New painted bows

So here's some new bows I put on my website, http://www.bowskin.com/ 

The tillering wasn't the difficult part.The hard part was the painting, so I thought I would share my finds here for aspiring bowyers, or painters that may have similar problems.

 As you can see you can get some wicked cool clean lines and a nice finish when done properly, but this doesn't tell the story of the problems.

Problem #1 Low flash point solvent based paint.
Problem #2 High flash point solvent based catalyzed varnish
ad these together, and what happens is the paint will wrinkle and/or run.

Solution:
A friend of mine does alot of pinstriping and had suggested that when you thin your paint (use mineral spirits) add just a drop of your catalyst to your thinner (bout 3 oz. of thinner). This is supposed to create a nice marrige to the paint and varnish.

 Well after I tried that I seen a little bit better results, but the problem of runs or wrinkles still happened.

 So then I stuck to my old "global rule" of "go slow, little at a time" which equates to, when spraying your sealant, get a first coat on, but make it very light. If you go heavy it will take to long to dry, and it will have a longer time and chance to burn and bleed the paint.

 Ultimately the best choice is to use a paint with the same base solvents that your sealant/varnish/laquer/etc. has, but when this is not an option (as there are not alot of pro paint stores in this area) catalyst additive to your thinner, and light coats are an alternative.

The next theory I am testing is the use of a heat gun to bake certian solvent based paints after they air dry, then try different spray thicknesses to see if it will eleiminate the paint burning wrinkle/run or if it is just a waste of time. The theory comes from comparison to automotive painting. I have heard the paint is baked on before the clear coating is applied. with out knowing the why or investiving a bunch of time reseaching the chemistry and complete physics of solvents pigment vhicles, and heat, I thought I would do an additional trial and error. if anyone cares to add to this, feel free.

Fleshing Beam

For a while now I have had folks asking about the type of fleshing beam I use. it's difficult to explain (especially repeatatively over many phone calls) so I thought I would give everyone a visual.

As you can see, this style is very sturdy, before with the simple three-peice beam in the videos I always had trouble with the beam tipping to either side if my hide was not balanced. this was a real problem. The only way I countered it was having to be right there all the time to pin the hide between my torso and the beam.

 Now with the front of the beam stablized in an "A" frame this eliminates the problem.

The bottom ridge beam complets the frame. I preffer an angle of roughly 40 degrees, but you can make your own to suit your needs. to give you and idea of how high the top of the 4" PVC thick wall drain pipe is, it come about 2" above my navel.

Having your beam at the right height and angle pitch, is key for comfort without breaking your back. as the rough dimension wer listed before for my comfort, your may be different, you can add blocks or cut off from the base at the cak where the bottom and top ridge beams meet. and you can do the same for the "A" frame to adjust for height.

I hope this helps, and happy scraping!

Are you buckskins ripping and tearing?

Recently I received a phone call from a prospective tanner in Tennessee. He's been following the videos and is now at a point where he was curious about tearing in his hide. He is at the point of nuetralizing the hide (see video on neutralizing) but on the finishing of the graining process he noticed alot of tearing. after further explanation of the situation, it sounds like he got a thin hide with alot of nicks and knife cuts on the hide. These weak spots on any hide spell disaster. For the beggining tanner it can be quite disheartening. Fret not. Next time, if you are the skinner, remember to pell your hide off, only use your knife for the openeing cuts, then put your knife away LEAVE IT ALONE!!!! and now Pull your hide of the deer, this ensures a clean skin, no weak spots on the hide and leaves the natural membrane on the carcass to protect it if you want it to hang (like natures saran wrap).

