Slide of the month - Diamondback

June 2022

Time to make: 3 hours

Time to finish: 2 hours

Boys Life "Slide of the Month"

Dec. 1987, page 73

Original design:  Bill Fleming

I'm (hopefully) a little more than a month out from a Philmont trek I've been training for years now (since before the 2020 trek got cancelled) and I'm starting to think about running across this critter. Now I am not afraid of snakes, I just don't like them. Western diamondback rattlesnakes  are present at Philmont and most likely  wont be a problem for us as long as we leave them alone. Did I mention I don't like snakes.

When thinking about the head of the snake sticking out through the neckerchief, I knew maple was the only way to go for strength. One of the tricky part was to drill the hole through the body of the snake without hitting the area that will become the head. So while still as a block of wood I drilled 2/3 of the way down the center using a 3/4 inch Forstner bit. Next I drew out the rough shape of where the head and body would be located. Taking my sweet time, I carefully carved out the area between the head and the body remembering there was a hole in the center. Once the head was done I moved into carving the coils of the body and then the rattle. Lastly, I made the fangs out of some while plastic drawn out using a little heat. I drilled a couple of holes into the head and glued the fangs in place. I painted the slide with hobby paints and sealed the slide with a couple coats of poly.