Looking for a better way to hang my mounts than a single screw in the wall. Short of making my own set up are there any options available for this. Doing a search I found this one:
http://www.helpinghandhangers.com/index.php

Why do you need more then one screw?

A small screw for the small stuff and a large one for the large stuff, no need to reinvent the wheel.

Realistically 1 screw has worked well for over a year on mounts I put up last year. But on the bigger ones, especially my Kudu it makes me a little nervous. I have 9 more coming back next week and I just tend to like haveing extra insurance that they are good and secure. I usually overbuild things I guess....

so put in 2 screws side by side in the same stud if it makes you feel better- but 1 screw of sufficient size WILL do the job. as an alternative i often use picture hangers for heavy mounts. they come in versions rated up to 150 lbs!!!

I have never had a screw in a wall stud fail, no matter what we have hung on it, up to moose and elk. A good quality #12 or #14 stainless screw will hold anything. Heck, go to a lag bolt if you are that concerned!

If you are really worried about it, check out the ultimate hangers available from Cabinet Mountain Outfitters, which are carried in Research Mannikins catalog (for one).

These are screwed to the wall stud and also to the mount, and lock together when rotated 90 degrees. If you have a lot of kids or grandkids prone to jumping in the house, these will keep any mount from coming off.

quote:

I have never had a screw in a wall stud fail, no matter what we have hung on it, up to moose and elk. A good quality #12 or #14 stainless screw will hold anything. Heck, go to a lag bolt if you are that concerned!

This would be my suggestion, 5/16 - 3/8" lag bolts will hold just about anything.

These hangers where desinged to help the taxidermist, but after repeated requests for a heavy duty hanger i came up with the wall bracket system, It's more like taxidermy insurance, iv'e personaly tested the system by standing on a deer manikin, You can see the video on my site. Ask your taxidermist to check them out. After spending thousands of dollars on taxidermy, don't you want to make sure they don't get knocked of the wall?

For lags, I really like to use Spax lag screws, 3/8. The Spax has a larger, flater head and a better thread to bite into the wood. I get them at Home Depot.

There is also another hanger that I have seen used. It is called the "T-Hanger System", which is availible through McKenzie or Trufit.

The "Piece of Mind" hanger is excellent also.

Lengleng, your concerns are valid. We send every wall mount home with the appropriate sized L-hook. The wall mount is placed on, then dropped down into the elbow of the hook for added security and stability. A screw or lag bolt just do not have enough head area to securely hang a mount for our liking, in our shop. If a mount were to be bumped hard, it will come off a screw or lag bolt. Below is a pic of the different sized L-hooks we use and a lag bolt to show the great difference in head size. The largest hook is a screw hook used for gates. We use that for large mounts like moose, etc.



We had an owner of a local archery shop call us a few years back, frantic, as a Dall sheep someone loaned him for display was bumped into and fell off the wall, smashing it's nose like an exploded baked potatoe and popping a horn off. This Dall was hung on the wall with two screws. We took it in for repair, took pictures and wrote an article for a trade magazine on the restoration.

Below are some pictures from the article (sorry couldn't find the originals, scanned the magazine. But to us, this is a good reason not to use screws when hanging mounts.

after fall...


replaced nose portion of form...


clayed and ready to put back together...


put the puzzle back together...


finished restoration and hung back on the wall with L-hook hangers...


L-hooks can be purchased at any hardware or home improvement store.

Krueger's Creations Taxidermy
Chris Krueger

I like the L-hooks but also like to use what I have laying around. Therefore, I use lag bolts with a small washer slid on and then a larger washer to increase the head area even more. I've bumped one or two mounts pretty hard over the years and never had one drop.

tendrams

Thanks for the suggestions. That was an impressive repair on that sheep! Thats what I am trying to avoid with my mounts. I know it might not be "necessary" but it is like Cheap insurance in case they get bumped. I will get them rigged up securely.

The part of California my family has lived in since the 1880's is famous for it's earthquakes. While it's very rare to have injuries or structural damage, we do get shaken up and things get knocked off the walls once in a great while. Every 10 years or so I see the local taxidermists busy repairing mounts that have tumbled in a trembler.

A friend of mine is a retired earthquake researcher (so maybe he's a little paranoid) and he uses some sort of eye on the back of his mounts over a hook in the wall and bends the hook shut with vise-grips so his mounts aren't coming off the wall until he reopens the hook. Seems like a bit of over-kill to me and I would think it would be hard to get the mount flush to the wall (but his mounts seem to look right on the wall).

I'm thinking about switching to Steve's "Helping Hand Hangers" because they seem really sturdy. That system looks like the best I've seen for keeping a head from "hopping" off the wall.

The "L" shaped hooks look interesting too. They're sure cheap and easy to install.

Has anyone had experience with any of these types of hangers in a "decent" earthquake (5 to 7 on the Richter scale)?

Thanks,
Kyler

Kyler
I just spoke with my machinist I think we have a simple modification to the wall bracket that will keep mounts on the wall during a temor. send me your info and i'll send you one to try.

Tazzymoto,

I have some pedestal wall mounts that want to lean and fall to the heavy side. For a temporay solution, I have just put a small nail in the wall at the edge of the light side to keep it from moving. If I used your wall brackets, would it prevent this problem?

Absolutley, when used with the rubber bumpers, The mount is locked in place, the only way your mount can fall is if your wall falls down