So a little over a year ago, I built a wall mount for a set of antlers from a deer my FIL shot to honor him. (See the that thread HERE).
About the same time as that project, I started dreaming up an idea to display two Euro mounts that my daughter has. One is already on a plaque on her wall, but her other buck from 2018 hasn't made it up there yet. Since she will be going into her last year of college later this Fall, I wanted something that she could display after she moves out of her dorm and our house!
This started with a piece of cedar log that I picked up off the side of the road about 5 years ago. (That cedar was actually acquired in order to make some mounts for three turkey fans I did awhile back)
It was a piece that has a branch split and it turns out that the log would stand on it's own. The angles of the cuts on the branches were almost perfect, but required some massaging with the chainsaw. After remaking those cuts last year, I put the log back outside so the cuts could weather some more. I didn't want to strip the bark off either since I liked the look. Daughter liked that idea also.
So here is where it stands (see what I did there?
) after this weekend. It is roughly 46" tall and is about 2-1/2 feet wide.

It is anchored to the base (11"x11") with 4 - 3" wood screws and is very stable. The skulls are set in place on 2 - 16d double-headed nails each with the heads ground down so they could slide up into the base of the skull. This makes the skulls look like they are just "hooked" onto the log.


At this point, I'm unsure what to do for the base. Originally, I was thinking of the weather fence board look like the previous project listed up top. But thinking about it now, I think the grey look of the wood would wash out some with the grey look of the cedar. I have some broken down pallet wood that could be sanded and stained and put on as trim around the base, but then what do I put in as a filler around the base of the log? Some rocks, maybe? Some (fake) grass?
Looking for some ideas...
I saw the other thread with the 2 shoulder mounts and how he did the fake rocks around the base. I'm not sure I'm up for that kind of work here, and it's a pretty small area on this one. The bottom of the log is roughly 5" x 7" (give or take) so it doesn't leave a lot of room left on the base.
About the same time as that project, I started dreaming up an idea to display two Euro mounts that my daughter has. One is already on a plaque on her wall, but her other buck from 2018 hasn't made it up there yet. Since she will be going into her last year of college later this Fall, I wanted something that she could display after she moves out of her dorm and our house!
This started with a piece of cedar log that I picked up off the side of the road about 5 years ago. (That cedar was actually acquired in order to make some mounts for three turkey fans I did awhile back)
It was a piece that has a branch split and it turns out that the log would stand on it's own. The angles of the cuts on the branches were almost perfect, but required some massaging with the chainsaw. After remaking those cuts last year, I put the log back outside so the cuts could weather some more. I didn't want to strip the bark off either since I liked the look. Daughter liked that idea also.
So here is where it stands (see what I did there?

It is anchored to the base (11"x11") with 4 - 3" wood screws and is very stable. The skulls are set in place on 2 - 16d double-headed nails each with the heads ground down so they could slide up into the base of the skull. This makes the skulls look like they are just "hooked" onto the log.
At this point, I'm unsure what to do for the base. Originally, I was thinking of the weather fence board look like the previous project listed up top. But thinking about it now, I think the grey look of the wood would wash out some with the grey look of the cedar. I have some broken down pallet wood that could be sanded and stained and put on as trim around the base, but then what do I put in as a filler around the base of the log? Some rocks, maybe? Some (fake) grass?
Looking for some ideas...
I saw the other thread with the 2 shoulder mounts and how he did the fake rocks around the base. I'm not sure I'm up for that kind of work here, and it's a pretty small area on this one. The bottom of the log is roughly 5" x 7" (give or take) so it doesn't leave a lot of room left on the base.
Comment