How to make a European mount

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Jeff G
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Re: How to make a European mount

Unread postby Jeff G » Thu Dec 25, 2014 7:26 am

Swampbuck wrote:
SamPotter wrote:Jeffg- what has your experience been with degreasing? My skulls come out looking great at first, but give them 3-4 months and the grease starts to seep through on the forehead, even if I use soda ash or dish detergent in the original boil. I've been soaking them in Zep Citrus Degreaser afterwards for several weeks with success, but that stuff seems to leave a slightly yellow overall tint. I've also learned this year that if I flip the skull over I can open up the sinus cavities that are more or less between the eyes with a knife and pull out a lot of nasty stuff, which I think helps.


Two things I've learned to help that is cut a hole in the under side of the skull with a jig saw and scrape all the brain matter out prior to boiling, this is the majorit of your grease.

Then after boiling put the skull in hot soapy water and use low pressure air compressor to bubble blow the sinuses out.

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I've wanted to try the air compressor sometime, just haven't done it yet.

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Thermals
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Re: How to make a European mount

Unread postby Thermals » Thu Dec 25, 2014 4:15 pm

Kraftd wrote:Thanks Jeff, pretty close to how I have done the ones I have done. Always nice to see a pro do something the way you do!

Never tried to reattach antlers. Anyway to do it without drilling through the outside? Not sure I'll ever have the news just curious.

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You can cut them clean off and drill and pin them back on thru the center. This is the most guys that compete do there deer in the masters div. that way there is no rebuilding o the antlers.

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Re: How to make a European mount

Unread postby Jeff G » Thu Dec 25, 2014 5:11 pm

Thermals wrote:
Kraftd wrote:Thanks Jeff, pretty close to how I have done the ones I have done. Always nice to see a pro do something the way you do!

Never tried to reattach antlers. Anyway to do it without drilling through the outside? Not sure I'll ever have the news just curious.

[ Post made via iPhone ] Image



You can cut them clean off and drill and pin them back on thru the center. This is the most guys that compete do there deer in the masters div. that way there is no rebuilding o the antlers.


[ Post made via iPhone ] Image


Why would anyone cut off a deer horn and pin it for a euro mount?. We have done that on moose and elk shoulder mounts to get them thru a door, but not really a good/necessary solution on a deer euro skull.
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Thermals
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Re: How to make a European mount

Unread postby Thermals » Thu Dec 25, 2014 5:16 pm

Jeff G wrote:
Thermals wrote:
Kraftd wrote:Thanks Jeff, pretty close to how I have done the ones I have done. Always nice to see a pro do something the way you do!

Never tried to reattach antlers. Anyway to do it without drilling through the outside? Not sure I'll ever have the news just curious.

[ Post made via iPhone ] Image



You can cut them clean off and drill and pin them back on thru the center. This is the most guys that compete do there deer in the masters div. that way there is no rebuilding o the antlers.


[ Post made via iPhone ] Image


Why would anyone cut off a deer horn and pin it for a euro mount?. We have done that on moose and elk shoulder mounts to get them thru a door, but not really a good/necessary solution on a deer euro skull.
[ Post made via iPhone ] Image


He asked if there was another way,

[ Post made via iPhone ] Image
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Re: How to make a European mount

Unread postby BigHunt » Fri Dec 26, 2014 12:13 am

Thermals wrote:
Jeff G wrote:
Thermals wrote:
Kraftd wrote:Thanks Jeff, pretty close to how I have done the ones I have done. Always nice to see a pro do something the way you do!

Never tried to reattach antlers. Anyway to do it without drilling through the outside? Not sure I'll ever have the news just curious.

[ Post made via iPhone ] Image



You can cut them clean off and drill and pin them back on thru the center. This is the most guys that compete do there deer in the masters div. that way there is no rebuilding o the antlers.


