Taxidermy woodwork

[buffybr]

I've been making pedestals and bases for some of my mounts for about the last 25 years. My first was this simple oak octagon base for my Muskox.

Then I made this oak cabinet for my Central Canadian barren Ground Caribou.

Then I made a bunch of hexagon and octagon bases out of oak and cherry wood for some more of my animals...

Including several with panels covered with the back skiins from the animals...

And this alder wood cabinet base for my Leopard.

 

[DieJager]

I've been making pedestals and bases for some of my mounts for about the last 25 years. My first was this simple oak octagon base for my Muskox.

Then I made this oak cabinet for my Central Canadian barren Ground Caribou.

Then I made a bunch of hexagon and octagon bases out of oak and cherry wood for some more of my animals...

Including several with panels covered with the back skiins from the animals...

And this alder wood cabinet base for my Leopard.

Wow really beautiful. You have some great trophies and mounts and love the woodwork.

 

[RichD]

Just a simple question for you woodworkers abour a floor pedestal. I'm having my cape buffalo skull bleached, complete skull with lower jaw, and want to set it on a floor pedestal. What size should the "platform" would be right for that skull to set on? It's just a cow skull.

 

[jomw10]

I wanted to make a walnut with cherry pedestal for my mounts, but was convinced to frame it with some ceramic tile. I think it looks great but it’s super heavy

 

[Russ16]

These all look great. I do some woodworking and have a good idea how to make the pedal itself. What I’m not sure about is how the mount attaches to it and can you convert any shoulder mount meant to be hung on the wall to work on a pedestal?

Any pictures of how the mount is fixed to the pedestal would be greatly appreciated.

 

[jomw10]

Mount comes with a rod inserted in it. Just use nut and washers to hold it in place. And enough weight on the bottom to avoid having it top heavy.

 

[Hunt anything]

These all look great. I do some woodworking and have a good idea how to make the pedal itself. What I’m not sure about is how the mount attaches to it and can you convert any shoulder mount meant to be hung on the wall to work on a pedestal?

Any pictures of how the mount is fixed to the pedestal would be greatly appreciated.

On existing mounts that don’t have a rod for the pedestal, incorporating a piece of driftwood, fence post or something else to the pedestal, you can attach the mount to as you would on the wall. I have a blesbok I attached to the metal rod, drilled out a hole in the rod and attached a nut and bolt, that came with a commercially produced termite mound.
If I remember I’ll try to get some pictures of it tonight when I get home tonight.

 

[Firebird]

Pedestal mounts typically use a specific form that will have some shape or curve to the back of the form. So you get a lifelike look instead of a hard flat back to the mount. There are wall pedestal and pure pedestal forms, the wall type have a flat side so they can lay flat against the wall.
I commonly drill holes into the forms and use a 1” wooden dowel to support the mount and it can be anchored into any type of pedestal base. There are many options you can use

 

[Hunt anything]

@Russ16 , this is what I did with an existing wall pedestal of a blesbok. It’s a commercial termite mound from McKenzies.
I drilled a hole in the provided metal rod and installed a bolt to hold the mount, I just used the installed hanger on the back of the mount.
It’s not perfect but worked pretty well and I plan to do the same with an impala.
As @Firebird stated it would have worked better with a form specific to a pedestal but gives a bit of flexibility.

 

[buffybr]

These all look great. I do some woodworking and have a good idea how to make the pedal itself. What I’m not sure about is how the mount attaches to it and can you convert any shoulder mount meant to be hung on the wall to work on a pedestal?

Any pictures of how the mount is fixed to the pedestal would be greatly appreciated.

Many floor pedestal mount forms are made with a concave curved back, but standard flat back forms can be used on pedestals. The previous pic of my Scimitar horn oryx is a flat back form that is mounted on a floor pedestal.

My taxidermist has used two methods of attaching mounts to floor pedestals:
One is to secure a 1" dia threaded rod inside the form with 6" sticking out of the bottom. You then just drill a 1" hole in the top of the pedestal and secure the mount to the pedestal with a nut and washer on the inside of the base.

The other way that he uses is to secure a 1" inside square steel tube inside the form, then he uses a 1" x 5" square steel bar that is welded to a 1" diameter lag screw shaft that screws into the top of the pedestal, and you simply slide the mount onto the square steel shaft. This method is handy for moving the mount.

The pedestals that I have made for my Sable and smaller mounts are 13"-17" across the flats of their hexagon or octagon shape. I make the frame of the pedestal from 2x4 lumber, then glue the hardwood onto the outside of the frame. The wood that I use for the inside of the top is 3" thick.

The pedestal that I made for one of my Sable antelope was a little unstable on my floor carpet so I added a hardwood skirt that sticks out 3" on the bottom of the pedestal.

The pedestal that I made for my Eland is a 22" wide octagon.

 

[Jbrsol]

I wanted to make a walnut with cherry pedestal for my mounts, but was convinced to frame it with some ceramic tile. I think it looks great but it’s super heavyView attachment 727158View attachment 727159

Beautiful mount! Looks good.