why cant i use finishing nails or brads to close the neck incision on a deer head. i hate sewing!
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.....you will not be able to move the skin around if you need to! Remember taxidermy means to arange skin and you will not be able to arange the skin the way it needs to be if it is full of pins!
torque perhaps.
You can use nails. Pin your throat patch and brisket in place first.
Now sew your "Y" cut. Now using brad nails, bring your sides together
in the center and install. You need to use many nails. As in if you
use too large a stitch in sewing, not using enough nails will show
separation when dried. I use a pneumatic brad gun with 1" #18 brads
and I am very pleased. If done correctly you will be more pleased
than sewing. Every time I see another persons mount, I check the back
seam and I like mine better every time. Not to mention it's much
easier than sewing. Then you finish the face, mouth, eyes, ears and
using brads again, put muscle detail on the entire mount. I love it!
Been doing it for about 5 yrs. now and will not sew again. You will
here negative feed back from other closed minded people, but I know
it works and you feel comfortable in trying it. The quality will be
there and you will save time. Time is money in Taxidermy. Try it!
Thanks for the information,think I will try it on my next mount.
Do you use it on lifesize also,like a fox?
Hi Eugene, Why not try a short incision.Very little sewing and no seam down the back.Its worth trying.
but i do use the short incision! after the Y, i still end up with about eight or nine inches of sewing. i think the brads will work for me because i always have my briskets lined up prior to sewing. i even have my "fold behind" hide tacked in place to keep my hide paste from getting air and setting up too quick. but, those nail guns aint cheap!
This one is a classic. What I'd supposed as everyone telling Eugene that sewing is just one of those nasty facts of life became a billboard for a nonsensical solution. I will pay $100 to the first person who will show me a seam that has been nailed shut for over 2 years and has held closed where there are no hair whorls or gaps. I'll be at the NTA in Columbia Mo. Just show me and I'll also pay your registration fee. (Missouri and show me fit right together, huh?) But then again, if you can say with a straight face that nailing works as well as stitches, you'd likely lie about the 2 years too.
Hi Eugene, When doing your short incision, just come down to where the neck meets the head. On a large head it will only be 5 1/2 inches long from between the antlers to the neck. Thats not much sewing. By going to the narrow neck line, you will always have a reference point on where your cut should end. Its very easy to bring the skin further back when mounting, but then your skin aligment is off. The brad guns can be bought for around $40.00 at Home Depot or any other local supplier. The problem now is in the area you want to nail down.
You are now trying to nail into the skull area. Nails don't go into bone as easy as foam. I would still stay with the sewing and just shorten your incision. Good luck.
I've tried the nail gun rout. Now I use it for fencing and cabinets. I couldn't even get it to work satisfactory on muscle tone, it just made it look ragged!