Mobile Link to Club-Antlered Bull Elk Skull
Mobile Link to Bighorn Sheep Ram Skull
Gluing things back in place:
Glue teeth or bones back in place with Elmers glue. It isn't permanent because it is water soluble, and it doesn't yellow.
Putting pronghorn sheaths (horns) back in place:
Antelope horns can be glued on, or jammed on by wrapping some paper towel or plastic around the cores. Leave about a pinky finger's distance between the eye socket and the base of the horn. Antelope horns can then be blackened and shined up with a light coating of vegetable oil.
Mounting:
Some saw out part of the back of the skull, and glue in a small piece of wood to drill a screw into. Others use a thick peg mounted at an upward angle to a plaque to place the brain cavity over. Others use wire to just hang the skull. Some can get a screw to hold in the skull from the back without breaking the skull, or they use a drywall toggle anchor in the skull to firmly attach to a plaque. I used heavy twine instead of screws to hold the pronghorn skulls below onto the display boards.
Replacing broken rear portion of skull with JBWeld Putty. I don't know what the bone is called. But I seem to break it every-other time I work on a skull. I've put a screw in it's place before too, but using the JBWeld putty and molding it worked much better! Here is the finished result on my Club-Antlered Bull Elk. The circled bone is the fake bone.
- Slice knife down both sides of tooth.
- Take a notched stick or board, and place it on jaw with tooth in the notch.
- Hammer it (or pound with rock) in a direction straight back along jaw line towards cheek.
- Tooth should loosen or pop out of jaw. You might need to finish cutting it loose.
- If you can't do this, then cut and pry with knife
- Cook it lightly and then scrape with knife and finger nail.
- Or: Take raw tooth and scrape with knife and finger nail.
- Or: Rot it.
- Or: soak in rubbing alcohol to disinfect and then scrape with knife and finger nail.
- Calf elk have needle like ivories that can still be kept and cleaned.
- Spike/raghorn/young cow elk have a soft flat root inside the hollow ivory that needs to be removed with scalpel and tweezers.
- You can finish cleaning root with a wire wheel if needed
- You can buff with buffing wheel
- Or my favorite: you can go old-school: put ivories and ten pennies into you pocket and carry them around for a week or two. You will be impressed how well that polished the tooth.
