Skin showing bad wing off and were it was cut from the skin

Body set up and pre drilled for the wing wires. Note that they are exiting close together.
1 1/8 hole were the wires come out and with the skin on with the one wing into body.

Showing were wing will go back into the skin and new wing wired up and ready to go into the skin.

Hole in skin lining up with pre drilled hole and wing into the body and wires crossing at the exit hole.

Wires twisted back into body and make sure skin isn’t pinched and humerus bone is pulled up and tight.

Next we will bondo the hole were are wings exited the body. I like to add some fiberglass resin to my bondo to make it so you can pour it into the hole. Note the cotton ball as a dam for the bondo. You can also place a couple of cotton balls into the hole if you are a little short on the bondo pour. This will make for a solid wing set that wont wable out of the hole.

Bird mounted and groomed for the first day. Note the feather lost on the breast we will replace that area once the skin is dry.
I set my bodies up a little different than Aaron Stehling’s method outlined in his Taxidermy Insider® video series,and I’m using Bad Boy Bodies with the breast inserts. I will cut off the neck and replace it with the one from the head as every freeze dry form is different and I will cut the insert into so the head will come off. I will show this in another lesson.
If you have any questions on this let me know.

Fishing

As I sit in this boat and look at the sky

I watch all the animals as they go by

The birds soar freely through the evening air

Manatees watching their young with delicate care

At times the alligators watch from a far

This is true nature, not some stuffy bar

A sunset that’s incredible what an awesome sight

It won’t be long now, here comes the night

The fish bite sporadically, a few at a time

Bright stars and the moon, look at how they shine

Mosquitoes starting to buzz, and sometime they sting

Listen to the frogs as they begin to sing

An occasional bat will fly around our poles

Can you hear the distant thunder as it rolls?

When I’m here I leave all my troubles far behind

Such a peaceful place for someone to unwind

What a beautiful world God has given for all to see

When I go fishing my soul is cleansed and feels so free!

Can Cause a Taxidermist Nightmares

Recently, I was working through my work order backlog and I came across a Whitetail that I remember very well from when my client dropped it off right in the midst of the rut. It was covered in battle scars as well as fresh wounds. I asked the guy if he had hit it with his truck. Laughing he said no, that this buck had been in some hardcore battles with two other deer, one about the same size and another much larger brute. He had open wounds, his nose was ripped to shreds and he had a couple of lower front teeth missing. I could not believe there weren’t any breaks or chips in the antlers.

The client wanted to know if I could save the cape because he wanted to mount it, but only if we could use the original cape. I promptly said sure, no problem. WHAT WAS I THINKING? So we filled out the work order, he paid the necessary deposit and he went on his way. Now, eight months later his work order comes up and the wet tanned cape is thawing. I am now faced with pulling my foot out of my mouth and saving this man’s cape as I said I would do.

So in this article I am going to show you what I did to pull this off. Then when you are faced with a cape like this you can say “Sure, No Problem” just like I did. Remember, repairs are a part of taxidermy, and if done properly, you are the only one who knows where they are. Okay, time to stop talking and get to work.

Let’s do this thing!

We will be starting out with a wet tanned cape and it will be mounted on a W03-7119R from Head Quarters Supply. We have already test fit the cape on the form and installed a medium Gene Smith Quick Nose. Final prep has been done to the cape ie. ear cartilage removed, final splitting and thinning ect. So this is where we will pick up with this article.

As you can see there are many repairs to be made, from the nose to eyes and on down the neck. To start you need to go ahead and repair any holes in the hair line around the nose pad and lips. If it is in the fleshy part just leave as is, no need to sew these, they will be repaired later.

Using 4lb Berkley Fire Line, the Smoke colored in the dark haired areas and the Crystal color in the lighter or white haired areas. Make small stitches making sure to catch the very edge of the skin and bring the needle through at an angle. This will help to hide the stitches from the hair side. This particular Whitetail had many superficial wounds to the face and neck. Only once it was shaved did they start opening up and leaving small puncture like holes in the face and neck area.

