'08 European Mount

[clindsayrun]

I finally got around to bleaching out my '08 deer.  I also made a simple pedestal to mount the skull on.  I can hang it on the wall as shown, or rotate the skull 180 degrees and place it on a table to display it that way as well.

All in all it was pretty simple...just took a few nights to complete each step.

I hung it dead center above the fireplace in the living room.  The wife isn't home yet so we'll see what she thinks of my choice for a display location.  It's pretty cold out so I don't think she'll send me out to the doghouse, but we'll find out this afternoon.

[PacificNWhunter]

Looks good man!

[wf70gonehunting]

Looks good,Hope your wife like it

[dbllunger]

Nice

[Little Fish]

Looks nice. What is the process for doing a euro mount?

[blindpig]

Nice wood work and the mount looks good as well.

[huntnphool]

Nice work, looks good.

[Red Dawg]

very nice

[clindsayrun]

UPDATE!!!

Okay, so I used pine for the plaque. That was all they had at the hardware store here in Oroville. With some sanding and a few coats of nice stain I got it looking pretty good. Turns out I should have used a hard wood like I originally wanted to.

Anyway...here are the newest results of my hard work. I guess I made the arm that connected between the two plaques a little thin. Also after conducting my disaster analysis I saw that I created the piece with the stress of the weight bearing along the grain, rather than against it. I remember doing this because I wanted all the grain to flow in the same direction. Instead I played right into the woods natural weakness.

I woke up this morning to find my trophy in pieces. I guess I'll try to super glue it back together but I know it won't look the same. All the fine bones of the nostrils and insides are destroyed.

Oh well, maybe next year.

[huntnphool]

Ouch

[PacificNWhunter]

OH that SUCKS! Doesnt look like any of the antlers broke though.

[clindsayrun]

UPDATE # 2

Okay, so I've actually managed to glue the large pieces back together. I've also constructed a new and stronger arm to connect the display plaque to the wall plaque. I need to sand it and put a second coat of stain on, so it will still be another day before I can put it back on the wall.

The skull looks sorta okay now. There are several residual superglue stains and a couple of places that didn't quite go together like they should have. Also a majority of the thin, fine nasal bones were not repairable. They were also very difficult to vacuum up, not sure why.

Anyway, I'll post another pic in a day or so with the round two final results.

[huntnphool]

Might just be a prime candidate for hydroprinting.

[clindsayrun]

Hydroprinting, I'd never heard of that before...not on a skull anyway. Pretty neat  stuff!

Got anybody in mind who can do it, or should I just run it through google.

[bow4elk]

Hydrographics is a firm I've used in Oregon for my product design work.  They'll dip anything.  Look them up.