Primitive Archer
Main Discussion Area => Bows => Topic started by: Mo_coon-catcher on November 07, 2025, 12:38:34 pm
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I’m working on the finish work for a Osage bow with common carp skins. And decided to show how the common carp looks next to grass carp skin. Left is the common and right is the grass. I like the looks of the common carp better myself as it have more pattern and a better color to it. But is much more of a pain to work with. Grass carp scales pop off just looking at them and are noticeably longer. The common carp scales have to be pried loose, the skins are shorter, and are quite greasy. I did multiple warm water dawn washes and soaks and there’s still a significant amount of grease in them. After glued in the oils were still leaching out. I did a combination of heat, pressure, and alcohol to remove as much oil as possible. I got it so there not oily to the touch but truoil is still taking days to fully set up. But is still quite pretty once applied. Next time I’m gonna try different stronger degreasers before glue up.
Kyle
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They are both beautiful but I think I like the grass carp better. One thing you might try after you degrease the skin is to wipe or spray shellac over the surface then add the Tru Oil once the shellac dries. Shellac supposedly sticks to anything and everything sticks to shellac. I'd do a test first just to be sure.
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They both look nice.
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I agree, both look nice.
Do you keep them rolled up in the freezer?
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I’ll have to try that with the shellac on the next one I do and see if the finishes dry better
They’re dried out and rolled up in a trash bag in the spare bedroom. So far no issues. But we’ll see how they store long term.
Kyle
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I’m assuming that’s more than one fish skin per limb? Like both but, think I like the regular carp myself.
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For full limb coverage it would take a midlimb splice with 2 skins. But on these bows it’s just one skin per limb. The common carp was around 12# and the grass carp
About 15#
Kyle
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Wow, Both look really good and would make great camo too.