You will need to sew these up as well. There is a lot of sewing to do on this cape. But to get the best mount possible it needs to be done and done correctly so you will have limited finish work to do once the deer is mounted and dry. You will most likely have bleeding or at the least very sore fingers when done.

On the back of the neck behind the right ear there is a fairly nasty looking scabbed over wound, for best results you need to cut this area out and sew it up.

Your client will never remember it was there. To do this, just part the hair and with a sharp scalpel cut the area out following along the edge of the good hair. If you take your time cutting, it should go right back together like a zipper.

Now once you have your form prepped you can mount as normal and let dry. Do not worry about holes in the nose pad. Line up your hair patterns using references. With a project like this you can really see how much shrinkage you have from mounting to dry. Notice how the wounds opened up as the nose pad dried out.

After the deer has had adequate time to dry you can move forward with your finish work as normal. The only difference is rebuilding the nose pad. First make sure there are no parts of the skin that has curled up and not stuck to the form. You can do this by clipping off any loose skin with a pair of small scissors. Next mix just enough Aves Fit-it Sculpt to fill in the open areas in the nose pad and with a small modeling tool apply it.

You should actually do this step first. This way the Fix-It Sculpt can begin to set up while you do your other filler work and painting. Once the filler on the nose pad has kicked, lightly sand the surface of the pad just enough to blend the filler and skin together. Be careful not to get into the hair line and damage the small hairs around the nose.

Okay, now you need to finish this nose up. Mix you some more Fix-It Sculpt, this time add a little black powdered Tempera paint. This will give you a medium grey color, which will provide a good base color for the nose pad. Next apply a thin layer over the nose being extremely careful not to get it in the hair.

Now, with a mold of a freshly harvested deer nose, with a liberal coat of Apoxie Safety Solvent firmly but carefully press it into the nose pad.

This will give you a bit of texture to the nose instead of a slick surface to work with. Next go ahead and paint the nose using your normal schedule. Then finish retexturing the nose pad using an applicator bottle with Liquitex. Apply a little gloss, and your repaired nose is complete.

With a little know how, time and patience you can pull off repairs such as this. Here you can see where the scabbed over wound was removed and stitched up. It looks much better than having that nasty scar showing on your client’s wall.

Now the battle scars around the eyes and down the muzzle are hidden. This gives you a much better final product and you were able to use the original cape.

I hoped I was able to share some repair tips in this article that will help you to save a special trophy for a client one day. For tips and other techniques click here.

DP

On the last article we talked about the square tubing in the manikin. This article I will cover how I install the tubing in the base.
First I have a helper set the animal on the base to see where it looks the best. I step back and look at it while my help is holding it. I like to place it to where their is an equal amount of the animal on both sides of the base.
After the attachment point is figured out I trace around the square tubing with a marker. Then I set my larger receiver tubing on it and mark around it. I use a drill bit for each corner and finish up with a reciprocating saw. I stick a tape measure down in the hole all the to the bottom of the base and this is the length I cut my tubing. My wood guy builds my bases to where the bottom is removable. I remove the bottom. Then i temporary secure the bottom of the tube to the insides of the base to where i think it need to be. I then put the form on the base to see how level it is. If I need to move it side to side or lift the front up some now’s the time. Flip the base back over and repeat process until it’s where I want in. Then permanently secure bottom of tubing and replace bottom of pedestal.
This method may not be for everyone but it works great for me.

If you mount any number of turkeys a year, chances are you run into birds with shot damage. Sometimes it can be hidden, but quite often repairs need to be made.

I prefer to make my feather repairs after the bird is mounted and drying. As you can see from this picture, the otherwise nice mount has some hackle feather damage right behind the head. The feathers took the full shotgun blast and were broken and mangled badly.

The first step is to remove the damaged feather area. I use a scalpel to cut the damaged skin and feathers tracks out in one piece.

I than have to take good hackle feathers from one of my parts skins. I cut out the feathers I need and wash and dry them.

