Anybody tan fish skin for pen blanks?

JR Parks

JR Parks

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Using some of last years chum salmon to catch a pesky raccoon. And while cutting it up I pondered the possibility of using salmon skin for pen blanks like we do snake skins. Some online tanning suggestions are very complicated but some use glycerin & dna as I do for snake skins. Most caution to use detergent liberally to remove prevalent fish oil. Any thoughts?
 
Most fish skins I've ever seen pretty fade to a dull grey color. You'd still get the scale pattern but not much color I fear.
 
When you do that copperhead you have do a couple of fish and try it out. Might be worth the experiment.
 
JR Parks said:
Using some of last years chum salmon to catch a pesky raccoon. And while cutting it up I pondered the possibility of using salmon skin for pen blanks like we do snake skins. Some online tanning suggestions are very complicated but some use glycerin & dna as I do for snake skins. Most caution to use detergent liberally to remove prevalent fish oil. Any thoughts?
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When I did fish awhile back, tanning the fish, skin after removing all meat from the flesh side, consist of soaking the the skin in water and borax for a couple days. If the fish was an oily skin like trout a couple days in DNA to degrease.

Then gluing and mounting the skin on a form very gently to keep from losing any scales. Most freshwater trout you rubbed al the scales off anyways cuz there were going to be patches of scales missing and you wanted a uniformed look.

After drying you had to meticulously repaint the fish because they lost most of their color during drying.
So, tan it, then lay it out to dry by pinning it along the edges, then after drying use a spoon or such and gently scrape all scales off.

Wipe each side with a paper towel with acetone to remove any oil.

Then reproduce the colors using airbrush, pastel powders etc. Seal with krylon clear.

Cut and glue to a pen tube. Be sure to use pinking shears to hide the seam. Then continue as normal

Easy peasy

or

Fish Leathercraft Hides & Fur Pelts​


Brook Trout Pattern Pen Blank​

 
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In my sleep ! Thanks Barry. My execution may be a little more peasy than easy but fun.
 
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