what do you guys do to attatch europeans mounts to the oak panels that hang on the wall there should be an easier way then what i do. I drill my holes in the plaque and have them lined up to the teeth so i can drill a small hole in the teeth and then place some auto body putty on and then set the screws in then it supposed to bond tight, or i will line the holes up with the bones on the back of the skull and and put a screw in but some times it will get tight and other times it stays loose. Is there an easier or better way if so i would like to know. thanks
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I am not sure what other Taxidermist use but I go to the hardware store and buy 4 X 1/8 inch bolts with spring loaded wings on the end. I drill a 1/4 inch hole in the back of the skull just below the brain cavity, and a 1/8 inch hole in the back of the panel. The wings expand inside the skull and cannot come out when pulled tight. Works great.
use a 1x2 piece of whitewood(doesnt crack like pine) and cut out the back starting at the stem hole just big enough for the wood, and bondo the wood(painted flat white) flush with the teeth to make it level and use that to anchor your screws
on Dennis' method. BP
on Dennis' method. That's how we do it too.
I drill a 1/16" hole in the center of the sphenoid process (the large bone in the center of the skull under the brain). Then drill a 3/16" hole in your panel. Run a 2 1/2" drywall screw through the panel, and thread slowly into the skull. The teeth and the two lower projections of the sphenoid will pull down to panel snugly...DO NOT OVERTIGHTEN. This one screw will hold a whitetail skull to a panel. On larger skulls, insert an additional screw.
PS: Install hanger to panel before installing skull.
Dennis's method works really well, as opposed to what I used to do before I knew about winged bolts.
(I used a regular bolt, squirted bondo in the brain cavity, and inserted the head of the bolt into the atlus.)
I used to do Dennis's way. All I do now is drill a hole on the back of the skull and insert a drywall plastic expander (not sure of what they are really called). Screw from the back of the panel into the skull and done. These are the plastic plugs with little wings on them that you pound into dry wall to insert a screw for hanging things.
John