anlter mounting?
 

Question on mounting antlers. What would be the best solution to use to form a skull around the antlers? I was thinking of using plaster of Paris so I could form it easy enough. Car bondo would need a lot of sanding. Any words of wisdom on this would be taken gratefully. Thanks

RE: anlter mounting?
 

When you take the antlers take the skull with them at that time. I soak the skull portion in bleach for a few days and then the hide portion can be removed and everything is clean and ready for mounting.
I guess plaster of paris would work if you had a mold.

RE: anlter mounting?
 

Hafa8pt, Is soaking it in bleach easier than boiling a skull? Does the tissue come off pretty easily?

RE: anlter mounting?
 

I did one last year for a boy in our club' s first buck ever. I used plaster of paris. It wasn' t too hard. What I did was cut a piece of thin plywood and screwed it to the back of the skull, then used the plaster of paris to build up on the front side. It is very easy to shape, and sets up quick. Once I got it shaped how I wanted, after it dried, I wrapped the whole thing with green velvet and stapled the velvet to the wood on the back. I put gold trim around the antler bases, and then I attached it to a walnut plaque I made. It turned out nice, and cost basically nothing but time..since I had all the materials.

RE: anlter mounting?
 

Here is the best way to meet your objective. First you need a 3500 psi pressure washer yes a pressure washer. second a air hose and compressor. Make a small cut above the lip stick the air hose under the skin pull the trigger and the air will seperate the skin from the head. skin it out with a few cuts around the tear ducts and lip. Now for the messy part use the pressure washer and wash all the braines and bloof off the skull. Oh wear a rain coat and thick rubber gloves to prevent your hans from spliting from the pressure washer. This will wash all the blood and skin off. Then dip it in bleach for 30minutes to one hour air dry and then you have what is called a european mount. It looks a lot better with the full skill try it you will like it! Good luck!
sr. corndog:D

RE: anlter mounting?
 

I find boiling the skull works the best for me, When you boil add a small amout of dawn dish soap to help to cut the grease in the fat. Make sure that you dont allow the antlers to come in contact with the boiling water because it will cause discoloration and a change in tewxture to the antlers. I use a large rooasting pan and fill with water until skull is submerged, I place a dowel rod across the top of the pan and tie antlers to the dowel rod so they dont come in contact with the water.WhenI boil I use needle nose pliers to remove some of the tissues that are sticking to the bone and boil and repeat process. You can use a thin fillet knife etc to insert into brain cavity to break up the brain so it will come out the hole in small pieces.I think they come out looking better than when I bleach, bury, leave exposed to the elements etc.
If you use plaster of paris, remember if you ever drop it or bang or bump it the plaster will break easily. I found out this the hard way by using it as a filler around the bases of shed antlers that I attached to a skull.
The auto body filler actually works quite well and can be formed like clay in the beginning to reduce the amount of sanding.
If you check with some of the taxidermy suppliers on the internet such as WASCO you will find that they sell imitation buck skulls for mounting shed or removed antlers for european mounts, and they sell a device that you can screw shed or removed antlers onto for mounting plus they sell lots of plaques for skull cap mounts. Hope this helps you.;)

RE: anlter mounting?
 

Sr corndog...I' m visualizing that procedure...LOL ;)

Lady...have you ever boiled using Sal Soda? For doing a full skull, this is the easiest (and cleanest) way I' ve found. It takes 15 to 30 minutes total, and is about 99% clean when it' s done. I' d tried bleach, peroxide, and soap....and a buddy of mine who' s a taxidermist told me to try using this. It works far better and faster. I did one last weekend for a friend. Just make sure you do it outside or your spouse is liable to ring your neck :D

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WV,What is SAL Soda ? And what do I need to do? I' ve got one from this year in the freezer I want to do . Thanks in advance !

RE: anlter mounting?
 

CBM...Sal Soda is a powder chemical you can get from your taxidermist. It' s about $10 for 5lbs...if I recall.
First, skin the hide off your skull. Take a large pot of water and bring it to a boil. Add 1 cup of sal soda per gallon, and let it boil a few minutes. Put the skull in the pot(make sure the antlers stay above the water) and let it boil about 15 minutes. Take it out, and clean off the meat, etc. Most of it will already be off, but some of it gets stuck in the little crevices. Put it back in for another 10-15 minutes if it is needed. After it' s done, remove anything that may be stuck in the crevices, rinse it off with clean water, and let it dry. It turns out real nice. You can soak it in bleach a little while if you want it real bright white, but I usually don' t.
**Make sure you do it outside! If you don' t, you' ll know why soon enough ;)
Good luck!

