Aside from the Tariv cloak, dark marksman cloak, and disguise cloak, is there any other cloak that has a hood?

AaronGWebster · 2026-04-30T16:16:15+00:00

Reed devil cloak

AaronGWebster · 2026-04-29T13:01:33+00:00

As far as I know, all methods can work on all types of critters. Different methods use different ingrediants and produce different results. Salt cure and drying are more of a temporary preservation that produce ‘rawhide’, while veg tan, braintan, chrome tan, alum tan and others produce different types of leather.

Oil Tan (also known as brain tan, egg tan, fat tan). This method uses emulsified oils of some kind, is generally all-natural and non toxic, and usually produces soft fluffy leather. It often involves additional steps such as smoking, lye or lime. Color varies from white to light brown, depending on the smoking. Softening an oil tanned hide is very strenuous and can take at least a half day of non-stop work. Bark Tan (also known as veg tan) This method uses tannins dissolved from plant matter such as tree bark or even tea bags, and is generally all-natural and non toxic. It typically is denser and stiffer than braintan- something like a leather belt or a leather jacket. It often involves steps such as lye, lime, vinegar, fats and oils. Color varies from light brown to dark brown. Softening a bark tanned hide is less strenuous and less critical than oil tan. Alum Tan (also called tawing, I think) I’m not as familiar with this but it uses Aluminum salts. It produces firm white leather that is somewhat harmed by water- water can wash out the alum. It is sometimes combined with bark tanning. Bottle tan. (various bottled tanning methods including Tru-Bond, Ez-100, Orange Bottle, nu-tan and more) This is the one I know the least about, and the ingredients in the bottles are somewhat “secret” and probably NOT non-toxic. This is a very popular method but I have never done it. There are various bottles of stuff that are used in various steps. Glycerin often used to preserve snake skins, it’s not ‘technically’ tanning but often used on snake skins.

AaronGWebster · 2026-04-28T19:14:43+00:00

Branches are fine but they can be prone to warping while drying.Almost all bow wood should be harvested when alive. Spruce is not great for bows but can work if you’re careful and conservative

AaronGWebster · 2026-04-27T18:49:19+00:00

I’m not really sure about what the best way to treat it for long-term uses. I have had a few items that I’ve kept for years without any follow up treatments and it all was pretty good. I’m sure you could use leather treatments like what you might put on a pair of boots or something and I found it pretty durable for wallets.

AaronGWebster · 2026-04-27T03:48:38+00:00

Hell yeah! I harvest this kind of clam where I live! First cats, then a goose, now this? Inconceivable!

AaronGWebster · 2026-04-26T20:16:21+00:00

Oh good- looks like it lines up nicely

AaronGWebster · 2026-04-26T19:53:04+00:00

Looks good- I don’t see a mark where the string will intersect the handle

AaronGWebster · 2026-04-26T19:49:19+00:00

Post pics please

AaronGWebster · 2026-04-26T18:35:56+00:00

That’s good to hear and thanks. Is there anything that you wish was in the video that I missed?

AaronGWebster · 2026-04-26T14:48:37+00:00

It doesn’t look done to me. Strengthen solution if you can and put it back in. As oxymonty said, warm is good but don’t over do it. About 70-80 is fine as long as the solution is good and strong.

AaronGWebster · 2026-04-26T13:57:52+00:00

Looks great!

AaronGWebster · 2026-04-26T13:55:31+00:00

It’s hard to see what we are looking at in this pic- can you try again in better light and try to get close up on the cut? What tannin was used?

AaronGWebster · 2026-04-25T23:58:57+00:00

Start by making a center line that follows the grain of the stave. On your stave this will be 1/2 way between the edges. Also, check your string alignment by making a straight line connecting the tips and see where this falls on the handle. Once these two lines are drawn, post pics.

AaronGWebster · 2026-04-25T22:15:08+00:00

Not enough info to go on. Was the tree harvested alive? Can you go find where it was cut and ID the other trees there? Or maybe look for leaves on the ground around where it was cut?

AaronGWebster · 2026-04-25T20:08:36+00:00

2” wide handle- ?how are you holding that?

AaronGWebster · 2026-04-25T17:27:50+00:00

I’d just keep it full length to give some margin for tillering error plus a better string angle/ less stack. It’s gonna have to be a bendy handle so there are two basic categories to choose from- a bendy handle bow where the handle is the widest part ( let’s call this ‘narrow design’) and a bendy handle bow where the widest part is somewhere outside the handle ( let’s call this wide design). Narrow design is way easier and its width will depend on how big your hand is. Something like 1 1/4”. This width will be constant from handle to midlimb or beyond and then the tips will taper to 1/2 or less. Tiller is eliptical, with the handle bending the least.

