Wow Tim, that looks absolutely great.  The color match to the leather and the rest of the bow is perfect.  I was wondering if you would run into troublewith the overlays and the shelves but it looked like there was about 1/8th inch of room.  Not much when dealing with power tools but enough for hand work as you found out.  Your idea of leaving an edge to but the skins up against is great.  You should be able to get a perfect transition after the skins are on.

By the way, what kind of glue did you use for the overlays?

Awesome work . You guys are something.

W-O-W...

Looks great Tim.  It was needing something on the handle back.    
Agree on the snakewood.  Nice stuff.   Wish it wasn't so expensive.
Skins on the BB side, right?

   

Got a set of skins thawing out. Yes John skins on the BB side!  

Kind of was thinking on useing the darker side(upper back) of the skins instead of the lighter side(belly). There is more patterns running through the dark side than the light, but they are not as defined. The belly has a more open pattern, and on these narrow limbs, the pattern might get lost.

With the ageing/darkining of osage, the lighter skins look great,but with this BB being light and staying light? I'm thinking the darker skins will add more contrast?

I'll lay them out and use my best judgment?

Very nice tim, can't wait to see the skins.

Tim, I put the light / dark skins on sister bows (horn bellied static and flatbow) recently, and agree there is an entirely different look between the two.   Can't decide which I like better, so guess I must like 'em both.      
Doubt you can go wrong no matter what you decide.

Your the man on this job Tim, your judgment is best I know fur sure. I think your right the darker skins will prolly look great on bamboo.

You guys MAKE ME SICK!!!

Just kiddin'......that is sure going to be ONE AWSOME BOW fella's!

Timo....did you have to flatten the 'boo before putting the horn on the handle overlay?  I've wondered about trying that, but was concerned about having to violate the 'boo to get the overlay to fit.    :confused:

Dang Timo, that looks AWESOME! What a bow!

Well the skins are on,but to pooped to post, so will have to wait till tomorrow night.

I use super glue for the overlays, and yes Doug I did flatten the boo a bit. Just enough to get a good glue surface.I didn't figure it was too much to hurt and don't really think this bow has much give in the handle anyhow.

I went with an in between on the skins.....Right down the middle of the fish. Kinda dissapointed in the top limb.The pattern was a bit less than in the bottom, but still I think it'll fly.

With all the expertise put into this bow......I wouldn't be suprised it it DID FLY!!!  I've had a couple of them that flew....just as far as I could throw them.    

I wouldn't think that a little flattening would hurt it either Timo.....especially with that Tonkin 'boo.

I wouldn't fret about the pattern too much Tim. You gotta have some randomness built in somewhere. Adds to the beauty of it all and gives folks more to look at.

Been tryin to get photo buckets to work tonight, but it won't go.I'll keep tryin.

Did some trim work on the skins tonight,but still needs to set another day,before if finish them up. I'm pleased with the color.

Tic toc tic toc tic toc........

Do you have dial up too?  I found that in the daytime it took me about 15 to 20 minutes to upload a single pic to photobucket but at about midnight it only took about 3 to 5 minutes.  Doing the "resize during export" from the photo software program to "my documents / my pictures" helped too.

Tim probably had a birthday party to go to   :p  Hope ya had a goodun there Bud since I'm a day late.  

Aw man, you mean Timo was doing bow work on his B-Day? I thought B-Days were fer Parties! Happy B-Day Timo! CK

Most have seen how to apply fish skins.Not much different than snake, only a different smell?

The skins I picked were big boys. I lay them out and organize the pattern, by stretching them all directions.They stick quite well to cardboard, so movement is minimal.I've cut them down to 29".You can see the waste I have left over.

 

Since this bow was narrow, I took the liberty of cutting the skins down,so they are easier to handle and less to trim later. Also I was able to pick the best area of pattern.

 

Here is one side cut, and ready to glue on.



I use regular titebond for this stuff now. I figure the glue doesn't have to be waterproof, as long as the finish is.I always wondered how waterproof most of that glue is anyhow?

I wet the bow lightly,and apply a thin  glue wash to the bow back.Then I make sure and cover the skin very well. I rub the glue into the skin to get complete coverage.

 

The skins are then layed down just as you would a snake. making sure that all air bubbles are out,and that the pattern is in place.Lots of babysitting.Here's a pic of the skins ready to dry.( never mind that clutter in the background)

 

And finally a pic for John Sturtevant.:)This is what a bench should look like?

 

I have some more pics to load of the bow, after it is cleaned up and ready to finish.I'll get them up later.

OMG look at that workbench  :eek:    :rolleyes:  At least everything is in it's place. Nice skins Tim.