You folks out there who have done this before, and who do it for a living, please point me in the right direction.
I have ordered a pair of beautiful bronze bases from Scott Lennard of Libby, Montana. I will mount my 53# and 49# tusks on them.
How do I fill and stabilize the root void?
How do I insert and secure a treaded rod into the base at the balance point?
I intend to wrap a strip of ele hide around the irregular outline of the bases.
I have done this with my water buff horns, but they are much smaller and lighter.
Thanks for any help!

DAL,
I've done a few pairs over the years, and although someone my chime in with a MUCH better idea, mine did come out just fine and the customers were all very happy with the end product..

Of the 3 pairs Ive done, all had very short nerve cavities. We mixed Bondo and fiberglass resin, to make it a little soupy, and then filled the cavitiy with that.. We then just held the threaded rod in place with bubble levels in the bondo until it cured completely..just be sure and have someone there to help hold the tusks as level as possible when doing this We let it cure and hardened overnight, we then made our lines on the last inch or 2 so of the bottom of the tusks and cut them completely even with a fine toothed saw, so there was no ragged edges on the bottoms of the tusks, and so the would sit flush on the bottoms of the bases.. Also, the last inch or so on the tusks are often very thin and cannot support the weight of the rest of the tusks when sat upright.
After that, we secured them to the base using lock washers and bolts, and fitted the pre made copper base covering to the bases of the tusks, then lightly hammered in the copper rivots into the holes to give the tusks an old school rivioted copper finish.

They all came out AWESOME and perfectly balanced on the bases..

If your tusks happen to have LONG nerve cavities, you might think of something lightweight to fill them up with maybe halfway up before using the Bondo/resin.. That could get heavy really quick if they were deep roots!! Maybe a paper mache mix, let it fully harden, THEN use the bondo to fill the remainder..

Hope this gives you a tip or 2.. It has worked great on the 3 pairs Ive had a chance to do!

Scottyboy,
How did it work out that the leveled rod was also at the centre of gravity?
The nerve cavity has some space to it, so I may fit the rod into a piece of 2X2 or larger softwood to reduce the amount of bondo yet keeping it strong.
Instead of cutting off the fragile bases, I thought I would extend the filler out (using a collar mould) to the end. This could be cut to fit flat on the stand. Then cover the base with a strip of elephant hide.
Dave

The center of gravity issue is one where usually the use of brute force overcomes this issue more times than not!! Thats why you you a good thick threaded rod!! A good 60-75% of the tusk is alomost always going to be out of the column in the center of gravity, just by the nature of the curvature of the tooth. By gettitng the rod as close to center as you can, a heavy duty lock washer and nut will easily hold the tusk in place for as long as you ask it to..

Extending the filler out to extend beyond the end of the tusk is another good option as well, although it will never be quite as strong as the way I described earlier. If you decide to do that, after you set the rod and fill the root cavity, let that cure overnight. Then wrap a piece of cardboard or stiff manilla folder paper around the base as tightly as can be, seal it with clay or wax around the crease of the seam, pour your bondo, and then let it set up overnight again, then sand until you get your desired length etc.. But as I mentioned, you'll never notice an inch or 2 missing off the bottom of a tusk, and it will be way stronger than the bondo alone..

Good luck (its not that hard) and be sure and share the pics with us when you get them done!

quote:

---"I live vicariously through myself..."---

Love that byline!!
The bases come in late May, I have a trip to NZ for tahr in June, then I will tackle the tusks..I will post the pictures when done.
Dave