I test fit, than lay down a thin layer of silicone caulking. This holds the feathers in place and gives you control of them for grooming.The new feather track is dropped in place and groomed to match the existing feathers.

The finished repair.

Drummed ears are probably the number one failure for any new taxidermist who is starting out. It has happened to most of us when starting out, but in this modern day and age of taxidermy, there is absolutely no excuse for anyone developing drummed ears. We have come too far in taxidermy advancements to even worry about drummed ears anymore. But yet we are still seeing it in guys and gals who are starting out on their own.

The number one culprit for drummed ears is improper earliner preparation, followed by improper earliner sizing. Experience a combination of both and you’re guaranteed to get drummed ears after the deer mount dries and if not then within a few months.

There are many brands and styles of earliners on the market. The composition in materials used to manufacture earliners varies. Some are made of plastic and some out of fabric. I must note though I haven’t seen a fabric liner in some time being sold by the suppliers. The thing I liked about the fabric earliners is that little to no preparation was needed for any kind of adhesive to adhere to the liner.

I’m about to show you two little tricks that just may help you out when getting started in taxidermy. This earliner tip is aimed at the self-teaching individuals who are worried they didn’t get the liner sanded or roughed up enough to accept the hide paste. If your hide paste grips the ear skin when drying, but doesn’t get enough grip on the liner, it will pull away and drum during the drying process.

If I’m not going to Bondo an ear I’m inserting a liner and most likely a plastic liner.  The particular earliner I most often use today is made of a plastic composite. They are very flexible, they hold memory and can easily be manipulated to accommodate ears back if need be. You can get these liners from T.A.S.C.O Taxidermy Supply in Wisconsin.

The first thing you need to do is size the liner. Chances are your earliner is bigger than is needed. This is the biggest mistake beginners make when using earliners.  Your ear skin should never feel snug with a liner inserted. There should be plenty of play and loose skin. It should feel like that your liner is too small for your ear.  With that said if you ever have to trim off more than 1/8 of an inch from your liner, order smaller earliners. The earliners I use is one size fits all and I have never had to go beyond the 1/8 inch to get them to fit properly. Don’t worry about all the slack in your skin. The adhesive will fill in the gaps, especially the gaps to the ears edge. This is why we card ears during drying and as the ear dries the edges will pull in tight to the liner and all that excess skin you had to play with will also tighten down. If your liner fits too snug to begin with, then you will run into the chance of that ear drumming while drying.

If you have not already, remove the ear cartilage from the ear and make sure you have and spilt the ear all the way to the edge. Do this while the ears are still wet from the tan.

So what adhesive do we use? Is there a magic adhesive for ears? To tell you the truth it does not matter what type or kind of glue you use for your ears, if your earliner is not properly prepared in advanced. This also goes for the ear skin itself. Make sure they too are roughed up with sand paper and that all tanning oils have been removed and the ear skin itself is dry. When I say dry I mean that you can no longer squeeze any moisture from it and the hair side is completely dried using a (on cool setting) hair dryer.

For those who are starting out, learning and don’t want to invest in a tub of high quality taxidermy adhesive, run down to Walmart and grab yourself a small can of plain old Bondo, or better yet Bondo Hair if you can get it. Bondo Hair has fiberglass strands mixed into it making it stronger and most Wally World’s carry it. If you have access to dry saw dust that’s great. Get some of it, about a pound of it. If not then head over to TSC (Tractor Supply) and pick up a bag of Equine Pelletized Bedding for about $6. The pellets are nothing more than pine wood pellets.

To turn the pine wood pellets into saw dust, throw some in a bucket and dampen really well. Don’t soak them just get them damp.  I use a spray bottle filled with clean cool water. When the pellets are good and damp, they should crumble very easily, creating sawdust. Use a blunt object and mash them up. The picture should explain what I do. Remember you don’t want to soak the pellets, just dampen them. A spray bottle works well for this.

