Tail of a Tale Replacment

Just recently I brought home a Northern Dancer to repair it for my cousin. 



This is a tutorialish on how I did it. From a beginner to a beginner, here it is:

Supplies:
  1. Super Glue
  2. Baking Soda
  3. Round Pliers and Wire Cutters
  4. Thick Wire
  5. Sand Paper
  6. Epoxy Sculpt
The first step of fixing the horse was measuring wire for him. I made sure he had wire all the way down his body to see that it had plenty of leverage to hold the tail.

After the wire was measured and aligned, I then took my super glue and baking soda and got ready to fill in the massive hole where the tail belonged. He had been super-glued three times before and his tail had fallen off every time after (except for the third time. I took over before that could happen).


I built up the super glue layer by layer, closing the wire where it belonged.




Finally! There was only a small hole left by the end of the process. It took awhile, but it was finally time to check tail fit.


That was a big gap so I did a lot of sanding. I had a hard time finding where the high spots were so I tried a new technique. I painted black on the tail where I thought it might be touching. After that, I put the tail to it. Wherever the black came off on the tail, that is where it needed sanded.



There came more sanding and a second fitting. The gap was better but still a pretty wide chasm. I decided it was time for epoxy.

First I put baking soda and glue on the tail to make sure that it was secure.


Then came rolls of epoxy and sculpting it to match the old style of the tail. I have sculpting tools, but I am sure a person could make a pencil or paintbrush handle work.



I let it dry and then, ta da! the tail was finished. I only made the mistake of not sanding around the tail stump so that the epoxy would stick better.. It was already having a tendency to pull away when I handed Northern Dancer back to his owner. Oh, well. At least it won't fall off now. As long as she doesn't make him do circus tricks of standing on the tail, or hold him by it upside-down, it should last for the rest of his life.









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