RE: anlter mounting?
 

Thanks! I' ve boiled a few but it usually takes me a long time (4-5 hours) and a lot of scraping . I' ve just done it, I' ve never really known what I was doing. Your right , my wife would kick me out of the house if I boiled one inside.

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I have seen it in wascos catolog but havent tried it yet.
As for boiling indoors IVE DONE IT it made my kitchen look like jeffery domers house.[:o]:(

RE: anlter mounting?
 

CBM SC, as you can see there are a multitude of ways to do this. After taking the anlers with the necessary skull I simply put them in a container(old coffee can, old junk store pot,etc) then cover hair hide and all with clorox bleach just to the base of the anlers. Leave this for about 3-5 days and the hair hide and all is very easy to remove plus there is no meat to spoil. If the bleach should get on the antler base I polish that with old english furniture polish. I just don' t care for the hassle of boiling but then that' s just me. I am sure all of the mentioned ways works well.:):)

RE: anlter mounting?
 

Without a doubt, for the easiest way around the mess and fuss check out:

http://www.taxidermy.com/cat/12/antler.html

Scroll down to the " Reproduction European Skull Mounts" ...

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Oh, and don' t waste your money on that SAL SODA. It' s sodium carbonate. Just use regular baking soda (sodium bicarbonate) and salt. The sodium bicarb will form sodium carbonate upon heating in solution.

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Cyclone those reproduction european skull mounts are the ones I was talking about, they look great. Good link.;)

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Cyclone...wasting money on Sal Soda???? I got 5lbs of it for $10...and I' ve had it for a few years. I' ve done pleny of skulls with it, and still have about 1/2 of it left. Man...I' m going broke fast at that rate ;) [:-]

I agree....those imitation skulls are the easiest way for sure. My taxidermist uses those some. The only thing I don' t like is they look a little too fake. They would be great for sheds.

RE: anlter mounting?
 

1lb baking soda for less than a buck...readily available.....no shipping.....

I used the antelope repro looks great, no fuss no muss, the hard part is to get the stink out of the original horns....That' s where the baking soda came in handy again. Soaked the horns in a solution for about a week, no more smell.....

Yep, they do look a little off, the sinus cavity needs work....but when you have only a partial skull or drop offs they are the ticket...

RE: anlter mounting?
 

I was lucky enough to find a buck skull from a road kill buck that was killed after he had shed his antlers and I used the skull to mount a matched set of sheds to, I have found 3 years worth of matched sets of sheds from this paticular buck.
I drilled holes into the pedistals and drilled holes into the bases of the antlers to attach the antlers to the skull and used plaster to fill around the bases of the antlers( will never use plaster again, live and learn ) I then smoothed the plaster while it was still wet and then sanded, painted the skull with white acrilyic paint and sealed the skull with a polyurethane varnish,I also seal the antlers with a lite coat of varnish and decorated with deer leather, sterling silver,mink fur, eastern turkey feathersetc. It was fun;)

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Nice job!

For filling areas like that lady, look into a product called Apoxie Sculpt. It is a two part epoxy that cures harder and stronger than rock. You can sculpt it easily and smooth it with a wet spatula/finger....It can be sanded when cured and accepts paint/stain readily....You can get it from most taxidermy supply co' s including WASCO. Now, it is expensive so only mix as much as you need....

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Lady...yes very nice! I' ve never quite gotten that extravagant with mine....:D

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Cyclone ; Thanks, Ill have to look into apoxie sculpt.Do you know what is the recommended drying time on this product?
This is the next skull I have to do for my hunting guide at hunting unlimited,it scored 138 P&Y, he left it sitting out in the sun for 7 years ,so it was a real pain to remove the dried hard as a rock tissues, it took many many soaking and needle nose pliers and a dremil sanding stone to complete the job of cleaning. Im gonna do this one with large pieces of turquoise and sterling silver.:)

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I usually work with it after it cures overnight, but I think you can after 6 hrs or so..

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Thanks for the info;)