The key to tanning thin hides is a gentle touch. gentle yet repetative graining, gentle yet multiple wringings. That's it, no secret, just remember on thinner hides you have to go gentle. it's about repition, with the small guys, beacause brut force alone wont do it like it could for the hefty deer!

hide tanning, when is it really chemical tanned?

the following was a post to a youtube video I had done but I wrote so much I thought I should share it here as well...


see, chemisrty is everything, and by definition, even the brain is a chemical, what we use from the brain is an emulsified oil (mixes with water). now enough of that, on with the show.
you see the idea behind basic brain tanning, whether doing wetscrape( using and alkali in forms such as Hydrated lime, Wood ash or even KOH), or dry scrape (no alkali), is brain penatration.
to understand that, think of a bunch of hide fibers like a bunch of pipe cleaners all twisted together... now take this mass and soak it in glue.
this would be the hides natural state. fibers intertwined and coated with the mucus membrane.
now picture your brain solution as a glass of milk mixed with near a gallon of water.
now your job is to make that watery milk penatrate that gluey mass of pipecleaners, forcing out the glue completely by multiple dressings.
tough huh?
this is why dry scrape is less popular.
now with wet scrape add alkali, we'll say it's a hot soapy solution and completely cleans out all the glue but DOES NOT AT ALL hurt the fibers-because that's what alkali does.
now you have the pipe cleaner mass easily and ready to accept the milky water with no glue left! YAY!

ok now to the second part.
natural veggie tanning;
will take to long to type, I work two jobs father of twins and I have finals, so I'll be brief this time,
think tea
put a bag in your mouth, seriously, do it. makes ya pucker huh? coagulates blood too, reason why? it's hydroscopic, like brake fluid, absorbs water!
so any ways a series of baths are made weakest to strongest, slowly allowing the hide to soak in each bath of weeks to months leacheing out water and replacing it with tanic acid( stuf in the tea, you'll also find it in bark, nuts, etc, more on this later...
well yeah it's wet so don't get confused, it does have water in it, just like A cup of strong tea made from 5 bags of tea, but it's still bitter and makes you pucker right?
ok so anyways, the tanic acid, basically what you did is preserve the hide like this, it's taken out of the baths and left to dry, som ancient european, and native american cultures (pacific northwest and north east coast were known for this) would break the hide down as it dried so it was somwhat pliable, think commercial suede to saddle or belt leather.
not buck skin soft, but pliable.
why?
Because of the lack of oil, no manipulation till the very end, and the use of a chemical (tannic acid) to extract water and mucus from the hide.
is it better or worse?
well you wouldn't want a belt or saddle out of braintan, nor would you want a shirt or coat out of commercial or vegtable tanned hides, each have their own purposes, and each animal speicies exhibts different traits good for something like elk doesn't make good moccasins due to the coarse grain structure, but better for coats, moose is better for mocs anayways, tighter grain and thicker, and so on...
want a cooler summer shirt of buckskin? try antelope, very thin yet strong as or morse than deer, plus the breathability factor of braintan is a plus "Sweat all you want!"

hope this helps some...

secret project

A friend of mine does very similar work, So I said I would not sell this style of sculpting on my website, instead, I will come up with my own style, though he's ok with whatever I'm sure, it's still about my own ethics and morals, so instead, I thought I'd just share the photos...

Let me know what you think!

                                          These first 3 pics are of the handle, it's actually quite comfortable, it's like this was made for the hand!

the leaf and vine work on the whole bow took a total of seven hours of sculpting, my first time doing this with this medium, getting a whole new set of bows the same style to sculpt this weekend, but going to be different design, perhaps the celtic knot work I had originally tried....

small project I have been working on, bamboo backe recurve, with sculpting, this was so much fun... thought I'd share

Click on the follow link, if you'd like to keep up to date...

For those of you visiting for the first time, don't forget to become a follower to this blog. I am always adding more to this blog. I just started this up in November of 2010. For a while I have had a web page and a you tube channel, but now I am moving all of my "tips and tricks" "hints" " tutorials" "build-a-longs" and others to this site.

I have taught classes in almost all forms or north american primitive cultural arts and/ or skills, don't claim to be a know it all, never will, many more who know more, and I love to learn too, I'm just here to pass on what I know and what works to you

ok I'm already bored talking about my self, enough of that.

You will find to main topics in this blog; Bows and bowmaking, and you wil also find buckskins, and tanning.

I'm sure I may add more subjects if popularity demands for it, other subjects to include may be, porcupine quillwork embroidery, Scrimshaw, Flint knapping, Primitive weapons, survival, basketry, stone sculpting,etc. basically primitive and cultural arts and skills, but we will see. for now, basically this will be a how to, and Q&A site for those that have followed the youtube channel, website, seen me in the magazines, or are just plain curious to how a certian thing to work.

in order to keep up date on this, best to click on the follower link on the side bar to your right.

