So you want to clean your Skull this year!? Here is a little Info.

[boneaddict]

I'll give it a try PB.     

[andersonjk4]

Macerate it!  put a little meat in with it to get things going and it should take care of it.  here is one that I had forgotten about and did after it had been sitting on top of the chicken coop roof for several years.  It was black when I started.

 

I had a similar situation with an old dried up head.  Just threw it in a bucket of water with some scraps of raw meat and let is macerate for a few weeks and it came out clean.

[andersonjk4]

I will also add that I followed all of Michelle's maceration instructions last winter for two buck skulls and they came out great.  If you can deal with the stink then maceration is the way to go.  One piece of advice I have from my experience is to not let the maceration water level cover up the antlers.  The antlers on the skulls I did were submerged about halfway in the maceration water and ended up adsorbing the smell associated with it.  Even after drying for several weeks the smell would still fill the house.  The skull gets deodorized when you whiten it.  I did some tests and figured out that washing the antlers in oxi-clean didn't affect the color or finish and helped with the smell a little.  Hope this helps someone learn from my experience and a big thanks to Michelle for the great write-ups and all of the advice given on here.   

[Michelle_Nelson]

Just submerge the antlers in the dawn dish soap and water degreaser next time and that shoul deoderize them.

Just remember that submerging antlers in the maceration or degreaser can and will alter the color on racks.

[SevenD]

Any suggestions to keep the peroxide/manceration/degreaser off the horns? Wrap them?


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[Michelle_Nelson]

Nope.  No good way to do that.  Your just going to have to learn to touch up.  It's the nature of the beast.  The only thing you can do is keep as much out as you can.

Now on the whitening part what I do is find a container that will allow you to fill the peroxide to just bellow the burs.  them cover the rest of the exposed bone of the skull with paper towel.  Keep it wet.  It will wick the peroxide and whiten that area.

[andersonjk4]

Michelle, do you use the original blue colored Dawn when you are degreasing?  I used this for degreasing and noticed the skulls took on a slight blue color after degreasing for a couple weeks.  The color came out when I whitened, but this is why I was afraid to submerge the antlers while degreasing.

[SevenD]

Thanks, ya I guess it's inevitable.


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[Michelle_Nelson]

Yes blue dawn

[Pilot_Hunter]

How long do you leave volume 40 peroxide and basic white paste on the skull?

[Call em in]

Michelle can you please explain how you touch up the antlers after the color is altered from maceration. Thank you.

[jrebel]

Two questions:

1.  Why do you take off the bottom Jaw of the deer and elk?
2.  When doing bear or feline... can you do the whole skull including bottom jaw?  Or will they come apart in the bath?

Thanks

Johnny

[Pilot_Hunter]

Two questions:

1.  Why do you take off the bottom Jaw of the deer and elk?
2.  When doing bear or feline... can you do the whole skull including bottom jaw?  Or will they come apart in the bath?

Thanks

Johnny

I did a bobcat and the bottom jaw falls off. It will actually separate into two pieces. There will also be teeth that fall out too.

[PolarBear]

 Yes, the jaw is only held on by muscle which melts away when you macerate.  The biggest thing is to watch out for on cats is teeth.  Those tiny little teeth will fall out and dissappear in nothing flat.  They are a fun puzzle to figure out which goes where. 

[Michelle_Nelson]

How long do you leave volume 40 peroxide and basic white paste on the skull?

First round, 24 hours.  Rinse and let set in hot water for a good 15 minutes.  Pull out and let dry.  If not whute enough you can reapply and let set for 12 hours.  I would probably not to this more than 3 times.  First round 24 hours, if needed the second and third round 12 hours.