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 » Wed Dec 24, 2014 1:35 am

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.


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Re: How to make a European mount

Unread postby Jeff G » Wed Dec 24, 2014 1:36 am

Dan, just in time to surprise Dave for Christmas. Hope he likes it!
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Re: How to make a European mount

Unread postby Edcyclopedia » Wed Dec 24, 2014 1:52 am

Nice work and thanks for the tutor!
Merry Xmas Mr.G!!!

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Jeff G
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Re: How to make a European mount

Unread postby Jeff G » Wed Dec 24, 2014 1:54 am

Edcyclopedia wrote:Nice work and thanks for the tutor!
Merry Xmas Mr.G!!!

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Thanks Ed! Merry Christmas to you. Now go shoot a slob and make a euro!!! :lol: :lol: :lol:
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Re: How to make a European mount

Unread postby dan » Wed Dec 24, 2014 11:09 am

Awesome job Jeff :clap: 8-)
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Stanley
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Re: How to make a European mount

Unread postby Stanley » Wed Dec 24, 2014 12:27 pm

Great tutorial. Thanks for sharing.
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Re: How to make a European mount

Unread postby Wlog » Wed Dec 24, 2014 12:34 pm

justin84 wrote:I have always buried mine in the spring, dug up in the fall, and have always been impressed at how clean they come out. Literally no work necessary.



I had something dig one of mine up and take it years ago.

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Great job on the tutorial Jeff. I'll be trying this out in the near future. Thanks!
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Re: How to make a European mount

Unread postby Kraftd » Wed Dec 24, 2014 1:17 pm

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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Re: How to make a European mount

Unread postby Chris Conroy » Wed Dec 24, 2014 2:53 pm

Great job Jeff!

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Re: How to make a European mount

Unread postby dirt nap giver » Thu Dec 25, 2014 12:34 am

Thanks for taking the time to post this. I have done a few of these myself and the lessons learned are priceless. First one I did- simmered in a turkey baking pan on the stove. Not a wise idea even if your single. I ended up falling asleep and the water evaporated. My roommate woke up from the odor. The skull was junk.
Another one I did, I boiled it and used Oxi clean in the water. I did wrap the base of the antlers with tin foil, but that didn't stop the bases from turning bleach white.
I have one from this year that needs to be done. Thanks for the tips.
One thing I have done that works well is to bring the mount to a car wash and pressure wash the nasal & brain cavity out(still soft from simmering). Knee boots, rain suit and safety glasses are a must. Nothing like having brain matter splashed all over you.

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Re: How to make a European mount

Unread postby SamPotter » Thu Dec 25, 2014 3:12 am

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.
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Re: How to make a European mount

Unread postby Beauford » Thu Dec 25, 2014 3:29 am

Image Great thread on the steps of making the mount. My buddy just got his back from a guy in town that does them.

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Re: How to make a European mount

Unread postby Swampbuck » Thu Dec 25, 2014 4:09 am

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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Re: How to make a European mount

Unread postby Jeff G » Thu Dec 25, 2014 7:18 am

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 buy a plastic skull which I believe is made by mountain mikes. You can then run a screw into the bottom of the horn. In my opinion the plastic skulls look pretty bad.doing it the way I did allows you to get the original spread of the rack.

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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 7:25 am

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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