Now that we got all that out of the way let’s get going. We have test fitted our ear, our earliner is properly trimmed and our ear skin is all ready to go. We are going to spray down the earliner with spray adhesive which can be bought anywhere hardware and or paints are sold. Give it a good coating and allow it to set up. It should be very tacky at this point. Take the liner and rub the sawdust into the liner. It should stick to it. Cover both front and back of the liner. Repeat this step several times until you get a good coating of sawdust on the earliner. When all done give the saw dust on the liner a good spray. Allow to dry for 15 minutes or so.

Now it’s time to mix up our Bondo. Mix it a little thin by adding resin to it. We don’t want it lumpy or thick. We are just using the bondo as a substitute adhesive which will grab onto the earliner and ear skin. The saw dust on the liner serves as a rough surface, which is excellent for any adhesive to adhere too. Many will argue that bondo is not an adhesive, but it sure does stick to anything and everything. Next poke a pin hole or two in the tip of the ear. This will allow air to escape. Paint the earliners with your bondo mixture the carefully insert it in to your ear.  Taxi the ear skin into place. Make sure your hair patterns are lined up. At this time you will groom the ear until the bondo kicks in and hardens. After you mount up the deer be sure to card the ears.

So now that I have covered the saw dust tip, I’m going to show you another way of doing it if you’re like me and use a high quality taxidermy grade earliner adhesive. I call it the perforated effect because you’re going to do just that. A good tool to use for this is a leather punch. Simply pierce the earliner from ear tip to base, spreading out over the earliner. Again you should have already test fitted your ear and trimmed as necessary beforehand. Apply your adhesive onto the liner front and back. Make sure the glue fills the holes you made. Next poke a pin hole or two in the tip of the ear. This will allow air to escape. Carefully and gently insert the liner into your ear and taxi the skin. Once the skin is in the correct position and all of your hair patterns line up go ahead and put a few staples into the ear and through the liner. If you catch any inner ear hair be sure to pull it out from under the staples. These staples will be removed once the ear is totally dried and set which will be in about a week or two. Now go ahead and groom your ear. Don’t for get to card the ears once you mount up.

The whole idea behind the perforated earliner is to allow the inner ear glue to meet the back ear glue. Your adhesive will never pull away from the earliner when done like this. The whole concept is to prevent drummed ears. 9 out of 10 times it is the adhesive that separates from the earliner allowing for a drummed ear. If your ear skin is separating from the adhesive, then you are not getting the oils out of the skin and or your ear skin was too wet when you went in to set the liner.

[avatar user=”D.Price” size=”thumbnail” align=”center” link=”file” /]

HOW THE CUTTING EDGE WORKS

Tuning your fleshing blade is an art in itself, above and beyond running the machine. To understand this process you must first know how the cutting edge or wire works.

First lets touch on how the wire is created to begin with. The blade is attached to a machine that grinds both sides of the edge at the same time. This process uses two different stones that create even bevels on both sides of the blade.

Once the edge is razor sharp it is rolled to an angle slightly less than 90 degrees. This is done by using a mechanical device that has roller and a tension spring in it and a handle for controlling the pressure applied to the bevel.

You can turn the edge in different sizes by controlling the bevel size and pressure applied when turning. The wider the wire the thinner the lip will be. This causes the edge not to last as long. For that reason I prefer a narrower, heavy edge. This will also allow you to control the cut better by tuning the edge.

 HOW TO TUNE THE CUTTING EDGE

You want to lift or open the wire with your left hand. You do this by lightly placing the short bullet shaped steel under the wire and slowly lifting. This will manipulate the edge to where it will cut deeper.

You close or turn down the edge with your right hand By laying the longer steel on top of the blade. Now lightly lift your right hand to close off the cut size. This is a very delicate process, you do not want to be heavy handed with this.

DO NOT cross your steels while tuning. This will cause friction and heat that will only prematurely end the life of the cutting edge.

This is an art that can be learned with the right guidance and knowledge. I go into much deeper and live demonstrations in my online video series “Mastering The Fleshing Machine A-Z PLUS”. These videos show you how it is done in the commercial tanneries every day. They are a must have if you own a round knife or fleshing machine.

DP