Hunting Washington Forum
Community => Taxidermy & Scoring => Topic started by: CaNINE on December 31, 2018, 07:15:36 PM
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I have a set of shiras moose sheds I found a few years ago and finally going to get around to restoring them and building a display. There is some squirrel chew damage that I want to repair. I found a product online called “apoxy” sculpt. Is this what I should use to repair the chewed areas? What should I use to color match the repair? Is there a special color stain for antlers? Thanks!
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Yes, apoxie sculpt is a great way to go, I would buy some acrylic raw umber and burnt umber paint. Cut it with windex to get your desired shade and I use a Q tip to paint in layers to get a perfect match. I've done many and you can not tell. A little practice but it's really easy to match perfect
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Thanks blind luck - is the acrylic paint you use a special taxidermist type or just a standard item I’d pick up at a craft store?
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Thanks blind luck - is the acrylic paint you use a special taxidermist type or just a standard item I’d pick up at a craft store?
craft store
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Example
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Wow they look great.
I'll post up some pics on my moose project as I go. The plan is to first repair the rodent damage then mount the antlers into a cap style display.
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Apoxy sculpt added to damaged areas. Next step paint and seal.
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looking forward to seeing your final product
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Awesome shed finds! Tagging along to see how your project turns out.
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Me too :tup:
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Hhhmmm
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Cool, love to see these projects
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Making some headway on antler #3. A lot of chew damage to build up.
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Added a wire rod to serve as a tine backbone
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Some trial and error in building up the missing brow tines on antler #3. I hand formed the material then added texture and features to mimic reality within the limits of my nonexistent sculpting skills. Still some sanding and detail work to do before I paint.
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What I was immediately impressed with was how "accurate" your tines looked in regards to shape and length. Id imagine its human nature to wantt o "stretch" the truth a bit if you know what I mean.
You did a really nice job of retaining the right look. Well done
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:tup: I have a set of whitetail sheds I’d like to try to fix up.
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What I was immediately impressed with was how "accurate" your tines looked in regards to shape and length. Id imagine its human nature to wantt o "stretch" the truth a bit if you know what I mean.
You did a really nice job of retaining the right look. Well done
I saw that too although I'm no moose expert. I'd probably have added a few drop tines and stickers if it was me and ruined the look lol. Good work!
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What I was immediately impressed with was how "accurate" your tines looked in regards to shape and length. Id imagine its human nature to wantt o "stretch" the truth a bit if you know what I mean.
You did a really nice job of retaining the right look. Well done
Thanks bone appreciate the comment. Trust me there was some temptation to embellish. My guess is the repairs replicate the original tine length +/- 0.5".
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This is really cool! I found my first moose shed this year in Idaho. It is in pretty bad shape so i might have to try this out. Cant really make it worse right?
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Great the point of this thread is hopefully inspire some folks to take projects like this on and put those sheds on display :tup:
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do you have a list of materials and paint you use for this? would be a great post up!
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do you have a list of materials and paint you use for this? would be a great post up!
Absolutely. When I get further along and figure out the paint process I will post up a materials list and share some key considerations and learnings. I'm still working on defining my approach and materials for mounting the "matched" set into a replica skull cap style display.
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Here is a before and after using your method but I decided to add a few extra
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Very cool
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Here is antler #3 with paint applied. I ended up using a product sold through van dykes taxidermy supply called “wipe off” antler paint. I used a blend of two colors, burnt umber and red clay. You thin the paint with water or a chemical solvent and simply brush on and wipe off. I built up the color in stages to get an acceptable result. The repaired areas required a lot of pigment to cover the clay with blending into the surrounding areas.
The trick was maintaining the natural bleached out look of the palm. A professional would do a more natural job but for a learn as you go diy effort I’m pretty happy with it.
Will probably noodle with it a little more before I apply a coat of matte clear sealer.
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Looks good! :tup:
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Looks great. Can you tell if that hole is from another antler when he was fighting or a bullet hole? Looks suspicious...
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Have seen lots with little holes. In deer/moose/elk. Could be from a stick or..? While soft honed growing..?
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Great job. :tup:
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I think you did a great job and this is a really cool thread - thanks for taking us along :tup:
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Here are antlers #1 and #2 after paint. Although I found these on the same ridge I don’t think they came from the same moose. Maybe the did? :dunno:
The question is are they “close enough” to mount together in a replication euro mount?
