I am doing a corsican right now. I got the core and horn seperated but a piece of the core broke and was stuck up in the horn. I got that out but that horn is still heavier and smells way worse than the other. Obviously I have something stuck up in the horn. I have poured hot water into the horn and little maggot/worms came out. I have it in borax right now. It has been there for about 10 days and still stinks. I need to get this corsican out to the customer asap. Can I simmer this horn? What so you suggest. I saw that you gave some good advise on a sheep mount yesterday. Thanks.
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Let me first address your delimma of getting it out to the customer asap. To handle this problem and to get the mount to the customer asap is going to come in to conflict. The customer is going to have to wait for you to remedy this problem. Tell him it's for his own good.
Yes, most surely you have some core and crud stuck in the horn shell. I'd let the rotting process continue. Leave this horn in water and let rot. Then tap with mallet and see if you can get it out. If you absolutley cannot what I'd do is drill a couple of 1/4 inch holes on the back side of this horn shell, one maybe 4 to 6 inches from the base and the other maybe another 4 inches up from that. I'd then cap the base end like I advised in that other post you speak of and if you have dermisted beetles, let them in there (through the holes or before you cap the end) and see if they can clean all that crud out for you. If not you'll need to let that stuff dry out until that stink neutralizes somewhat then apply some of your favorite preserve(I use bird feet injection fluid). once preserved, bondo the core and slide the horn over. I really believe you have a piece of core in there and believe it WILL come out if you let it rot out enough. Bent a hook in a metal clothes hanger and stuck it up there and jimmy around. I've had something like this happen and turned out there was a broadhead stuck in the horn through the back end that was easy to miss because it was burried and broken off flush with the back end of the horn shell and the tip was barely peeking out the front. Check closely, you may have something like this.
what I did yesterday. I simmered the horns and skull plate for about 30 minutes just to get them warm and get some nasty grease off. Then I took the pressure washer and sprayed up in the horn. Not much came out. I put the horns back on the skull to cool so they will fit later. I wiped them down with turpentine and linseed oil (50/50) and poured some into the horns and let them sit for a short time. I think that is a george roof recipe but not sure. They sure LOOK pretty and clean. Now they are in borax. Still little flys around them. Should I still put them in water and let them sit for a while or just let them sit in borax. My biggest fear in taxidermy is getting a call from a customer that there are bugs coming out of the mount. Thanks for your help. I really do appreciate it.
Wont hurt to put it back in water to let it rot out more. You can still re-do the steps you took to get it where it's at now. Since you said this horn is heavier than the other horn I believe you do have some core still stuck up in there. And with core comes more material to decay. What I'd want to do is try as much as I can to get that core out. Rotting it out I think is the most likely way you'll get it out. IF it is stuck up there and rotting it out wont get it out, then preserving what's inside is your next best bet. Two things here you can do to avoid reports of bugs from your clientel. 1) you'll preserve what wont come out and 2) you'll incapsulate what's in there by bondo-ing the horns in place and filling the drilled holes with apoxi sculpt, making it nearly impossible for critters to get in the horn. Decayed material that is preserved is eventually neutralized where it no longer decays and no longer smells. Worried about bugs? Then let the bugs do all it can do to it before you mount it. When they are done with it, then it's ready. That's why your client has to wait. You can't handle this properly AND get it to the client right away. The two objectives wont gell.