Bondo ears for beginers

UHMMMM NOT !

 

I would have to say that the prep, to the skin and cartilage before the bondo is dumped in, would determine that. Check out Meder's kudu in Breakthrough... that is how I do mine.

 

Bondo shatters into pieces when a mounts is bumped or dropped. I just fixed a few african and whitetail mounts for a guy where the bondo on the deer were drumming and cracking. The african ears were shattered and drumming before he even took them out of the crate they were shipped in. I would rather have a plastic/celastic ear cemented in with an epoxy for strength and quality.

 

I have one that is a personal trophy I didn't do, had liners. It fell when moving things around one day, was on the floor leaning against the wall, landed on the ear and folded the top inch or so back. It also broke the bond to the manikin but didn't come off, it just wiggled. They both will break if something like that happens, sometimes they wont. I do use bondo, I have bumped some at times when I thought it would do damage and did not. When you use resin with chop, they are very strong.

 

bondo rocks for me too.

 

I normally use the eppley butless earliners with headlock adhesive and have no trouble , I also frequently use the Bondo method on unique(tears,bite,etc.) on large game and always bondo the small game, I find that the bondo is easier, BUT if you dont shape them right it wont be symmetrical as in earliners

 

Just my 2 cents. You can do just as bad an ear with a LINER as you can with bondo. You can do just as GOOD a liner with bondo as you can a liner.

 

whats the difference between bondo and fiberglass jelly?? i have a can floatin around in my garage. i got one of your deer videos tazz. could i just use the jell or is the resin neassaroy.

 

BONDO!

 

i found that taking a metal coat hanger and bending it in half is a great way to hold the ear open when applying the bondo to the ear.opens the ear right up.easy pour

 

That's a great Idea Bigbucks. That's always the hardest part of the whole thing for me.... holding that dang ear open!!!

 

Good tutorial! I am always open to new ideas and have learned a lot from all of you. The bondo works well for me. I used the earl liners for a while and had the problem with drumming. Since using bondo I think they look much better. A couple of things I do: work on only one ear at a time. That way I am not rushing to get both done. I mix the bondo on paper plates, makes clean up easy, just throw it away. I always mix more than what I think I need and fill the ear. I push the excess to the butt area and once hard just break it off. Better to have more in there than not enough. Once one ear is done I use it as a model for the second ear. Been using bondo for all the mammal as well. Nice thing about bondo is if there is a hole and some comes through, just let it start to harden and break it off. Just the way I do it.

 

I use just bondo. What does the resin do? I have never used it.

 

It thins out the bondo and makes it easier to pour into the ear. My teacher always made a hole in a piece of plastic and shoved the inverted ear through it and covered it with bondo, then reinverted the ear and squeezed the rest of the bondo into it. I tried it a few times and decided it was much easier for me to thin out the bondo and pour it into an ear that's already right side out.

 

I'll be hoping to utilize this with similar projects, soon! It's very much helpful!

 

I read somewhere here about the elmer s glue being spread on first before the bondo and that is what I do also. Since several of you are concerned with the bondo NOT adhering to the skin the glue will actually do that as it drys and that will help with the drumming and the bond if this makes sense. I have done it both ways and both methods are fine but actually I hate taking out the cartilage seems I always screw that up one way or another so I stick with the bondo and I would think that any soft non aggressive glue would work but I use elmer s is all. My 2 cents...

 

Yeah, you know. Just like you pull bondo off of a car.

 

Evercote makes a product called Kitty hair Fiberglass that works like bondo but does not liquify like straight bondo and works awsome for setting ears.

 

As long as this post is revived, I would like to add a little to the tutorial. Make a small funnel out of heavy duty freezer paper. Waxed side in. Usually about a 6" x 6" square will make a perfect size funnel for a deer. Hang the ear over the table edge and put the funnel down into the ear as far as possible. Then fill the funnel with the bondo and fold the top of the funnel over. Hold the top of the funnel closed and milk the bondo down through the funnel and into the ear. Pinch the ear at the top and squeeze the remaining bondo out of the funnel as you pull it out of the ear. Its an easy no mess way to get the bondo into the ear.