Those who have mounted a King Eider

[byrdman]

so how much added time is there to a bird mount with skinning head,casting,dremelling re-gluing on average duck mount..for youse that cast your own....

[smalliestalker]

You already answered this rhetorical question didn't you?

........will take more time and a little more expense ...

I am sure if everybody had a friend to do the freeze drying ...  

...I am lucky having a friend who is a master taxidermist and master freeze dry tech ...  

It sounds like you are not competent or able to do it even with your vast superior experience.

[Brandon Zahn]

I try to cast everything now that I have begun to get the hang of it.  Even feet. In my opinion the best feet I've produced are the ones I cast from an extremely fresh specimen... ( few if them kept kicking the mold max off)lol. No really though I've been the most pleased with the results of casting fresh bills and feet without enough time to noticeably shrink.. I don't have or have access to a freezdrier so I can't compare to that on the feet, but the best injected feet I've had were a pair that I injected and threw into a frost free freezer. I took them out and looked them over the first three four days then just forgot about them for a month or so.  But if everyone is like me, I put things off to the last minute, so I don't leave myself time for leaving feet, etc in the freeZer to essentially freeze dry the poor mans way...

[trophybirds.com]

when i do my molding/casting i will sit my mold on my workbench near my bench grinder..turn it on and let it run for a few minutes.it will vibrate the bubbles out very well.

[mvernelson]

I know this is slightly off-topic, but the last time I had to cast a head I tried something different, and it worked so well that I thought it might be worth mentioning. (Or maybe everybody does it already and I was only re-inventing the wheel ? - I dunno.)

What I did was force a broken piece of razor blade up into the exact center of upper mandible so that it came up betwen the nostrils and blocked that see-through opening. When I made the cast, the nasal posts and all of the inner nostril detail was perfect. The resin film between the nostrils was so thin that it was transparent and I could poke it out with a needle. NO dremeling needed!

Back to the subject ....

Are you kidding! I thought that was my secret trick! LMAO! Must of been sharing brain wavelinks.

[mvernelson]

I agree I havnt seen the freezedried head so I guess I cant make the call, I dont own a freezedryer nor have the slightest idea how to use one so I'll keep on mouldin. Would love to inspect or see closeups of ANY freezedried duck head just for my own curiousity.

[Harry Whitehead]

Mike, there are some birds that you can freeze dry with good results.  Others, not so much.  A King is one of the not so muches....  I own two freeze driers, there isn't much that I haven't tried except the next door neighbors cat!!!!!

Nancy,  That is a great idea!!  I would just cast the head and pull the rubber out so much before it broke and then cut it.  Both sides would come out and then you would have your nasal posts and depth and all.....yours was a great idea!!!!

[JBird]

just out of curiosity - my friend who owns and operates a commercial freeze dryer ( keep in mind I don't know anything about the process) told me that FAT DOES NOT FREEZE DRY - and isn't the lobe of a king eider just that - solid fat ?  I'd be afraid of it leaking over time.....

a well done cast is an EXACT duplicate of the original  (Nancy I love your brilliant idea - sometimes the best idea's are SO simple - but I always seem to be the last one to think of them - probably why I'm not independently wealthy off my ingenious inventions)

can't wait to see the photos

[Paul C]

just out of curiosity - my friend who owns and operates a commercial freeze dryer ( keep in mind I don't know anything about the process) told me that FAT DOES NOT FREEZE DRY - and isn't the lobe of a king eider just that - solid fat ?  I'd be afraid of it leaking over time.....

You're exactly right Jeff---fat DOES NOT freeze dry and neither does cartilage.  Hence my skepticism of Byrdman's method---however, I was willing to give him the benefit of the doubt and just wanted to see a pic but..........

[byrdman]

Jbird..Paul...you clean out the fat......treat lobes just like you would a bears pads...YOU DONT FREEZE DRY THE FAT....THATS NOT MY "METHOD".....THE FREEZE DRIER IS ONLY USED TO DRY THE BIRD...AFTER IT IS MOUNTED..AND CONTROL SHRINKAGE...IT IS NOT SOME MAJIC SHORTCUT....CANT YOU FOLKS READ!!!!!!.....smallie dont worry about it..lets see your birds eh....I do my own prepping and mounting....Brandon your freezer dried feet looked good right...you got free freeze drying.

[Paul C]

I would like to see a pic!  I've done enough birds, mammals and fish to know how to properly clean a skin.  What you are describing would take HOURS to do properly and even then the fatty, vascular tissue covering the clay you put in would shrink leaving you with a shrunken half assed bill.  I'm sure Harry and others have a much more efficient way to pour bills but I know I can pour a heck of a lot of bills in an hour and each one will be perfect.  Like I said at the start of this debacle.......POST A PIC OF YOUR RESULTS!

[byrdman]

okay paul...next king I do using a unit to dry the allready mounted bird I will send you some pics....I do have a couple common eiders done this way I can send you a pic of......anyway the subject of this guys post was anything to help him mount his bird....all I did was give him another method...a very good method.....yours is better I guess we all know now.....der

[Paul C]

okay paul...next king I do using a unit to dry the allready mounted bird I will send you some pics....I do have a couple common eiders done this way I can send you a pic of......anyway the subject of this guys post was anything to help him mount his bird....all I did was give him another method...a very good method.....yours is better I guess we all know now.....der

Where did I say my method was better?  I'm simply doubting what you're touting as a "better way" and asking to see a pic of the results.  Post a pic of ANY eider head you're done this way.

[byrdman]

okay I will hold off untill I see a cast bill that looks as real as a real freeze dried bill....

[Nancy C]

Would you settle for a cast bill that looks as real as the one on a live bird?