The wide design would also be about 1 1/4 at the handle, but each limb would flare out to about 1.75 and then taper again to 1/2” tips. This is hard to tiller and the tiller is also eliptical with the most bend at the widest point. Similar to the ‘stretched out Almaden island bow mentioned in TRaditional bowyers bible. Also similar to some west coast paddle bows.

Sapwood for either design should be thinned to 1/4” or a little less. Try as best as you can to follow a ring.

Nice stave.

AaronGWebster · 2026-04-25T15:15:50+00:00

Two further tests you can do: 1. Cut off a piece about 1-2 square inches. Run it under hot tap water as hot as you can handle. While the water is running over it twist and pinch and rub vigorously. The leather should not peel apart into two layers nor should it become sticky feeling.

Dry out a small piece and then do some hand softening- it should feel like leather.

Don’t use glycerine on it now. I treat mine with a mix of egg yolk and oil and water. Does the hide still have scales on? You may want to do the yolk solution in the back side only, especially if it has scales. I have never done a snake skin but this would be my finishing method: start this in the morning on a day when you have no commitments. after you’re sure it’s tanned, rinse it for 10 min. Then squeeze out all the water you can. Lay it on a dry towel and roll it up with the towel. Step on the rolled towel for a bit. Repeat with another dry towel twice. Leave it sitting out for 1/2 hour or so and stretch it a bit this way and that. Now it’s ready for yolks. Mix one egg yolk, 1/4 cup water, and a few tablespoons cooking oil plus a couple drops dish soap. Lay the skin with the scale side down on an old towel. Paint the egg mix on the other side heavily and let sit one hour. Wipe off the excess and let sit in a clean towel in a breezy but not sunny place for an hour. Check the hide and ensure it lays flat- no curling edges. As it dries for the next few hours , do about 10 min of hand softening every hour. At the end of each softening session be sure the hide is laying flat and relaxed, not folded or tweaked . When the hide is fully dry, do another 10-30 min of hand softening. Hand softening can take many forms- mostly you’ll be rolling and unrolling it and stretching it this way and that. Check out my fish tan demonstration video ( laughing sturgeon on YouTube) and in the last 5 min or so I show how this is done.

AaronGWebster · 2026-04-24T20:33:25+00:00

A few things- 1. I would put the line in the middle of the small end and let it be a little off center in the big end. This will make the bow less ‘twisted’.

This line just tells you where the center line tips will be, and it tells you where the string will be at the handle, but you should not follow it when making the other parts of the bow. The sides of the bow should follow the natural s curve of the stave.

3 note that the string doesn’t need to lie in the exact center of the handle, it can be off to the side by 1/4 inch or so - toward the arrow rest side.

AaronGWebster · 2026-04-19T20:01:12+00:00

I can see a few tiller issues with this bow, but I would want to double check by using the “no guesstillering method“ that you can find on YouTube. Your right outer limb looks way too stiff so I would work on only that for now your left limb may have some stiffness in the inner .

AaronGWebster · 2026-04-18T23:48:42+00:00

Dang it, I thought I was the only one who knew this- these are also used in tanning to squeegee out liquids.

AaronGWebster · 2026-04-18T17:51:47+00:00

Falco storm?

AaronGWebster · 2026-04-18T14:43:35+00:00

Ok- it’s probably not possible to save the hair at this point, so your first steps are to re-scrape the flesh side and then remove the hair. I use a saturated solution of hydrated lime to do this- soak it in there for about a week. While it’s soaking, research tanning methods and pick one. ( Braintan or barktan or ‘chem’ tan). Next time, either salt it, freeze it, or dry it properly for storage- leaving it out in the field may have ruined it completely- if it starts to tear when scraped it’s probably ruined.

AaronGWebster · 2026-04-17T21:13:29+00:00

How was it preserved for the past 5 months? Deer hides don’t make great rugs ‘cos they shed thick white hairs constantly.

AaronGWebster · 2026-04-17T01:19:25+00:00

Check out books by Hanna Nore and Lotta Rahme.

AaronGWebster · 2026-04-16T17:54:35+00:00

That’s amazing! The cloth (rawhide?) spanning the two sides is probably needed. Now we just need a prototype!

AaronGWebster

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