hydrogen peroxide and ziplocks

[HighCountryHunter88]

question,

can i put a bear skull in a gallon ziplock with 40% peroxide? will that work out? thanks

[j_h_nimrod]

It would work if you are limited on how much H2O2 you have and are wanting a full immersion. Remember to pull it before it looks as white as you want and rinse it well in fresh water, 40% will whiten it quick and keep working until well rinsed. Expect the bag to leak though so have it in another tub and make sure to wear your PPE!

[northwesthunter84]

Be careful with it, I have cauterized wounds with that stuff, the bag might also pop due to the off gazing from the oxidation. Wear eye protection and gloves.

[JWEBB]

I personally use a plastic container with a lid. The peroxide will eat through that bag I believe

[LDennis24]

 

You can do some damage to yourself if your not careful... I believe it can also damage the bone if left too long. Maybe someone else knows about that?

[BlackRiverTaxidermy]

 
DONT DO IT HighCountry!
The peroxide at that concentration will eat through the bag, more specifically the differing plastics they use for the closure zipper....speaking from experience      J.H. Nimrod is correct, you won't get full immersion with a bag either.
Use a hard rigid plastic Tupperware or container....no metal! Place a papertowel, doubled up, on top of the skull....as soon as the peroxide penetrates the skull, in about 30 minutes, it (the skull) will start to float in that concentration. If you don't put the paper towel on top or use something to hold the skull down the top of it will show a differing color in the long run. If its peroxide you just bought and its fresh I would only leave that skull in for about 5 hours...any more time after that and it will start to eat away the fine filament bones. If its older peroxide/used on several skulls before this one you can leave it there for up to 12 hours. Rinse with HOT water and put in the sun or under a heat lamp until FULLY dry. USE GLOVES through the hole thing...that stuff will turn your skin instantly white, give ya a chemical burn, and cause a site itch worse than what you could get in Bangkok!
Best of luck!

[HighCountryHunter88]

Ok bad idea!! Thanks for all advice!

[Fireb@ll]

I would NOT submerge or otherwise contain peroxide and a skull.  I have done several european mounts while stationed in Germany.

The method I used that worked best:
-slow, low boil skull in plain water.  when the water gets really funky (depends on skull) change the water and keep on low, slow boil. at water changes peel off what will come off easily, skin, fat, eyes, etc. i’ve gone as long as a few hours.  on the little Rehbock deer I would check the nose cartalidge to make sure it wasn’t getting to loose and gauge “done” by that.
-when done-ish use a nylon brush to get the funk off while rinsing under as hot a water as you can stand. 
-let the hot water evap a bit, blot water as best as you can. keep the skull warm.
-wearing GLOVES AND EYE/FACE protection brush Peroxide all over skull.  keep painting with fresh peroxide for a few minutes.  This stuff is caustic as hell.  be very careful.
-set skull on rack to dry, preferably in the sunshine.  not white enough? repeat peroxide painting.

Waidmannsheil (German hunting speak for congrats/good luck),

Dave

[JAFL]

First question is how did you clean the skull? nature cleaned, boiled,or bugged? Did you degrease the skull? Whitening a skull that has not been degreased is kind of a loosing battle as the grease fat left in the bone eventually migrates from deep within the bone to the surface...if you have a greasy skull, peroxide may whiten it some but will not look all nice and pretty and stay that way.

 Next question - When you say 40% hydrogen peroxide is it 40% or 40 Volume (as in the stuff from a beauty salon outlet. If you really have or are going to use 40% think carefully and read all of the potential issues...safety glasses is an absolute necessity..because even the 40 volume (15%) can cause blindness and the 40% can instantly  cause sever corneal burns. as well as skin burns if not washed away promptly.

\Do not put anything in a Ziploc bag because it can explode due to pressure in the bag caused by the breakdown of the peroxide.

Oh there is one other thing, Hydrogen peroxide breaks down the collagen in bone and it can literally destroy fine bone.

If you really want to learn to do a professional type bone cleaning or at least something you would like to hang on the wall- do some reading, join a FB page such as https://www.facebook.com/groups/1615077132104024/2021871988091201/ and learn how to do what you want safely and well.....Good luck.

[HighCountryHunter88]

First question is how did you clean the skull? nature cleaned, boiled,or bugged? Did you degrease the skull? Whitening a skull that has not been degreased is kind of a loosing battle as the grease fat left in the bone eventually migrates from deep within the bone to the surface...if you have a greasy skull, peroxide may whiten it some but will not look all nice and pretty and stay that way.