[ Post made via iPhone ] Image


Why would anyone cut off a deer horn and pin it for a euro mount?. We have done that on moose and elk shoulder mounts to get them thru a door, but not really a good/necessary solution on a deer euro skull.
[ Post made via iPhone ] Image


He asked if there was another way,

[ Post made via iPhone ] Image

:lol: play nice boys
HUNT LIKE A BEAST
Jeff G
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Re: How to make a European mount

Unread postby Jeff G » Fri Dec 26, 2014 1:09 am

BigHunt wrote:
Thermals wrote:
Jeff G wrote:
Thermals wrote:
Kraftd wrote:Thanks Jeff, pretty close to how I have done the ones I have done. Always nice to see a pro do something the way you do!

Never tried to reattach antlers. Anyway to do it without drilling through the outside? Not sure I'll ever have the news just curious.

[ Post made via iPhone ] Image



You can cut them clean off and drill and pin them back on thru the center. This is the most guys that compete do there deer in the masters div. that way there is no rebuilding o the antlers.


[ Post made via iPhone ] Image


Why would anyone cut off a deer horn and pin it for a euro mount?. We have done that on moose and elk shoulder mounts to get them thru a door, but not really a good/necessary solution on a deer euro skull.
[ Post made via iPhone ] Image


He asked if there was another way,

[ Post made via iPhone ] Image

:lol: play nice boys


Thanks mom ;) kidding. Merry Christmas!

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Re: How to make a European mount

Unread postby dan » Fri Dec 26, 2014 1:54 am

I dropped off the skull at Daves house Christmas eve with his wife, and he called me when he got home all excited and kept saying that Jeff is sure a swell guy, make sure he knows how much I appreciate this!

He also said it did not seem that big when he shot it, I said nothing looked big after Rat Slayer shot the monster.
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Re: How to make a European mount

Unread postby Jeff G » Fri Dec 26, 2014 3:23 am

dan wrote:I dropped off the skull at Daves house Christmas eve with his wife, and he called me when he got home all excited and kept saying that Jeff is sure a swell guy, make sure he knows how much I appreciate this!

He also said it did not seem that big when he shot it, I said nothing looked big after Rat Slayer shot the monster.


Thanks, glad he liked it! :)

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Re: How to make a European mount

Unread postby Swampbuck » Fri Dec 26, 2014 7:59 am

Jeff G wrote:
SamPotter wrote:Jeffg- what has your experience been with degreasing? My skulls come out looking great at first, but give them 3-4 months and the grease starts to seep through on the forehead, even if I use soda ash or dish detergent in the original boil. I've been soaking them in Zep Citrus Degreaser afterwards for several weeks with success, but that stuff seems to leave a slightly yellow overall tint. I've also learned this year that if I flip the skull over I can open up the sinus cavities that are more or less between the eyes with a knife and pull out a lot of nasty stuff, which I think helps.


I use soda ash and dawn dish soap. Key is remove as much meat as possible. That's where a ton of the grease sits. I boil till pretty clean, then change the water and add new soda ash. I think tht is a key step. I use a small dental pick and move it around in the brain cavity. Then when I take it out of te water I shake it pretty vigorously. Brain and sinus clear pretty fast. Mine haven't yellowed. I whiten them for 3 days with low heat. Then clear coat with a matte finish. That might help keep it from yellowing?
In my opinion, there is no need to cut the skull to remove sinuses or brains. It comes out pretty easy.

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Its not that it's hard to get out, the brain is what adds most of the grease to your water. So you have to whiten it longer. This cuts down a ton on the whitening time and the chance of staining if u don't whiten long enough. But you are right if it's whitened properly u don't have to

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Re: How to make a European mount

Unread postby vanceg » Sat Dec 27, 2014 2:28 am

Jeff G wrote:attaching the horn. pre drilled thru horn and into skull. the screw is "toe nailed" in so it can hold the horn in place as the epoxy dries. do your pre drilling and test fitting BEFORE you whiten the skull. attach the horns after you are done whitening. the epoxy is a lot stronger than the screw. Get the screw head below the surface of the horn. we will cover it up with epoxy sculpt. epoxy sculpt is a 2 part epoxy that does not shrink. as it dries you can texture it and then paint it. you will never know there was a hole or screw.

