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Author Topic: Fish skins, another use :)  (Read 1513 times)

Offline RonSki

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Fish skins, another use :)
« on: Jan 01, 2011, 01:41 PM »
    The recent talk of using real fish skins has reminded me of a Christmas present I made for Dad last year. Actually, I gave it to him this past October, but it was SUPPOSED to be a Christmas presesnt last year  :( Dad has this way of buying exactly what I plan to get him for Christmas so I started a project he could not buy and I would spend forever getting done. I fished with a purpose last ice season. I had a list of species in my head that I needed for this project. I saved the skins from fish for the whole season and finally put them to good use. I was originally going to buy him a Lead Sled, so when he bought one a month before Christmas I decided that he would need something to put it on. I decided to make a shooting bench with real fish skins on it. I haven't ever made a bench, let alone put fish skins on a piece of furniture. I had always joked with my wife about how I was going to use crappie skins as wallpaper because they are so beautiful. This just felt like a way I could do that and have some fun at the same time. I HAVE put real fish skins on muskie baits before and it was not nearly as difficult as this was! So, after a little research into shooting bench designs, I dove in.
 A few months later, here is what I came up with...







It's not nearly perfect. The top looks wavy, but only in pictures, it is perfectly smooth. Overlapping the skins probably made this more difficut that it should have been. I've learned ALOT about how this should be done. Scales are bad in this use! But it IS one of a kind and unlike anything I have ever seen done. The single best part of this project is that every single one of the fish who donated their skins for this project, were caught whe WE were out fishing. It has built in memories, even better than pictures. I can point to every fish on there and name the lake, the day, and the spot where we caught them. There's the pike from Wawasee that I caught on 2# test and a little jigging rap, a 15" crappie from a new lake on an exploratory day. Walleyes and white bass, some huge redears too. Big perch we caught together, they're all there. And hopefully this will be something I can hand down to MY kids. It's WAY overbuilt, has about three quarters of an inch of Envirotex over the skins. The wood will someday rot, but it is totally sealed all the way around so no moisture can get in.

   I do have plans to build another project like this in the future, but not any time soon. It was really a pain in the butt! I think a nice cofee table will be next, THAT oughta be interesting ;) Thanks for reminding me A Bomb, and AWESOME work on those spoons!!! I may have to try that next instead!

 As I KNOW he will read this at some point, Thanks Dad, for being a wonderful Father and my very best friend!!

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Offline Fishslayer81

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Re: Fish skins, another use :)
« Reply #1 on: Jan 01, 2011, 01:47 PM »
Nice post! That will probably be one of his favorite gifts, just from the thought that went into it. I would get a piece of scratch resistant plexi glass to go over the skins and protect the surface... just an idea.
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Offline A- bomb

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Re: Fish skins, another use :)
« Reply #2 on: Jan 01, 2011, 01:56 PM »
nice work!
just doing our part to be GREEN i guess...lol!

love it as he will!
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Offline abishop

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Re: Fish skins, another use :)
« Reply #3 on: Jan 01, 2011, 03:09 PM »
All I can say is mass quantities. May be the next millionaire. Good job, you could tell a lot of time and hard work went into this project.
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Offline Kinger53

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Re: Fish skins, another use :)
« Reply #4 on: Jan 01, 2011, 03:30 PM »
You're on to something there!
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Offline Capt J

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Re: Fish skins, another use :)
« Reply #5 on: Jan 01, 2011, 03:38 PM »
That is really cool. 
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Offline bryan62

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Re: Fish skins, another use :)
« Reply #6 on: Jan 01, 2011, 04:55 PM »
That's awesome! Did you treat the skins with anything first, or just glue them in place and brush the resin over them?
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Offline HighPockets

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Re: Fish skins, another use :)
« Reply #7 on: Jan 01, 2011, 05:04 PM »
Nice use of them skins.
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Offline bubbagill

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Re: Fish skins, another use :)
« Reply #8 on: Jan 01, 2011, 05:27 PM »
Awesome, I am for real I really love the look of that.  Imagine if that were on top of an end table that could be bought, what true fisherman would not want one of his own.  Might be the next million dollar idea, very cool.
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Offline RonSki

