Beetle and tanning question

[n_mathews13]

First: I want to take my bear skull to a guy to do the beetle thing. Iv done a few skills myself, but this skull is from a few years ago and was a good size bear. Thought I'd have a professional do this one.i know the process, decreasing, whitening and all that. Just wondering how long should it take on average for a bore black bear skull to take? And how much should it cost?

Second: Iv done a little tanning , learning as I go. What tanning solution or process do you use?  Let's say a deer hide
Thanks for your advice

[HUNTINCOUPLE]

The bear skull shouldn't take long for the Beatles to clean. Maybe a week? Now the degreasing and whitening will take some time.  If it was me I'd have the Beatles clean it and do the rest myself. Since you know this part you might consider doing it yourself?  Cost would be way low to just have the Beatles clean it.

[BlackRiverTaxidermy]

n_matthews,
I have beetles. If you are wanting to JUST have the beetles to clean your skull and then you do the rest we can do that! We charge $100 for the total dermestid beetle clean, degrease, & whiten; however if you are looking for use of JUST the beetles it would be a LOT less of that cost. Is the skull in the freezer? The cleaning of the skull takes only a few days by beetles; however bears are by far, one of the longest to degrease due to the fat levels (1-2 months). If this step is not done properly it will yellow and get blotchy over time. I can either give you some direction on here in a future post or just give me a call and we can chat.

We can talk about the tanning too..also critical if you want it done correctly. The actually tanning is not a hard thing, its the prep and steps that HAVE to happen prior to the actual application of a tanning product.

Joel - BRT    (360)789-5056

[n_mathews13]

Thanks for info. Reason o ask is cause I'm still waiting on another bear skull that I have to a guy a year ago and am a little worried cause the last skull I seen of his wasn't as good as the others I'd seen. And he never gave me a price ( kind of a friend of my dads type of thing). Not sure I want to wait that long again