Ok, so now what? (european skull mount help)

[longstevo]

So I've got a nice little three point I'm trying to do as a european skull mount.  So far, I've cleaned up the skull and all that.  Then I made a paste with 40 peroxide and powder whitener.  I smothered the paste all over the skull and its set for three days now.  It's hanging at dad's place so I don't know if its setting up dry or not. 

All thats let now is to brush off the paste, right?  Any suggested tools for doing that?

[BLKBEARKLR]

So I've got a nice little three point I'm trying to do as a european skull mount.  So far, I've cleaned up the skull and all that.  Then I made a paste with 40 peroxide and powder whitener.  I smothered the paste all over the skull and its set for three days now.  It's hanging at dad's place so I don't know if its setting up dry or not. 

All thats let now is to brush off the paste, right?  Any suggested tools for doing that?

A stiff paint brush, it falls right off. Be careful on the nasal passage

[longstevo]

Thanks BLKBear. 

Got all the paste brushed off, and now the skull looks pretty sweet.  Still deciding if I want to put another layer on or not. 

Also, is there anything a guy can do to get rid of the 'skull smell' that is still clinging to the three year old bones? 

[BLKBEARKLR]

Stevo,

I can't say for sure, I do not know how you prepped everything and the procedures that you used. If you can post the steps that you went through up here, I will try my best to give you a hand with some guidance.

Also we can get Michelle to add to this post to help you out. The girl has away with the skulls. Somtimes though it is hard to explain that there is something wrong, because I swear she has no smell activator any longer      Seriously though if you post up the steps can help you with some solutions.....

And just because she says I have a weak stomach, don't believe her I just did my 100 crunches this morning....   

Joe

[Skyvalhunter]

Yea you can brush off the excess. Then apply another coat if you think it needs it.

[bucklucky]

If you soak the skull in peroxide first it will get rid of any smells in the skull as long as all the meat is off of it . You dont want to submerge the whole thing though, I use small containers and set the skull so its sitting on the teth and then fill with peroxide just to the bottom of the antler. You can use 3% and leeve it in there for a week. Once done pull it out let dry and recheck the skull . If the smell is gone you can go ahead and paste it again if you need to. Probably only have to do the very top of the skull as the peroxide should whiten the rest that was submerged.

[Michelle_Nelson]

There is not enough information to give any advice.

It's a 3 y/o skull?  Where has it been the last 3 years?  Freezer?  Hanging in the barn?  Laying outside?  In a tree?

What where your exact steps when you began working on the skull?

Did you degrease the skull at all?

I do not use the paste method due to that reason above.  You can only get so many places with the paste.  You don't get 100% coverage.

[longstevo]

All right.  Sorry about the lack of information.  Here were the steps taken.

Three years ago
-Shot the buck
-boiled the skull and cleaned out all the meat/brains/flesh/ect...

Last week
-Mixed up a paste of 40% peroxide and powder whitener and smeared it all over the skull
-Brushed the paste off

It turned out looking pretty good.  But there is just a faint hint of smell coming from the skull.  Its not overpowering, but it is there. 

[BLKBEARKLR]

there we go, one thing to start doing is degreasin it, just put it in a bucket with dawn detergent. Leave it in for a couple of days, and pull it out, change the water and do it again. Michelle has a real good post about maceration. If you follow those steps with the degreasing it will get that smell out of there for you.

Joe

[bucklucky]

http://hunting-washington.com/smf/index.php/topic,16008.msg181209.html#msg181209