Working my way down the neck. On a normal moose mount, the neck would include the bulging breast bone and beginnings of the front leg joints. Due to the weight that would be extended out even further from the mounting backet, I've decided to stop the neck at about half its length.
Making the transition from the head to the neck with hand tools can be difficult. I use the clamps to hold the new part to the one already in place. Starting with tack welds near the bottom, I determine where additional trimming is needed and work my way up.
He's getting a little bigger now. A buddy of mine had some steel post caps, 2.5" left over from a project and will work great for the eyes. Today I will make the transition to the neck.
1/2" round solid bar is heated and wrapped around a 2 1/2" pipe. Look, don't touch.
1/2" round solid bar stock is used to outline the shape of the lower lip.
The next few pieces are tacked in place, further shaping will be done after the welds have been ground off
Here you can see the front lip before and after grinding. After the welds are smoothed down, I use auto body tools to further shape and blend the individual pieces together
After the lower nostil is tacked, I weld all the gaps and grind to a smooth finish. More 1/2" bar is used to form the upper lip edge. These pieces are longer than they need to be, easier to cut off extra, than reweld and grind more material into place.
Starting with a 4' x 10' 18 ga. cold roll steel. Cut into 3 pieces for easier handling. I use a plasma torch to cut the steel, you can see the vise gripped cutting guide. A plasma torch cuts at 25,000 degrees F.
Ralph is 12 " long, 6" wide and 5" tall. The ballbearing eyes have been painted gloss black oil base.
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