Daniel’s KITH WIP

I have been having constant San mai success with high carbon steel and mild steel jacket so hopefully I don’t booger this up!
 
I have a friend coming over in the morning because he wants me to help him make some damascus billets. I think since I will have the forge up to welding heat I will try a Go-Mai. Maybe some 1084 core with a slice of 15N20 on each side flanked by mild steel. Because I favor plungeless grinds I think the single line of 15N20 should look cool when etched.
 
I was planning on doing a rattlesnake inlay on the Bowie sheath and I shot two rattlesnakes today. One was pretty well ruined from the shotgun and quite a bit of the second one was as well but I managed to get a good chunk skinned and ready for tanning.8963F800-A326-449A-B360-7E7446E7F80E.pngD7C8CCE7-3763-4EA7-B754-721BF305F33C.jpeg
 
Chris Railey said:
Nice, try a .22 next time...lol

Do you tan them yourself?
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Lol. I had been trying with the 22 but could never get a shot at the head. There was gonna be some people in this area today for Labor Day so I just took the shotgun and put it right in the middle of them and pulled the trigger. Yes I am going to tan it myself
 
opaul said:
Would love to know how you do the tanning. What state are you in?
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I have never done it before but everything I’ve looked at says A 50-50 mix of glycerin and alcohol and let it sit in the solution for about a week agitating the skins in the solution about once a day. I have A buddy that does it like this and seems to have good results.

Edit to add: I am in Texas.
 
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Method of tanning snake skin that I use is 1/3 glycerin , 1/3 alcohol , 1/3 acetone . Tack skin on board , flesh side up . Apply solution with paint brush daily for 3-4 days , & allow several days before using, as contact cement will not adhere until glycerin has thoroughly dryed .
 
joe sangster said:
Method of tanning snake skin that I use is 1/3 glycerin , 1/3 alcohol , 1/3 acetone . Tack skin on board , flesh side up . Apply solution with paint brush daily for 3-4 days , & allow several days before using, as contact cement will not adhere until glycerin has thoroughly dryed .
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Sounds simple enough. Next rattlesnake I come across has had a bad day...I have kind of always wanted to fry up a rattlesnake too. Win-win.
 
Daniel Macina said:
I have never done it before but everything I’ve looked at says A 50-50 mix of glycerin and alcohol and let it sit in the solution for about a week agitating the skins in the solution about once a day. I have A buddy that does it like this and seems to have good results.
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I've done a bunch of them exactly like this Daniel, they come out great. you need to lightly scrape off the top layer of the scales though, you'll see them wanting to come off, you want to make sure you get them off. you won't loose any pattern or color.
 
bladegrinder said:
I've done a bunch of them exactly like this Daniel, they come out great. you need to lightly scrape off the top layer of the scales though, you'll see them wanting to come off, you want to make sure you get them off. you won't loose any pattern or color.
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What do you mean? I must be reading it wrong I’m not quite following?
 
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