I am new to taxidermy, and just mounted my first short hair whitetail (Bowkill) and I have a couple of questions. In the school I attended they recommended using earliners and bondo for the ears, and then stapling them to prevent drumming. I did this and now the staple holes are apparent on both the inside and on the back. is there a better way? Also when the mount dried, the back seam seperated about 1/4 inch. Were the stitch's not tight enough or perhaps the neck was not fleshed well enough and caused excessive shrinkage? Also would waxed threads be better than non-waxed. Thanks in advance.
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You'll have to fill those holes with epoxy and paint. I've never heard of using Bondo AND earliners...one or the other (your ears are going to be WAY to thick). Some taxidermists use a good quality epoxy glue on the ears and don't have a drumming problem. I use Bondo almost exclusively and don't have any drumming problems, either.
As far as your seam separation-are you using a tanned hide or a dry preserved one? If it is DP, that's your problem. If it's tanned, use tighter/closer stitches next time (every 1/2 inch or so). I use waxed thread on all my gameheads. Hope that helps,
Bob Mead
Bondo and earliners? Sure it can be done but not by most beginners, either or. What school was this?
Lack of a quality hide paste and maybe your form was one inch to large. EPO-GRIP hide adhesive would have been the right stuff for this one.
Second big thing is practice, noone gets it right on the first 100 or so tries. Irregardless of what some people say everyone has a learning curve, it may take you 100 heads to crank out a great one, or if you never buy the refenece materials never go to competitions and soon think the school taught you everything, or just because everyone around yu thinks your mounts are the best, it could take you thousands and you still never get it right.
A properly thinned cape, properly prepared form and a great glue (not just good) will shorten your curve and help you a bunch.
As far as stitches go tanned or DPed they should be very close 1/8 inch is what I like. Good luck.
........on this. I've tried many different things on ears, and the best yet is EPO GRIP and earliners! No carding, pinning,or drumming.
This stuff is sweeeeet! I only use tanned hides,(no DP) but that's
my preference, and I like to keep the stitches about 1/4" apart.
John is right, Good reference photos and practice is the key.
- Kent