Hello All

Before I begin this project, how do you guys (and gals) hang your big stuff? I have a buff, eland and other shoulder mounts, and apart from locating the studs in dry wall, what other ways do you go about securely hanging heavy stuff on the wall.

The mounts have a backing of plywood, so just about anything an be attached to the mount, but how to securely attach it to the wall?

Any ideas?

I just drive a good sized 2.5 or 3 inch screw into the stud at about a 30 degree angle from vertical and hang the mount on that.

That method has always been plenty strong enough for even my heaviest mounts.

Similar to mrlexma I use a screw with a hook on it - or sometimes an L shaped screw. These are available at Lowes or Home Depot type stores.

The plywood backing has a heavy duty picture mount attached that the hook slips into rather easily. The ones I use have 4 slots so you can counterbalance off center mounts such as when the animal is mounted looking to the side.

The biggest problem is lifting the mounts up there and getting them on the hook without throwing out your back.

"Unfortunately big (heavy) mounts generally require studs!"

Hows that for a quote!

Anyway if you are working with a pre-existing wall and can't easily add 3/4 inch plywood to the whole surface you really should go to the stud for adaquate support.

If placing a mount exactly where you want it is hampered by a stud placement and the mount is wide enough to span 2 studs you can use 2 hangars.

If you are working with a single stud span and need to offset it you generally can offset the main hangar on the back of the mount some and add a secondary hangar to keep it from swinging off center. This 2ndary hangar can usually be held in drywall with the use of a drywall anchor.

Best regards
Mike O

Thanks guys

Palmer- I carried the damn buff in myself from the garage to the living room and was laid out for a few days-- tweeked my back --

Madabula

Yes, I was thinking of anchoring a piece of plywood to a stud, then attaching the mount to to that to disburse the load

OR just sinking a big ass screw into the stud and hanging it from that

Good advice on counterbalancing the mount too- I'll figure out the best and report back...

quote:

Originally posted by 404WJJeffery:
I have a buff, eland and other shoulder mounts, and apart from locating the studs in dry wall, what other ways do you go about securely hanging heavy stuff on the wall.

Any ideas?

My taxidermist puts a hole where appropriate for balance in the mount's plywood backing and then adds a steel V-shaped plate upside down at the top edge of the hole.

I then use a three-inch 1/4" or 3/8" lag bolt (course thread with a hex head) into a stud for the bigger, heavy mounts. You should pre-drill for either.

For the light stuff, a drywall screw or nail into a stud or expandable anchors made for sheetrock between studs work just fine. -TONY

Van Dyke Taxidermy supply sells these heavy duty hangers, see the link. I have used these on large animals with good results. It keeps the mounts totally solid on the wall without any movement.

http://www.vandykestaxidermy.com/product/01003838/

We had a problem hunging my mounts. Wife decided that the only room my mounts would fit in (and not offend her sense of taste) would be in my office/library. Nice wood on the walls, and didnt want to make big holes in it. To top it off, studs weren't all in the centers.

Brother in law made some boomerang shaped pieces of metal. Could put multiple small wood screws in the studs (and leave very small holes in the wood) and put larger hanging bolts in the metal to hold the mounts up.

I had a similar problem to cable68 when I hung a buff in a stair well. I needed to mount to a stud, but it was centered on the wall, and the mounted needed to be off center to accommodate a slight turn of the head.

A good friend who has a complete shop and access to scrap aircraft grade aluminum made me a bracket which could be mounted with two vertically placed lag bolts to the stud and then drilled and tapped a series of holes horizontally an inch apart in to which we could screw a mounting bolt to fit those upside down "V" thingies the African taxidermist are fond of. Solid as a rock. It is good to have talented friends! Kudude

What kind of weight are you talking about? I found Bulldog picture hangers rated for 50, 75 and 100 lbs. they work great. Now for life size with habitat which weight 3/400 lbs oh yea find the studs and heavy bolts. My Buffalo (euro mt) has been hanging over my desk for a couple of years with a 50 lb hanger.

Its a shoulder mount buff, I will weigh it first, but I can't get him to go into the bathroom and jump on the scale.....

Can you cary the scale out of the bathroom?

Take the scale to the buffalo

To hang this heavy driftwood log we had some custom brackets made by a welder.

Two of the "male" brackets were bolted to the log.



Two of the "female" brackets were bolted to the beam where it was to hang.



Then all we had to do was get the sucker up there and it slipped in. I posted a picture of the overall mount in Fallow Bucks "Any leopards out there?" post.

Now I need to paint them to match the wall.