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.

Oiling Pronghorn Sheaths with vegetable oil. 
Un-oiled horn on the right, oiled is on the left.

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.

Skull Reconstructions: 

ModgePodge, EpoxySculp, JBWELD Putty, wire, hot glue, masking tape, and some flat-white paint gets the job done! Peel-off latex caulk can be used over teeth to keep them protected during painting.

Broken/Missing Neck Bone Repair:
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.
Elk Ivories:

To remove them from jaw:
  • 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
To clean:
  • 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.
To polish:
  • 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.

Make a free website with Yola