does anyone put dye or color on the limb to make the skins stand out more.Thanks,Steve

does anyone put dye or color on the limb to make the skins stand out more.Thanks,Steve

I like to use black leather dye (on osage) under diamondback rattlesnake... it really makes the contrast pop.

Many people do that.

Pix please.... Thanks

I didn't like the way medium brown looked under washed out copperheads, too dark. This is the only picture I have of this bow after a patch job.

I was told light / white under snake skins.. John

Not light, I put skins over natural bamboo and could hardly see them. Had to stain the skins but turned out fine.

For Diamondbacks, Prairie Rattlers and water snakes, black works best. Copperheads and Timber Rattlers, a light color such as beige or tan.

A lot of people paint limbs white under copperhead to make them pop or look more defined.

Dye black under sturgeon skins too. Sometimes the dark background of the skin itself is splotchy with somewhat transparent patches here and there. The black dye on the bow makes them virtually unnoticeable when glued in place.

Hmmmm. I've never dyed the limbs, but I have died the underside of the skins before gluing them on. Same result, I think, but if you want to remove them, you'll still have your original limb color.

Hmmmm... Dyed the underside of the skins? You've piqued my curiosity. I've done a fair amount skinning bows, both bought and caught but never painted or dyed the limbs, I used certain skins accordingly to the existing colors of the limbs for best effect.

Curious as to what specie snake skin you dyed?

I have matched copperhead skins with diluted leather dye when they weren't even close to being the same color. In this bow I used three different skins, none of them matched. The first splice was visible, I hid the others pretty well. I used a fine artists brush and put the color on in layers until they matched.

This is the visible splice, I matched the entire skin, you can only see the ends of one and the beginning of another in the picture.

On this part of one skin the pattern was completely washed out so I drew in the pattern in the picture with the above technique.

I used a dry brushing technique to fade out the colors. I tried to put some poly over the dye and it turned milky in the center of the limb as seen in the above picture. My patterns were much more vibrant before the poly but I couldn't take it off once I had applied it.

Ottertail: I dyed both eastern diamondback and prairie rattler skins with black on the belly. Colors came out richer/darker when later finished with polyurathane. I also remove the scales, of course, after gluing and before finishing.

Thanks Orion, never thought of dyeing the skins. That's a good tip, they can then go on any type color of limb I would think.

Well done Eric. I have some skins in the freezer that don't match. Either gonna trade, sell or tan them for leather work.

I meant western diamondback, not eastern. Oops.

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