BigBuckShooter

I watched a couple taxidermy videos now and one of them has really posed a serious uhh duh... When they are finishing the mount they put the nails around the burr of the antlers, that was when it dries it doesn't pull away. So I assume that most taxidermist pull them out. Well the one video the guy just snipped the ends of the nail off. Does anyone else do this? is it hard to cover the nail. Wouldn't this insure that the hair wont pull away for a longer period of time? Thanks for the help...Just another newbie asking some Q's.

Bill Yox

The key is to make it fit right in the first place. Through the process, the skin is shaved thinner, the meat is removed, the skull dries and might shrink a bit, and the tanned skin stretches. All these things make it not fit right. Add to this that not all forms are exact fits to your capes, and that not all of us set the skull plates as accurately as we might like, and you have adjustments to make. So, when mounting, pay attention to setting the plate correctly, and add material to the skull. The material must represent the meat, shrinkage as well as the difference from the now thinned down skin. If, after all this and some good glue, you still get pulling, by all means, add those nails. From there, the theory is, leave them in, as theyll always hold the skin in place. Cut the tops off flush, and then hammer the ends over, the hair will hide them. The key, again, is to make it fit right in the first place, though.

Tree climber

Bil said it well.all I may add is , some preseritives will rust nails unless there stainless.so be careful with the nails.
if fixed right the first time,no need for the nails.