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Re: Fish skins, another use :)
« Reply #9 on: Jan 01, 2011, 06:22 PM »
  Thank you! No need to put anything over it, it's covered. Envirotex is like a really thick, hard lacquer. It pours on in thick coats instead of brushing on. Many muskie baits are covered with it.  I didn't treat the skins with anything, just put a thin coat over the wood as a sticky base and put them on. Then poured coat after coat after coat on top. Must have poured 8 or 9 coats; there TWO gallons of resin there. I WISH I could do this in bigger quantities, you could make some beautiful furniture that way but they would be very expensive. I WILL make a coffee table in the same manner eventually, especially since I've learned what NOT to do! Of course, I'll need to catch fish big enough to cover it so it might have to be a very small coffee table!!!
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Offline Swampdonkey

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Re: Fish skins, another use :)
« Reply #10 on: Jan 01, 2011, 06:26 PM »
Definatly one of the coolest things I have ever seen!
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cjhbeeman

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Re: Fish skins, another use :)
« Reply #11 on: Jan 01, 2011, 06:28 PM »
Very cool!
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Offline portageredneck

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Re: Fish skins, another use :)
« Reply #12 on: Jan 01, 2011, 06:31 PM »
hey ronski you could use trout or salmon skin for coffee table...i live by bass pro in portage and its only a minute from some of the best trout/salmon fishin in the u.s. ...just my opinion...don
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Offline Fishslayer81

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Re: Fish skins, another use :)
« Reply #13 on: Jan 01, 2011, 06:37 PM »
Quote from: RonSki on Jan 01, 2011, 06:22 PM
  Thank you! No need to put anything over it, it's covered. Envirotex is like a really thick, hard lacquer. It pours on in thick coats instead of brushing on. Many muskie baits are covered with it.  I didn't treat the skins with anything, just put a thin coat over the wood as a sticky base and put them on. Then poured coat after coat after coat on top. Must have poured 8 or 9 coats; there TWO gallons of resin there. I WISH I could do this in bigger quantities, you could make some beautiful furniture that way but they would be very expensive. I WILL make a coffee table in the same manner eventually, especially since I've learned what NOT to do! Of course, I'll need to catch fish big enough to cover it so it might have to be a very small coffee table!!!
Ahh I see... very nice! I could not tell it was coated by the pics. Look forward to seeing pics of the coffee table someday!!
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Offline Fishking83

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Re: Fish skins, another use :)
« Reply #14 on: Jan 01, 2011, 07:11 PM »
Sign me up for one.  I didn't see any salmon or steelhead skins on there.  That is a nice looking project.
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Offline Hog Daddy

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Re: Fish skins, another use :)
« Reply #15 on: Jan 01, 2011, 07:29 PM »
I fancy myself as a hack woodworker, and that is just very unusual, and way cool.  I am going to think differently from now on as I slice those filets off the skin and toss those skins in a 5 gal bucket.  Very , very , unique.  Thanks for sharing.

HHD
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Offline river_scum

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Re: Fish skins, another use :)
« Reply #16 on: Jan 02, 2011, 02:12 PM »
really cool Ron!  i have wanted to do that with carp scales and polyurethane, to an endtable.

should post this on the main board bro.
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Offline JP-TKO

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Re: Fish skins, another use :)
« Reply #17 on: Jan 02, 2011, 08:57 PM »
that is awesome!!!!
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Offline bubbagill

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Re: Fish skins, another use :)
« Reply #18 on: Jan 02, 2011, 09:15 PM »
I cant say it enough I LOVE IT,  I just thought of another cool use for this application, what fisherman would not love to see this on the counter of a household bar, I have a new mission to learn how to do this, thanks again for sharing this wonderful idea.
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Offline beeverfishing

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Re: Fish skins, another use :)
« Reply #19 on: Jan 02, 2011, 09:32 PM »
 :thumbsup: :clap: :thumbsup: :clap:
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Offline RonSki

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Re: Fish skins, another use :)
« Reply #20 on: Jan 02, 2011, 10:45 PM »
  It's not very HARD to do, just very time consuming. I don't normally fish for steelhead very often, but after this project, I don't think any kind of trout/salmon would work very good. Pike (and salmon too) discolor very easily. It's very difficult to catch, clean, and freeze the skins without discoloring. I had to pick thru quite a few pike skins to get 2 decent ones. It could work, but it all depends on how fast you get them frozen. It's definitely worth a try and would look very cool. :)
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Offline Flat Bob

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Re: Fish skins, another use :)
« Reply #21 on: Jan 02, 2011, 10:58 PM »
 :o :o :oWOW :o :o :o
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Offline popnfish

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Re: Fish skins, another use :)
« Reply #22 on: Jan 03, 2011, 09:29 AM »
wonder how many skins you'd need to cover an auto  ::)
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