The right antler is actually a little closer to the left in real life. In the pic it’s slightly canting to the right which makes it look smaller.
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Nice work! That looks like a set to me
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If you hadn't planned the seed in my mind I would have thought they were a matched set. I'm not an expert or anything but looks good to me.
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Post a pic of the white side of the peds. Looks like the same moose to me. Turned out great.
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Most Moose don’t match. There is always a weak antler.
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Id guess same moose, if not, close enough. :yeah:
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That being said. They turned out fantastic. Nice job!
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Post a pic of the white side of the peds. Looks like the same moose to me. Turned out great.
Here are the bases for reference. First pic is antler #1 (left side of set). I had to make a lot of repairs to the base. Second pic is antler #2 (Right side). Third pic is the smallest of the three overall.
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Thanks. I'd definitely say the same moose. :tup:
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Thanks. I'd definitely say the same moose. :tup:
What’s crazy is I found those two sheds in different years! on the same ridge though. I’ve seen the original owner prowling the area in the fall but didn’t see him last year. I’ve seen wolf tracks in the area so hopefully he’s still around.
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Thanks for the comments everyone. This has been a fun and rewarding project so far. The next phase is to mount these in a replica euro style. I ordered up a reproduction moose skull from a taxidermy supply company. May be 2 or 3 weeks before I get to that phase of project. Stay tuned. :tup:
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You did a great job on the repair. They look like they fell off yesterday..
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Thanks. I'd definitely say the same moose. :tup:
What’s crazy is I found those two sheds in different years! on the same ridge though. I’ve seen the original owner prowling the area in the fall but didn’t see him last year. I’ve seen wolf tracks in the area so hopefully he’s still around.
I was going to ask if the reason you were questioning, was because you picked them up in different years. Certainly could be a left from one year and the right from the previous year or vice versa. One bull in particular I've watched for many years never changed much.
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You did a great job on the repair. They look like they fell off yesterday..
Thanks Dan...you'll get to see them soon when you come over for a bear mount homecoming party.
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Looks dang good to me! I just bought some of the Burnt and Raw Umber paint to try and fix some sheds.
So, I guess I'll ask if you just cut it with Windex and then put it one heavy and wipe it off? I know you used an different method but another member on here mentioned this way too.
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Looks dang good to me! I just bought some of the Burnt and Raw Umber paint to try and fix some sheds.
So, I guess I'll ask if you just cut it with Windex and then put it one heavy and wipe it off? I know you used an different method but another member on here mentioned this way too.
blindluck used acryllic paints thinned with windex. Not sure if he applied the paint heavy and wiped off. @blindluck
I was planning to go the acrylic paint route but couldnt find them at the local craft store or maybe I just got too impatient of looking...I hate hanging out in craft stores. So I ended up ordering the taxidermy paint. Those paints you can put on heavy and leave or wipe off.
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I used the mud method. Paint the min wax gel on then coat in mud. Its been awhile. I really liked how natural it turned out. I very much like how this turned out. Im sure the taxidermy stuff is being refined.
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Tried my hand as fixing some sheds last night. This was done with the acrylic paint method. No real direction on it so i just gave it my best shot.
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Look pretty sweet! You can hit it with some krylon matte finish to seal if you want. Krylon #1311 is the product I used.
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Looks great. I’d guess it was a match from my experiences finding them :dunno:. Where did you order that taxi paint from?
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Ok finally moving this project to the next phase. I ground the antler bases down to create a flat surface. Drilled out channel and used marine epoxy to mount bar stock into the bases.
The reproduction moose skull from Mackenzie taxidermy is pretty realistic. I plan to add some light color with black coffee to make some of the features pop.
Next step is to epoxy the antlers into the skull and finish out the pedicals with apoxy sculpt.
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Awesome! The antlers turned out great, I can't wait to see the finished project.
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Finished product! All rodent damage repaired, antlers stained and mounted up to reproduction skull. A very enjoyable project and looking forward to admiring this on the wall for years to come. Now get out there and find some sheds!
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Very nice, well done..
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Looks great!
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That looks really good :tup:
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I cant even tell that those were ever modified. Great work
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It took a little acrobatics and a 12’ step ladder but got er’ done. :tup:
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Nice work!
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If you posted those finished photos and had a blurb about getting your moose skull back from the taxi I would have believed it. Great work
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Looks great!
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Fantastic job!