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(Lone Star)
5-25-2005
Joe Taylor and his
staff have been working on this amazing piece for over a year. "I have
spent nearly six months on it myself, Taylor said." What's taking so long?
“The skull is huge, as far as we know the largest found yet. It is
certainly the largest from Texas and the only one that has even been available.”
When Taylor recovered it from a workshop floor in San Antonio, it was resting
upside down on its face and was so heavy that it was flattening the huge truck
tire under it. "Just getting it into my truck to bring it home was
heart-stopping. Then the whole trip back to the museum was during a snowstorm.
It took me a long time just to figure out how to turn the beast's skull over to
an upright position so we could see the face and work on it. A huge
contraption was attached to it and it rolled over without even a chip."
Removing the matrix from it has taken a year. Some
areas of the calcium cemented sand and gravel were as hard as granite.
In many places, using a pencil-sized jackhammer called a Chicago
pneumatic, it would take all day to remove an area the size of an orange.
The bone is mostly replaced but it is softer than the rock around it making the
work all the more tedious.
In order to mount the skull and jaws they first had to be molded.
This had to be done in place and restoration of parts underneath had to
be done working on it upside down. The jaws alone are so heavy that it
takes two men to lift one side. The metal work for the
base and jaws was done using a cast of them.
"You only get one chance when moving this thing, said Taylor, so every possible
problem has to be fully solved beforehand." When
finished, he estimates the skull and jaws will weigh as much as 700 lbs. Huge mammoth skulls from Alaska only weigh a few hundred
pounds.
"We finally got the tusks set on it this week (May-24-05). That
was no easy job. And when we turn it right side up again on its permanent base,
they may have to be adjusted. This will take several more
days to do, but there is no other way Taylor explained."
Joe spent five months in 1995 restoring and molding the famous Burning Tree
Mastodon from Ohio and has just finished the big Wapple Bope mastodon dig in
Indiana.
"This big 4-tusker is
different in many respects from the Burning Tree. I think there's a possibility that they were separate species,
Taylor speculates."
Restored by Joe Taylor with unique features
Complete dentition
Buyers please call Joe Taylor (806)675-7777
Other animals with it also available
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