Get That Skull Clean!

Old No7

Old No7

Member
Several folks asked how my taxidermist got the bobcat skull shown below so clean...

I confirmed that she boiled it. Someone had asked about the use of beetles. When I mentioned that, she said she had "Never tried the Beatles, but 72 solid hours of RAP ought to do it!" /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif

Old No7

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72 hours or RAP "music", and that freaking skull would have disintgrated!!!!!!!!! /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif
 
Hey, that skull looks really good. Kind of reminds me of the little monkey on Pirates of the Caribbean when the moonlight hits him. LOL /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif
 
shulls are not hard to do if you have the right stuff to do it...all you need is a little 90% peroxide or higher and some sodium carbonate to boil the skull in....all you do is bring water to boil add sodium carbonate mix well and add skull till all head meat pulls off easily..then take out and let cool...pick all meat and brains and nasal gristle out..get as clean as you can...then pour your peroxide in a container(enough that the hole skull will be submersed)and let stand for 24 to 36 hrs..pull out and dry...the peroxide will eat all or most all cartlige and excess meat from the skull and will whiten the skull...take out and let dry..the skull will take a few days to be completely dry..and you just done your first skull..
 
I have tried boiling deer heads and have had the problem of them falling apart. I would boil them for maybe 2-3 hours. Any recommendations on how hard to boil them and for how long?
 
I use a big aluminum pot and put it on an old gas burner. Takes me about five hours but I like to make sure I dont get the horn bases down in the water. Then I dig and pick until I cant get anything else off and boil it for another hour or so. Peroxide for a night and 15 minutes of 1:5 bleach in a wash tub with shrink wrap around the horn bases and I am finished.

I will try to post a pic later.

BANDIT
 
Just my twopennies worth, take as much skin and meat off the skull first, if its a deer head mount then cut the skull now (gets the brain out), submerse in boiling water for about 30 - 45 minutes, then use a small pressure washer to blast meat and gristle off, repeat the submersion/pressure washer until all your left with is skull (common sense needs to be used in delicate areas of nose region and small skulls). Whiten with Hydrogen Peroxide, then leave to dry naturaly. The pressure jet makes the whole process almost enjoyable - WEAR waterproofs and keep your mouth shut unless you like eating brains!
 
JJfbandit
If you stay away from aluminum pots you will see your skulls become even whiter aluminum has a tendency to discolor bone also when you see yellow patches on the skull
it is grease in the bone before whiteing skulls they need to be degreased in a solvent. Go to this link they explain the degreaseing process alot of good info on skull cleaning.
http://www.skullsite.com/misc/macerationmanual.htm
 
Hey thanks for the info Ricardo... I never knew that about aluminum pots. I will have to look around for something else to use. Cast Iron maybe???

BANDIT
 
Just as Nightwalker said, get as much meat off as you can.
Then as i did when i lived in Fla..Just use the old ant pile.
It is amazing how much work those little guys do, just in a
couple of days....do not forget to tie down your skull,as
it may be come dinner for some other animal.Or just put a
box over it as i did. When the ants are done use a little
bleach to get it whiter, or not.
 
Ok this is a warning to all would be skull bleachers. If you use a 90% solution of peroxide you better be careful. This stuff can cause some severe lung damage and if you get it in your eye you can kiss it good bye. Nice rhyme huh. Here is a link:

http://www.dialysisethics.org/fyi/perocid.htm

you can get the same results without using peroxide in such a high concentration. Oh and do not even think about bleaching you hair with it!!!!
 


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