shedding issue/health concern

Long story short, I received a cornsnake from my friend who just went in to the army and needed to get rid of it. Some basics: snake is about 1 year old, almost 2 feet in length, orange and maroon colored, and fiesty as can be...aka he bites. But my concern is not with the biting, I believe that's because he wasn't handled enough when he was younger. Either way, my concern involves his shedding. He seems to be missing the very end of his tail (about half inch I would say from the previous pictures), and he also looks to have a "rattle" form that is now the end of his tail. To put it better, there looks to be a lot of old/dead/dried skin wrapped around very tightly, but not tight enough to cut off the circulation to the "rattle" at the end. He/she, I have no idea how to tell and neither did my friend, is currently shedding, and now to my question: is there anything I can do to get that old skin off so his tail will grow as normally as it can now (seeing how it's already deformed)??? I've bathed the snake 2 times now in the last 2 weeks, but it doesn't seem to help with the "gnot". Everytime I try to pick at it, he bites me, or attempts to...Any help would be really appreciated, because I hate to see a snake deformed/suffering. Also, can this have any serious defect on the snake's overall health?

Just keep soaking it for about 39-45 minutes a day and try to pick it off. Yes, the snake may bite, but the dead skin needs to come off. If, after several attempts at this, it still doesn't come off, you may need to get a vet to cut it off.

I bought an 03 corn snake early this year that has a similar deformity on the end of his tail from a neglected bad shed. none of my own raised from hatchlings have this problem. I bought him via kingsnakes.com classifieds and while the seller had good feedback on the BOI, he neglected to mention it and the picture didn't show it. His doesn't have any dead skin remaining, it just has the sort of knot at the end of his tail that is missing the very end. After about 8 months now and multiple sheds it hasn't really changed and I think he is stuck with it, though mine looks a little less severe than you describe. Every shed with me has been perfect, full sheds. I was hoping it would work itself out after many sheds, maybe someone more knowledgeable knows.

I am not sure how helpfull this will be considering you described the snake as already having a "knot". For starters a bath 1x per week probably won't suffice. I would recommend adding a moist hide along with increasing humidity. Bathe the snake and take a moist cloth and let the snake run through it over and over. Several times a day or as much as the snake will tolerate. I personally have a BP that has had ongoing shed/mite problems since I got him/her (from a pet store). This is what has worked for me:
6-8 warm damp wash clothes, let the snake run through as they are changed and rewetted. I then take an appropriate sized Tupperware container with pin air holes and two large "escape" holes in the lid. After running the snake through the moist towels I re moisten the towels and place the snake within the container with the moist towels. I then place the container with the snake inside back in the viv half on the heat mat then let the snake rest for a day. Check for results/Repeat. I hope that made sense or any of my suggestions were helpfull. Good Luck

I'll try those methods and see how they work out for me. Also, many of you talk about putting the snake in water all the time/etc and as I walk through pet stores I see the snakes constantly just hanging out in their water bowls like it's no big deal. My snake HATES the water. He never just "hangs out" in water, and everytime I try to bathe him, once he hits the water, he immediately freaks out and tries to get out. I'm not sure if some snakes just don't like water or what, but I think that may have contributed to his tail disfigurement. Let me know what you think.

Some snakes like water, some don't. None of my snakes ever soak either. That didn't contribute to his bad shed as much as the humidity being too low and the original bad shed being neglected.