 Next question - When you say 40% hydrogen peroxide is it 40% or 40 Volume (as in the stuff from a beauty salon outlet. If you really have or are going to use 40% think carefully and read all of the potential issues...safety glasses is an absolute necessity..because even the 40 volume (15%) can cause blindness and the 40% can instantly  cause sever corneal burns. as well as skin burns if not washed away promptly.

\Do not put anything in a Ziploc bag because it can explode due to pressure in the bag caused by the breakdown of the peroxide.

Oh there is one other thing, Hydrogen peroxide breaks down the collagen in bone and it can literally destroy fine bone.

If you really want to learn to do a professional type bone cleaning or at least something you would like to hang on the wall- do some reading, join a FB page such as https://www.facebook.com/groups/1615077132104024/2021871988091201/ and learn how to do what you want safely and well.....Good luck.

I had a taxi do the skull a in 2009. It has since greased up real bad so I have been soaking it in acetone for the last month.  Was Gona use 40 vol. peroxide. I have used regular peroxide on deer before in a bucket.

[JAFL]

I'm betting the skull was boiled...which can simply cause the fat to actually be driven deeper into the bone....Hopefully, what you are doing will work. You should change out the acetone if it becomes yellow or becomes cloudy. Also don't allow the bone to rest on the bottom of your container as the dissolved oil is heaver than the acetone above and you do not want to reintroduce any fat back into the skull.

You can also try using a warm water and Dawn(dish detergent) soak. The water solution can be heater with an aquarium heater .... ideal temps are the mid to high 90s but as long as it gets nice and warm your good too go. Using this method you do the water changes if the water gets dirty or greasy...which is a good thing because you are getting rid of the oil.

It might be a good thing if you strain the liquids through a sieve to prevent loss of teeth. Depending on what kind of skull you have will depend on how long it will take to degrease.
Some skulls can take months to do right...bears have been the worst for me...longest was about 10 months.

Generally, peroxide is just used to whiten or brighten the skull after it is degreased...it is not considered a degreaser by itself. You can check the process of degreasing by letting the skull dry then using a peroxide soak for a several days. I'd just use the brown bottle peroxide from a drug stone. Cheap is good and this % will not damage the bone. If you already have 40 volume( you can water it down by using an equal amount of water....and just a 2 day soak....if it still needs degreasing you will see areas of translucent or dark patches....
If you need more information or help post and I'll get you some info......for everyone else reading this it is a good bit of information ...Doing a good job making a European mount that will not go nasty, you should either macerate or use dermestids..followed by degreasing.

[JAFL]

To everyone who has given advise, Your thoughts and comments on safety were great.....

[LongBomb]

I used a crock pot for a bobcat skull, put it in over night and rinsed it off in the morning then soaked in hot hydrogen peroxide and water. It turned out ok but after reading some more on it, it seems you can wreck the skull by heating them to long? Is this a risky method or something to watch out for when doing this?

[cohochemist]

As the name suggests, I am a chemist by profession and have taught college level chemistry for many years.  Please do not heat hydrogen peroxide, EVER, for any reason!  The boiling point of hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) is about ~150C compared to water which is 100C.  This means as the solution of water and hydrogen peroxide are heated, the water will boil off first and you will be concentrating the hydrogen peroxide to very dangerous levels. Depending on which percentage of H2O2 you purchase, you can reach dangerous levels very quickly.  In addition to generating high concentrations of hydrogen peroxide, the molecule undergoes a very violent thermal decomposition with applied heat, where it breaks down to hydrogen (H2) and oxygen (O2) gas, both of which are explosive when heat is applied.   If you start with a 3% w/v solution (typically found in stores), the time to reach explosive concentrations will be longer than if starting from 35% w/v.  Since starting with 3% solution will take a longer time you might do it once or twice and have "nothing happen".  But eventually the kids will distract you or you will forget to turn off the heat for a different reason and BANG!   


As a side note, I doubt Acetone will do much to fat.  Acetone is a polar aprotic solvent and fats are non-polar molecules.  Like dissolves like so from a chemical perspective, stick with soap and water, the soap will break down fat much easier than acetone.  btw, where are you disposing of these large volumes of acetone?  hopefully not down your drain... might want to check the seals in your plumbing if that is the case...