do it yourself skull cleaning?

[Michelle_Nelson]

Bones tend to stain from minerals in the sail.  They are not to fun to get white after that. 

[CoryTDF]

I just did two heads last weekend. I boiled one for a friend and then my own. The one i did for a friend came out great almost pure white before i put the chemicals on. The one i did for myself, well, my f-ing dog decided to eat the nose bones and the skull is very dark and stained. I'm not sure I'm going to be able to bleach it out. O well, i think it looks cool anyway. I'm going to pull some nose bones from the next dead deer i find. I know they wont match up very well but it's worth a shot. All in total i have boiled and bleached 16 skulls for myself and family members. I have had pretty decent success but every now and then run into a stubborn one that just wont get white. I am sure that it has to do with the grease/oil. I'm sure the maceration works great but I'm not that patient. I can boil and bleach a deer skull in a day and they look right on par with ones my friends have payed over $200 dollars for. If i shot a monster and wanted a Euro done i would look somebody up with bugs. 

[MtnMuley]

Delicate nasal bones?  You're way ahead of me Michelle!  As long as the cavity in the nasal passage is in tact, I'm happy!  2 weeks maximum on a deer that would please anybody.  ICEMAN, I got a bull skull that's macerating in a tree in my yard....you need it for your front yard collection? 

[ICEMAN]

Thanks for thinking of me MtnMuley!  I will pass this time...

[PolarBear]

I did a muley last year that the guy had soaking in a steel drum for several weeks.  The skull was stained with rust and it took me 2 weeks worth of scraping, soaking, simmering and bleaching to get it all out.  What a pain in the ass!

[ICEMAN]

Holy moly, Rust doesn't usually wanna come out of anything....cant image trying to get it out of bone....Pain in the ass sounds about right...

[ICEMAN]

I had a thought....how about those flesh eating carp which the ladies have been using for the pedicures? This may be pretty cool, set up a big fish tank in the living room with your soggy buck skull in it and rack sticking out and watch for a week as the little fishies make minced meat out of your trophy!   

[PolarBear]

Yeah, I wanted to tell him to forget it but it is a good friend so I sucked it up and did it.  I probably had 20 hours into the thing and didn't charge him a dime.  Just as I was ready to give up I mixed up a secret solution that I found out will take rust out of about anything, including bone.

[MagKarl]

Lookinf forward to your tutorial Michelle.  My bull head is feeding my buddy's beetles right now so your degreasing, bleaching, cleaning instructions will be right on time for me.

[Gringo31]

I've done this and it turns out FANTASTIC!

I have done this on coyote deer and antelope skulls, but it should work for anything. Skin out the skull and remove as much meat as possible. Also remove the eye's and toung. Place in a bucket and cover with a good amount of water. Now add some baking soda. I use about 2 LBS for a coyote or fox. Probably could use more for bigger skulls( maybe 3-4 lbs.). Let this sit for about 6 weeks. Make sure the skull never gets exposed to the air, keep it covered with water. After the six weeks , remove the water and hose down with a high pressure nozzle on your garden hose inside the bucket. Make sure to spray inside the brain cavity. Next put it in a big pot with just enough water to cover it and boil it for 30-45 minutes. Just a slow rolling boil. Make sure the pot is big enough so it wont boil over if it foams up. After boiling, drain the water and hit it again with a high pressure nozzle in the pot or bucket. BE CAREFULL NOT TO LOOSE ANY TEETH. All the teeth will fall out and the bottom jaw will split in 2. After cleaning the skull and teeth of any left over material, I place it in a zip lock bag with hydrogen peroxide bought from the grocery store. Completely cover it and let sit for atleast 30 minutes. Remove all the parts and let dry. Glue the jaw back together ( i use super glue or a hot glue gun) and then figure out the puzzle of where all the teeth go and glue them back in ( I use super glue). Now coat with several coats of gloss clear paint. I spray the top half and bottom half seperatly so they wont stick to each other when you set them together.

[Dipsnort]

My grandma caught me macerating one time and I haven't been able to look her in the eye since.

[lewy]

  that was too funny

[ICEMAN]

My grandma caught me macerating one time and I haven't been able to look her in the eye since.

She didn't like you removing the meat from the bone?