Hunting Washington Forum
Big Game Hunting => Deer Hunting => Topic started by: clindsayrun on January 26, 2009, 11:26:18 AM
-
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.
-
Looks good man!
-
Looks good,Hope your wife like it ;)
-
Nice
-
Looks nice. What is the process for doing a euro mount?
-
Nice wood work and the mount looks good as well.
-
Nice work, looks good.
-
very nice
-
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.
-
Ouch
-
OH that SUCKS! Doesnt look like any of the antlers broke though.
-
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.
-
Might just be a prime candidate for hydroprinting.
-
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.
-
Hydrographics is a firm I've used in Oregon for my product design work. They'll dip anything. Look them up.
-
Here is a somewhat local printer.
http://nwhydroprint.com/
-
In the first pic it turned out relaly nice, sorry to see what happened to it, if there are some bimps form teh super glue, I wold sand them down with a dremel or hand sand them. Looked realy nice.
-
Cool, didn't know they were around...
-
So sorry Clindsayrun..., what beautiful craftsmanship on the plaque!
I've used maple burls for two of my elk plaques and one for a euro muley. I just ran two three inch screws through the back and into the skull (not brain surgery here!)
-
Love the plaque and the rack on that HC,
-
THose are all great looking euros. I have been doing them on all my deer for the past 3 years too. I love the look, they don't take up as much space as my head mounts, and in most cases it makes the rack look bigger. I have not spent much time doing different display pedestals though. THis is a cool thread. LOVE the hydro-printing. I never thought of doing that.
-
So sorry Clindsayrun..., what beautiful craftsmanship on the plaque!
I've used maple burls for two of my elk plaques and one for a euro muley. I just ran two three inch screws through the back and into the skull (not brain surgery here!)
How did you make that plaque?
-
[/quote]
How did you make that plaque?
[/quote]
I bought my burls from Randle Woods; a wood store in east Lewis County. I look for the burls with lots of variegated mineral streaking, coloration change just prior to rot, grain charactor etc., and have them cut to 1". Sand and sand some more. I stir a quart of high-gloss polyurethane making sure there's no bubbles and I pour it on thick and let it ooze off the edges. A little touch up on the edges is usually required. This one below doesn't have the stark color changes, but it's a beaut.
-
those are super cool. Might try that. 8)
-
UPDATE # 3
So here are a couple of pics of the skull now that it's glued back together. You can see some of the sheen from the super glue. It actually went back together pretty well. As you can see most of the fine interior bones were completely destroyed. I hadn't thought of sanding away the blotches of super glue. Thanks Robb92, I'll give that a go.
I just finished the sanding and second coat of stain on the connector arm between the two plaques. I should be able to epoxy the mounting screws back into place on the skull and have in back on the wall in about 24 hours.
As for making the plaques I'd seen similar stuff on other peoples posts. I measured the length and width of the skull and used a scroll saw to cut out the appropriate shapes. It sure did look nice the first time... I guess next time I'll take into account that the skulls are a lot heavier that you think they'll be.
-
Great fix job. I don't know HOW you dropped that skull and didn't break out the lower nose bones. I have seen two drop off the wall like that (one of mine and one that a buddy did) and both times the nose bones broke into a million pieces. NO way to fix that. That's a nice buck by the way, have you posted the story and hero pictures yet on another thread?
-
How did you make that plaque?
[/quote]
I bought my burls from Randle Woods; a wood store in east Lewis County. I look for the burls with lots of variegated mineral streaking, coloration change just prior to rot, grain charactor etc., and have them cut to 1". Sand and sand some more. I stir a quart of high-gloss polyurethane making sure there's no bubbles and I pour it on thick and let it ooze off the edges. A little touch up on the edges is usually required. This one below doesn't have the stark color changes, but it's a beaut.
Thanks! I might do that with my next buck.
[/quote]
-
Nice save on that skull!
-
That sucks :yike: Dosen't look to bad nice save!
-
FINAL UPDATE
-
FINAL UPDATE
I've been a little slow posting a final photo of the complete fix job back up on the wall. So anyway here it is.
Doesn't look too bad. Not as good as the first time, but it'll do.
-
repair looks good!
-
Looks good. Now if it falls tonight you'll know it's the wife knocking it off the wall.
-
Looks good. Now if it falls tonight you'll know it's the wife knocking it off the wall.
:chuckle: :chuckle:
-
The mount looks fine! Nice set of antlers too. Congrats!