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Author Topic: 9/22/2000...Mount-A-Long  (Read 20233 times)

Offline Guru

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9/22/2000...Mount-A-Long
« on: June 20, 2006, 10:09:00 PM »
A while back I started this thread about a deer i killed a few years back......
 http://tradgang.com//noncgi/ultimatebb.php?ubb=get_topic;f=1;t=031027#000000

 As you can see at the end it was suggested and approved that I do a mount-a-long when I got around to getting this deer mounted.A good way to give some guys that might not know an awful lot about the art of taxidermy and what goes into getting their hard earned trad trophies.I took a bunch of pix,and got it mounted a about a month and a half ago.I've been waiting till things got a little slow after the spring seasons to get this going.

WARNING.....A lot of pix!!!!

If anybody has any questions,i'll do my best to answer them.

 After splitting and thinning the eyes,lips,nose and nostrils with a scalpel.The rest of the skin gets shaved on a fleshing machine.It's a machine that has a rotery one sided blade that the skin is drawn acrossed.Then the skin is salted for a couple days,then put in a pre-tan for a 2-4days...

 

After coming out of that it's rinsed with clean water several times and hung to get most of the water out.....

 

Then it goes into a tumbler with sawdust to get the hair as dry as possible....

 

Then it's back to the fleshing machine to thin the skin to get as much stretch as possible to get it back to it's original size....

 
 
 
 


More to come.....
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Online Terry Green

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Re: 9/22/2000...Mount-A-Long
« Reply #1 on: June 20, 2006, 10:13:00 PM »
This is gonna be a great 'how to'!!!

Thanks Curt!!!
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Re: 9/22/2000...Mount-A-Long
« Reply #2 on: June 20, 2006, 10:20:00 PM »
Now it's time for the tanning oil....

 

And rolled up to sit overnight.....

 

 Now for the form work.Since this deer was killed very early in the fall,it's neck was still very thin.But I still wanted the full shoulders and big frame that this buck had.So I had to do some rasp work on the form to get the neck "stove piped",taking all of the swell out of it....

 
 

 Then the lip slot and pre-orbital glands were dremmeled in and the rest of the form roughed up for glue adheshion.The antlers/skull cap is put on according to measurements taken from the real skull,and paper mache'd.....

 
 

more coming.....
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Re: 9/22/2000...Mount-A-Long
« Reply #3 on: June 20, 2006, 10:39:00 PM »
I would like to add that this is just how I do it,there are a lot of different way to get to the same destination as it applies to getting a quality mount.

 Relief holes are cut into the head to allow for the ear canals of the plastic ear liner.This is where a lot of taxidermists end up with ear butts that are "too long" or too far away from the skull.....

 

 And eye sockets altered to allow for the chosen eye rotation.One of my personal pet peeves with mounts,if it has bad eyes,it'll never be a good mount!! But we'll get further into that later on......

 


 Nose pad and nostrils,and eye skin get thinned further with a scalpel......

 
 


 Now it's time for the actual mounting to start.Plastic earliners get trimmed for size and roughed up for glue adhesion.....

 

then glue is applied,and they're inserted into the ear skin......

 

Skin is "taxied" around to get it where it needs to be......

 

Clay is added to the base of the liner to be later formed into the ear butt musculature.....

 
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Curt } >>--->   

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Re: 9/22/2000...Mount-A-Long
« Reply #4 on: June 20, 2006, 10:54:00 PM »
Both ears with liners and clay added.....

 


Now it's time for the eye work."The eyes are the window to the soul",I don't know who first said that,but no truer words where spoken as it applies to taxidermy.A mount should have life and expression.With good eyework,a mount comes to life!! Eyes can be done anywhere from wide open agressive(I can add pix if anyone would like to see some),to closed sleeping and anywhere in between(I've got pix of half open drowsy looking eyes I've done).Eyes set in clay.....

 


Clay work around the eyes of this mount......

 

 After the clay work is done....the antlers are taken back off, hide paste is applied to the entire form,and the skin is slipped over the form.This is where we "taxi" the "derme",hair patterns are lined up and skin adjusted accordingly.....the "funny looking" time of a mount.....

