My 1st DIY Euro mount --- PIC Heavy!!!

[Huntbear]

I finally finished my first DIY Euro mount.  It is a whitetail skull and rack that my nieces husband found while falling timber in Idaho.  He usually finds 5-10 matched sheds every year, and sells them to make money for  his hunting items.

I have a slab of 5/4 Black Walnut that is 24 in. wide, and now 6 ft. long that I used part of for the plaques, a lot of sanding, and some good dark walnut stain did the trick.  I took the skull, and scrubbed it in hot water and Dawn, let it dry, put the whitening stuff on it, and it came out whiter than I thought it would.  I also darkened the bleached part of the horns up a bit with some stain.  I still need to finish buffing out where I touched the skull to the wood, but it is basically done.
Here is the photos I took along the process.

The rough sawn black walnut I used.


After sanding it down with a belt sander, and 180 grit on a vibrating sander


Pre fitting pieces




What the skull originally looked like.


After scrubbing.



With the whitening/peroxide compound on the skull



Skull after bleaching


After 1 coat of stain.




Antlers after darkening them a bit.



The finished product.





I would like to say thanks to Michelle, and Bucklucky for the good advice, it helped a lot!!!

[Pathfinder101]

Wow, really nice work.  I can see you really took the time to do it right.

[Huntbear]

Thanks, I have about 18 hours in the project.  A lot of them spent sanding, lol.

[huntnphool]

looks good

[wastickslinger]

Turned out great!!! I like euros's.

He is an idea for your next one. Dad has played around with a few ideas. This one is my favorite. I wanted one that was a pedistle rather than hang on the wall. I think he did a pretty good job. Anyway its an idea for your next one if you want to keep messing with em.

[Huntbear]

I like that pedestal type mount, I may have to do my next one that way.   

I did the wall mount for the first since wall space was available for it.

[bow4elk]

what whitening paste did you use?  Looks great - nice work man!

[Huntbear]

The whitening paste was left over from my brother's Cabelas euro kit... whatever that stuff is, but it worked really well imho.

[EastWaViking]

nice job! 

[MADMAX]

The pedestal is a great idea and looks really good, I also really like europeans

[wastickslinger]

Dad made a few. I ended up using this one. I like the darker finish.

[Michelle_Nelson]

Nice work Hunt Bear!

[Skyvalhunter]

Nice Job pretty soon there will be no need for taxidermists!!!

[Michelle_Nelson]

LOL, their will always be a need for taxidermists.  Most people don't have the patience to do their own taxidermy.

[testar77]

LOL, their will always be a need for taxidermists.  Most people don't have the patience to do their own taxidermy.

            Beautiful job btw Huntbear!!!!!!!!