![]() “We finally got the tusks set on it this week (May-24-05). Huge mammoth skulls from Alaska only weigh a few hundred pounds. “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. The metal work for the base and jaws was done using a cast of them. The jaws alone are so heavy that it takes two men to lift one side. This had to be done in place and restoration of parts underneath had to be done working on it upside down. In order to mount the skull and jaws they first had to be molded. The bone is mostly replaced but it is softer than the rock around it making the work all the more tedious. 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. Some areas of the calcium cemented sand and gravel were as hard as granite. Removing the matrix from it has taken a year. A huge contraption was attached to it and it rolled over without even a chip.” 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. Then the whole trip back to the museum was during a snowstorm. “Just getting it into my truck to bring it home was heart-stopping. 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. It is certainly the largest from Texas and the only one that has even been available.” “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. Joe Taylor and his staff have been working on this amazing piece for over a year.
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