter the limb’s performance.

I think @Btaylor is right, it ain't much performance loss....I was just curious as to any actual testing.

When skinning these limbs, you cannot use tanned skins. Those are tanned with Gylcerine to make them supple and they repel the glue. Dry tanned or frozen then prep yourself is what you want. I have some frozen skins coming.

Those get cleaned and scraped, you have to get every spec of flesh off.... then stretched and dried with a little salt. You wash the salt out and soak them right before putting them on with waterproof wood glue. Then trim and lightly scrap the scales off and seal. I used 4-5 coats of spray gloss poly with a very light [320] sanding after the first and second coat. Then I mist over that with matt poly a few times with the can way back leaving tiny bumps.

I did a couple sets of limbs like that^ and the one set I still own from 2008 is still perfect.

 

[Vaquero 45]

I couldn't tell you(s) either. What I can share is one of my set ups is a WF21 w N3's 48# meds . I have gorrila mossy oak camo duct tape on front face of limbs . I have always wondered also about losing a couple FPS which to me is no big deal breaker. I have scaled the pull # of bow but never have chronoed it . I can tell ya's it has not lost its accuracy. Nor made it louder , etc . Especially with my Champion custom string on it n pat Norris micro adj springy . Reason I basically have the camo duct tape on them is when the N3'S first came out I made a mistake on the order directly from Nika . So they arrived fully decaled , I tried shooting them n really like them still to this day . So I rubbed the front decals off with non acetone nail polish and my original plan was too put skins on them . So I saw a vid on the net how a guy put camo duct tape on his limbs and it really looked sharp. So I bought the gorrila mossy oak camo duct tape at the time for maybe eleven bucks put it on liked how it looked and performed, etc and never looked back.

 

[Beendare]

Gotcha.

I have a chromo but it's a bit of a PITA to setup. I might just do it....we shall see, I haven't gotten the skins yet and then it will be another week for me to dry them as these are frozen skins right off the Snake.

BTW, these are from a big Rattlesnake roundup in either OK or TX. I had to track down the outfit that took the snakes- Randals wildlife Creations- and he was kind enough to sell me a couple.

 

[Vaquero 45]

. I really like the look of trad snake skins better . However this is where I received the idea to gorilla mossy oak camo duct tape my N3 48#'s .