How to do a European Mount. . . Maceration.

[grundy53]

So I was perusing this thread again and couldn't find how long you soaked the skulls in peroxide?

[sirmissalot]

It depends on the strength of peroxide. Strong stuff just a day, weak stuff a week. What kind of peroxide are you planning to use?

[grundy53]

I usually use 40 volume paste and paint it on then wrap in selafain. not sure what percentage 40 volume Is.

[Michelle_Nelson]

40 Volume Hair developer is 12% peroxide.  I'd paint it on heavy and wrap it in plastic wrap to keep it from drying.  After 24 hours rinse it off with hot water.  Than let it soak in hot water for about 30 minutes to dilute the peroxide.  If it's not white enough after drying for several days apply it again. 

[adamR]

why keep it from drying?  I only ask because I'm in the same stage right now and my peroxide is on it's second day and I didn't wrap in plastic

[PolarBear]

Peroxide is no longer active once it has dried.

[adamR]

what do I do about the teeth?  I've put peroxide on it twice already and the skull looks awesome but there is still plaque on the teeth.  It may have faded slightly but it's still pretty dark.  what can I do to clean them?

[sirmissalot]

I personally like the teeth to stay dark. I purposely leave them as dark as i can, removing most and the ones I can't get out i stain to match. Just personal preference after having done many pure white. Did you degrease the skull and teeth or just clean and whiten?

[adamR]

i degreased as well it just didn't seem to touch the teeth so i thought it would come off with the peroxide and it isn't.

what would some white paint look like on the teeth?

[PolarBear]

Don't paint the teeth!  Get a dental tool and scrape the build up off then re bleach with peroxide if you want nice, clean white teeth!

[Elk whack master]

My cow elk skull is in a cooler with the lid down, its not air tight. temp is 86ish. Put it in on the 24th befor bed. I have a few questions. The skull was floating and I had to turn it upside down to let the air out. Is this cause of the bacteria releasing gases and am I gonna have to use something to hold it down? There is some pinkish skum floating already, is this normal or did I do something wrong? I did not disinfect the cooler beforehand and there was a tiny spot of mold growing that I cut off the head while cleaning it for the cooler.
I also recommend closeing the door behind you when checking it cause it will stink up the house in a minute!!!

[luvmystang67]

*WARNING* I cheated and it cost me... here's my story.  I ruined my mounts...

I see what you've done here Michelle, but I was in a hurry and am not home a ton, which is probably why this whole series of events took place. 

I had a bear head, this years buck and a buck from like 8 years ago that I had left sitting in a field that still had some skin on it.  The bear and this years deer I skinned (per your directions.. no eyes, no brain) and I boiled because I'm lazy.  No maceration here.

THEN, I went and put it in a tub of water with dawn dish soap.  Probably 3/4 cup in a 15 gallon tote for all 3 skulls.  Temp ~85 degrees.  Probably in there for 3 weeks.  I didn't have a ton of time so I never actually emptied the water and added new.  I was planning to, but I figured for the time being I'd just add some more soapy water.  I probably did this 3 times.  Now today I went to actually change the water like I"m supposed to... I pulled the skulls out.  When i was scrubbing some of the gunk off with my hands, I lightly grazed the burrs at the antler base and they all just fell off.  Since it was sitting on the ground (again VERY lightly, I've been very careful) the nose just disintegrated and fell off the skull.  It was just entirely falling apart before my eyes.  So now I have set it out to dry, no nose left, one antler with no burrs and its just as if its made out of chalk. 

SO, while I have done many things not per process, I just figured none of this would hurt it too bad.  WHAT DID I DO that made the skull and antlers like this?  The preferred answer would not be "you did everything wrong idiot" but I'm trying to make sure I know which part is sensitive so I dont repeat it in the future...

Was it?

Boiling for 8 hours?
Soaking at 85 degrees for 3 weeks?
Too high of a concentration of soap by the end?

I'm sick about it.  If I were a 10 year old version of myself I'd likely be in tears at this point.  Even cutting corners I have a lot of work into these...

[sirmissalot]

It was absolutely boiling for 8 hours. Without a doubt. Boiling is extremely hard on bone... That's why pros suggest not doing it. 8 hours of it is way way too long... Drying them is not going to save them, sorry to say. Curious why you boiled so long?

[luvmystang67]

It may have been more like 6 hours of boiling. It was the time it took to get the cartilage out of the nose and clean the skull. It actually looked very good out of the boil and took 10x more the abise as I was spraying it off and pulling flesh off. Still the problem? They didn't ever show signs of being fragile until after my attempt at the degrease soak.

[sirmissalot]

I can't see degreasing damaging the bone unless it was over heated or you added something other than water and soap. What your explaining sounds exactly like over boiled bone. I have one skull that was slightly over cooked back when I used to boil skulls and the burrs chipped off and the bone is very flaky and brittle.