Im looking to find something nice to my tusks.
PLEASE, MANY PICTURES !

Yes hello i have some pictures on the web site osagetaxidermy,com

Not a pedestal, but it's what I decided to do with mine...

It protects the tusks and still looks pretty decent. I just bought a correctly sized table, cut holes in the top and built the metal caps. Pretty simple and the drawer in the table still works.





Hope that helps.

Kyler

That is a beautiful job!

quote:

Originally posted by Kyler Hamann:
Not a pedestal, but it's what I decided to do with mine...

It protects the tusks and still looks pretty decent. I just bought a correctly sized table, cut holes in the top and built the metal caps. Pretty simple and the drawer in the table still works.





Hope that helps.

Kyler

What material did you use for the metal caps and how did you build them. I have a client who has cow trusks and would like something nice to display them. I'm wondering if I should not send him to the tinsmith?

Exit,
I know nothing about taxidermy and very little about wood work but I do have a little background in metal work. For the metal end caps obviously brass would be the coolest but I cheated. I found steel truck exhaust pipe of similar diameter to the tusks. "Beat it up" with a couple different shaped hammers to give it that old look. Made foam forms to copy the out-of-round shape of the tusks. Cut the pipes and reshaped them to match the exact size and contour of each tusk (they're not even close to round). Capped each shaped band with 14 gauge steel (also hammered for texture) and ground the welds. There is a small bolt welded on the bottom of each cap to (invisibly) bolt them in position in the table. Then I painted the caps. They don't fit perfect but they're okay. Since the posted photos were taken I've "burnished" the paint so it's not so bright (and tacky).

The metal caps should be no problem for someone at a welding or exhaust shop and cutting the table would be really simple for any halfway decent wood guy. I'm sure they'd do it much quicker and easier than me.

My only caution would be to find someone who will be extremely careful with the tusks. To get the size and shape of the holes in the table right they had to be gently fished into the table many times (they're a very heavy and awkward shape). The thin ends of the tusks could easily be chipped while fitting the caps so the metal person has to be really careful also.

Thank you kindly for this information.