Preserving fresh hides CHEAP!!!!!

Forget freezing, Stop Drying, don't worry about rot, this article I wrote is very helpful, and will save you ALOT of MONEY and freezer space. Not to mention if you're married it'll with keep you significant other happy "out of sight out of mind".

DID YOU KNOW?

A common belief of storing fresh (green) hides is drying and freezing. Although these methods will work they can be costly or change the quality of you hides. In addition, if they are done incorrectly they can make the whole tanning process a mess or near impossible for the tanner. This guide offers suggestions to each method, plus introduces the method of Wet Salting ( my preferred method).

Freezing:

When working with any hides or even large portions of meat the idea is to get it cool as quick as possible so bacteria doesn't start making your hide or meat into a rancid mess. Bacteria is a hides worst enemy, next to unchecked dogs and rodents. Multiplying every ten minutes if not arrested these organisms ruin the hopeful tanners ambitions.

Usually hides are hurried into a bag and thrown in the freezer, this is WRONG! “Well it's frozen right? It will be ok... right?” Yes and no. The out side is frozen, because this surface is exposed to the cold air (think warm house in the winter, cold on the outside right? Snow on the roof?) ok same difference, except the bacteria now case frozen in the hide are have a party! Now depending on the size of the hide (deer-Buffalo) a hide can take from 6- 24 hours to completely freeze. This of course all depends on many factors but your common white tail in a chest freezer set to 30 Degrees F, will freeze in about 6 hours or more.

What this means is the bacteria that is breaking the hide down has plenty of time to consume the proteins allowing the dermal layer to separate, and the hair slips, so your hide, though frozen has the potential of mangy compost at the end.

If you are really set on freezing then allow the hide to remain open for an hour or so in 40 +or- degree weather, then roll bag and freeze. It's that simple, the key ingredient is patience and observation.

Drying:

Drying a hide seems pretty easy right? Just hang over a fence and let the sun and wind do the work! WRONG AGAIN! Meat and fat on a hide will turn rancid, seep into the fiber network, and begin to solar cook the hide (buffalo are famous for this). The hide will also rot while drying. Bugs canine, felines and rodent cannot resist this rancid treat, and then you're and instant favorite with the local wild life, though you may not have to worry about entertaining friends for a while.

The best way to dry a hide with no preservatives, is to completely flesh the hide clean of meat and fat , open up the hide, so no skin is rolled over or touching, and allow to dry, preferably on a frame in the shade.

Wet Salting:

Wet salting is basically pickling the hide, which will preserve the hide for a very long time. When done properly the process is CHEAP and WORRY-FREE. No freezer needed (more space for Wild game meat now) No worry's of critters messing with your hide, or losing friends!

WHAT YOU NEED TO GET STARTED:

Salt. A fifty pound bags runs about $4-$5 at your local grain elevator/feed store.

Flat surface. Plywood works great for this.

An air tight container. Plastic only, metal cans rust with salt , staining your hide.

Step I:

Spread hide out on ground, opened up fully, uncurling edges

Step II:

Put heaping amounts of salt onto hide and spread evenly all the way out to the edges (make sure to uncurl all edges, and get salt in there). The object is to get at least a little bit of salt all over the hide.

Step III:

Allow the hide to stay in the shade for anywhere from 3-6 hours. This allows any excess moisture to drain away from the hide.

Step IV:

Fold up the hide flesh side to flesh side, along the spine. Don't need to be pretty just like you would fold a towel or blanket.

Step V:

In your air tight container, place some blocks on the bottom to keep the hide elevated above the bottom, so it doesn't sit in any moisture. This moisture would rot the hide if it sat in it, because you have kept it raised above, you are ok., after a few weeks you can pull the hide out, drain the moisture out of your container, put the blocks back in and your hide back in the container, seal the lid.

I have stored Hides like this for decades and they still came out wonderfully soft and strong, as a matter of fact, the salting actually helps the hides become even softer, in my own opinion.