Need help with broken Kudu euro

[typilotguy]

My dad used to do all the euro/skull mounts for a taxidermist friend of ours. Said friend was just too busy doing shoulder mounts, so he essentially sublet the skulls to dad.

At any rate, on occassion, customers would bring skulls that had been broken (roadkills, the dog got ahold of, even head shots). To fix these, after cleaning/boiling/bleaching, dad would use Loctite two part epoxy, the 5-minute variety. This works quite well. The rapid set time works well for these, as you can just hold the pieces together. Because of the odd shapes and curves of skulls, glue/epoxy with longer set times is difficult to use, as you cannot use C-Clamps or clips as you would on nice, square workpieces.

Should the epoxy well out on the "outside" surfaces that you can see, you have a couple of options. The first would be to sand it off. If, however, the skull is a little soft, as you mentioned, this would not be ideal. In this case you can actually paint the skull a white or off white. This will give a natural appearance.

Another safeguard for furture breaks is also suprizingly simple. You can go over the complete skull with some varnish/lacquer. Sheen is your choice, but I think a matte looks the most natural. This strengthens the integrity of the skull itself.

 

[Hunt anything]

Not sure if this would work, spray the skulls with a quality spray adhesive, use liberally and let the adhesive be absorbed in the bone and then clear coat the skull. Maybe that would add a little stability.

 

[PARA45]

Another horror story, I feel for what you are going through. Good luck with the Taxidermist, and hopefully they are more professional than the one I dealt with on my first safari. They basically gave me the finger.

 

[MarkB]

Taxidermists can work magic, but with missing bone it becomes very difficult. Also outcome and plan depends on how "proper", "perfect" you are willing to settle for at end. There are two part epoxies that one can work wonders with, mold and create bone then paint. This takes talent and time that equals $$. Easiest would be order a replica skull and attach your horns. As a hobby taxidermist I would glue perfectly what you have together then use epoxy to see what end product I can produce. Fixed many broken points, noses, horns, even made a goat horn that was lost in a nasty fall.

I just opened a tanned in Canada eland hide yesterday, how can African animals get so much pigment loss, cuts, rips, and even still has dozens of ticks stuck in hide. What a many hr nightmare, the reason I am doing and not the taxidermy owner. He can do many deer mounts for less trouble, more money and less stress. Making a good mount from something so damaged is difficult at best.

Whatever you do I hope you get a finished Kudu product that you are happy with.

MB

 

[Ragman]

@Chago that is really too bad. When I got my Eastern Cape Euros back, everything was supposed to be done as Euro mounts. I also had my kudu and springbok capes sent so that I could one day do shoulder mounts, but until then I wanted to display them as euros and I had that marked down on the papers that we left with the taxidermist in Port Elizabeth. However they decided (misunderstood maybe) that since I was also bringing back my kudu cape they would just chop the skull cap and horns off and send that. After some discussions between my importer and the taxidermy shop I was supposed to get a replacement skull when they had another shipment coming to Canada to put it in. Then Covid hit and I still haven't gotten one. I've never seen the skull replicas that @NTX posted so I might have to go that route. Don't know if the horns will fit on it in the same width as the natural skull cap or not, but would surely look better than this.

Hope you find a satisfactory outcome.

 

[Hyde Hunter]

I sure hope you list the name of the taxidermy shop as I have 4 Euro's being done in Polokwane, So Africa and I would be really pissed to see them like that. so very sorry for what you experienced with your fine animal

 

[AjFourie]

Hey guys. So got my delivery today from my trip last year in Limpopo. I was not thrilled when opening the box. I did all euros and a few cool things with my giraffe. But they clearly over cooked everything. All the bones are so brittle even if I squeeze ever so slightly it crumbles. Of 6 euros, all need repair work. Luckily for 5 of them I can totally get out the super glue and spend a little time fixing them. My giraffe rug came out great.

But one of my kudu euros face is literally broken in half. And I know it's not shipping. Because the actual plastic wrap went around the two broken pieces individually then around both keeping them together. I highly doubt in shipping they seperated and re wrapped themselves separately. Anyhow I'll get in touch with this taxidermist tomorrow. But wanted to see if anyone had any ideas here. Because the skull cap and jaw are seperate. There is now no way to mount it. It needs the jaw to hold it straight onto the wall. Unless someone else has another idea of how to mount this ? Skull caps I'm not sure look right for kudu like they do on white tail? Any way I can re attach this with glue. But then mount it where it won't put too much stress on the glue joint ???

Much appreciated. Thanks

View attachment 496604

Disappointing stuff! That's a really nice kudu and I hope you figure something out, good luck with that...

 

[steve white]

You could acraglass it back together, if pieces are lost you could fill with bondo sand and then paint with flat paint an exact color of the bone--take a sample to Home Depot for them to photo match. I had to do that with damage done stateside by a so-called taxidermist. If bone is crumbly, then thin the thin type of acraglass with 35% acetone and it will soak in like water, only to harden into near indestructibility. (I often do this to the unfinished heads of shotgun buttstocks to seal against oil and solvent penetration) You will definitely have to paint after this, but no biggie.
You could also have a leather cover over the skull.

 

[matt vejar]

Chago,
It doesn’t to anybody on this website any good to protect poor work like that. Your gonna let some other member take a bullet too?

 

[Hyde Hunter]

Chago, do you really think some guy at a taxidermy shop in Africa is going to be reading this site and might see what you have to say about him or them so name the outfit and possibly save someone from making the same mistake you are fighting now. all I can say is thanks and good luck

 

[Rickmt]

Start by epoxying it back together . Then see where you are . Hydrocal or plaster Paris would be next to fill in cracks then perhaps a finish of some sort . I don’t see what an African taxidermist can for for you now ! I might mount the top with the horns on the plaque first then epoxy the rest onto the top . Use Saran Wrap to protect plaque.

 

[Buffalo1]

Chago,

Ck your messages.

 

[Hyde Hunter]

I guess he does not care if someone else bites the bullet the way he did with no info on who messed up his mounts, to bad