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last step is to spray the skull with a clear matte finish. this will help keep fingerprints off the skull.

thats it, done, on to the next project, hope you all liked the mini tutorial. there are different methods to make euro mounts, this is just one of them. thanks and good luck, jeff.


Tried this after reading this post. Worked very nicely. Had an old buck that I could never keep the antlers on. They are locked on now and you can't tell. Thanks.
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Re: How to make a European mount

Unread postby Jeff G » Sat Dec 27, 2014 2:39 am

Good Job vanceg!

[/quote]Tried this after reading this post. Worked very nicely. Had an old buck that I could never keep the antlers on. They are locked on now and you can't tell. Thanks.[/quote]
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Re: How to make a European mount

Unread postby SamPotter » Sun Dec 28, 2014 3:29 am

Swampbuck wrote:
Jeff G wrote:
SamPotter wrote:Jeffg- what has your experience been with degreasing? My skulls come out looking great at first, but give them 3-4 months and the grease starts to seep through on the forehead, even if I use soda ash or dish detergent in the original boil. I've been soaking them in Zep Citrus Degreaser afterwards for several weeks with success, but that stuff seems to leave a slightly yellow overall tint. I've also learned this year that if I flip the skull over I can open up the sinus cavities that are more or less between the eyes with a knife and pull out a lot of nasty stuff, which I think helps.


I use soda ash and dawn dish soap. Key is remove as much meat as possible. That's where a ton of the grease sits. I boil till pretty clean, then change the water and add new soda ash. I think tht is a key step. I use a small dental pick and move it around in the brain cavity. Then when I take it out of te water I shake it pretty vigorously. Brain and sinus clear pretty fast. Mine haven't yellowed. I whiten them for 3 days with low heat. Then clear coat with a matte finish. That might help keep it from yellowing?
In my opinion, there is no need to cut the skull to remove sinuses or brains. It comes out pretty easy.

[ Post made via iPhone ] Image



Its not that it's hard to get out, the brain is what adds most of the grease to your water. So you have to whiten it longer. This cuts down a ton on the whitening time and the chance of staining if u don't whiten long enough. But you are right if it's whitened properly u don't have to

[ Post made via Android ] Image


I've had pretty much the same results whether I remove the brain or not. I was reading a taxidermy forum and everyone swears by Rittel's Super Solvent, which I obviously haven't tried. On one hand I think the boiling makes the grease more of an issue because rotted dead heads rarely have grease spots, but in the taxi thread one person had composted a whale carcass and still had to degrease the bones for a museum. I guess bears are notoriously bad as well.

For removing the brain from dead cows for necropsy, our vet cuts a hole and sticks a garden hose in- the brain apparently pops out the other end. I've never tried nor seen this done. I've always used a bent piece of wire. Pressure washers and air compressors are great- except for the potential for mess. That's why I do mine at the farm!
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Re: How to make a European mount

Unread postby Wlog » Tue Oct 13, 2015 5:31 am

Bump. It's a new season and guys are collecting new trophies, just wanted to bump this for anybody who may want to give it a try for the first time this year. I finished the first step on my buck from Friday this weekend.

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Re: How to make a European mount

Unread postby hunter_mike » Wed Nov 18, 2015 4:05 am

A couple I just finished using some of the tips on here:

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“The master has failed more times than the beginner has even tried.”
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Re: How to make a European mount

Unread postby hunter_mike » Wed Nov 18, 2015 4:20 am

Jeff, I noticed you said that you spray your euro mounts with a matte finish. Could you recommend a particular product? I have some older euro mounts, up to 10 years old that I would like to re-whiten and seal up with some type of finish to protect them for years to come. Do you spray the antlers and skull and everything or just the skull?
“The master has failed more times than the beginner has even tried.”


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