 

We're just getting started,but enough for tonight.More tomorrow.........
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Offline JC

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Re: 9/22/2000...Mount-A-Long
« Reply #5 on: June 20, 2006, 10:58:00 PM »
Very cool Curt....never had any idea how it was done. Looking forward to seeing the rest of the steps   :thumbsup:
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Offline yleecoyote23

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Re: 9/22/2000...Mount-A-Long
« Reply #6 on: June 20, 2006, 11:04:00 PM »
Awesome thread Curt!! I have been sitting here looking at my mule deer that I just got back from the taxidermist as I read this!!! Sometimes it is easy to take for granted just how much is involved in a GOOD mount!!!

Thanks for doing this!
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Offline nick_the_tinkerer

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Re: 9/22/2000...Mount-A-Long
« Reply #7 on: June 21, 2006, 12:00:00 AM »
Awsome!!!!! This explains why it costs so much for a great mount...look at how much work it has already taken and it's no where near being done.


WOW

Thanks for this and cant wait for the rest.
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Offline cjones

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Re: 9/22/2000...Mount-A-Long
« Reply #8 on: June 21, 2006, 06:07:00 AM »
Awesome Curt. Can't wait to see the rest.
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Offline TimBow2

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Re: 9/22/2000...Mount-A-Long
« Reply #9 on: June 21, 2006, 06:27:00 AM »
this is a great thread, enjoy seeing how it is done, thanks for sharing
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Offline the Ferret

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Re: 9/22/2000...Mount-A-Long
« Reply #10 on: June 21, 2006, 07:18:00 AM »
huh, you mean that's not the real deer in there?  I always wondered how ya "stuffed" em    "[tunglaff]"  

Nice showing the process Curt. You might mention that sometimes taxidermists send the hides out to be tanned at commercial tanneries and sometimes this will add 6 to 8 months to the process.

Do you find any difference in mount longevity using the liquid tan over a commercially tanned hide?
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Re: 9/22/2000...Mount-A-Long
« Reply #11 on: June 21, 2006, 08:10:00 AM »
Great thread Curt, this is pretty cool.  I'm looking forward to the rest of the process.

David
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Offline TexMex

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Re: 9/22/2000...Mount-A-Long
« Reply #12 on: June 21, 2006, 08:27:00 AM »
Great! this is very cool!
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Offline Jeremy

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Re: 9/22/2000...Mount-A-Long
« Reply #13 on: June 21, 2006, 08:32:00 AM »
This is a great thread Curt  :thumbsup:    I can't wait to see the rest!
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Offline Shaun

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Re: 9/22/2000...Mount-A-Long
« Reply #14 on: June 21, 2006, 09:12:00 AM »
Looks so easy when I drop of a hide and come back in 6 months. Thanks for sharing some of what takes place in between. My local guy sends his out like Mickey mentioned. Suspect there is still a lot of the thinning and other prep you are showing. Looking forward to the rest of the story.
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Offline beachbowhunter

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Re: 9/22/2000...Mount-A-Long
« Reply #15 on: June 21, 2006, 12:57:00 PM »
WOW! This is cool. I am clueless about this stuff..
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Offline Kip

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Re: 9/22/2000...Mount-A-Long
« Reply #16 on: June 21, 2006, 01:24:00 PM »
I admire you and others for all the work involved,I would never do all that for the money charged.Kip
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Offline LeeNY

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Re: 9/22/2000...Mount-A-Long
« Reply #17 on: June 21, 2006, 04:06:00 PM »
Curt,  :thumbsup:  I always wondered how it was done. There was a Taxidermist not far from me, he'd give me the cape trimmings for fly tying.

Thanks a bunch for this build-a-long!
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Offline Flatstick

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Re: 9/22/2000...Mount-A-Long
« Reply #18 on: June 21, 2006, 08:14:00 PM »
Curt,
   
Great thread, I use almost the same method as you do on my mounts. Except I use a modified "bonded ear" method for doing the ears. I would almost bet we have crossed pathes at some of the taxidermy competitions in years past and never knew it.

 On a more primitive note, did you know you can make some of the best "hide glue" by cooking down those hide shavings! I have made it for years that way. You have a never ending supply of glue. I'll also save a few doe hides or cut off back skins that I dehair and make rawhide out of for backing bows. And of course there's always sinew to save if you have the time to process it.
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Offline royalfox

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Re: 9/22/2000...Mount-A-Long
« Reply #19 on: June 21, 2006, 08:55:00 PM »
This is so KEWL  :thumbsup:
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