Hunting Washington Forum

Community => Taxidermy & Scoring => Topic started by: ShaneTyTrey on July 16, 2012, 03:03:00 PM

Title: Bear Skull....need help
Post by: ShaneTyTrey on July 16, 2012, 03:03:00 PM: Got the skull back from the taxidermist, probably should have paid him to bleach it but I didn't. So, how do I go about doing it myself. I would appreciate any direction, thanks much.
Title: Re: Bear Skull....need help
Post by: 92xj on July 16, 2012, 03:08:31 PM: I just finished mine up.
Clean off all the big chunks for meat on the skull.
Once you have this done or get insanely bored and tired of it.
Bring a large pot of water to a very slow boil.
Place skull in pot.
pull out after 45 minutes or so and cut/pull any chunks of meat that you can.
Back to the pot, boil longer.
Pull out and cut away.
Keep doing this till its clean of everything.
use a skinny knife or metal coat hanger to remove brain.
Use small nails or needles to clean any of the holes in the skull.
Use water hose with a sprayer to clean more of the tough to remove stuff.
Dont boil to long or the bone gets weak. Dont use a pressure washer, it can break small bones.
Once its cleaned fully. Place in a tub of hydro peroxide, if you dont have enough, add water and cover entire skull.
Leave in there till it reaches your desired whiteness. I left mine in for 24 hours.
Pull out and rinse.
I pulled all my teeth out before whitening. I wanted them to stay natural looking.
Make sure all the teeth cavities are removed of blood and muscle.
Display wherever.

(https://hunting-washington.com/smf/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fi452.photobucket.com%2Falbums%2Fqq243%2F92xj92yota%2FMobile%2520Uploads%2Fmms_picture.jpg&hash=cc712a72637a00148beba7f1b8e38afb604865ac)
Title: Re: Bear Skull....need help
Post by: Heredoggydoggy on July 16, 2012, 03:40:34 PM: There's an easier way--just put it out where the Yellow Jackets can get at it. They'll clean it for you! :chuckle:
Title: Re: Bear Skull....need help
Post by: ShaneTyTrey on July 16, 2012, 05:50:20 PM: Quote from: 92xj on July 16, 2012, 03:08:31 PM
I just finished mine up.
Clean off all the big chunks for meat on the skull.
Once you have this done or get insanely bored and tired of it.
Bring a large pot of water to a very slow boil.
Place skull in pot.
pull out after 45 minutes or so and cut/pull any chunks of meat that you can.
Back to the pot, boil longer.
Pull out and cut away.
Keep doing this till its clean of everything.
use a skinny knife or metal coat hanger to remove brain.
Use small nails or needles to clean any of the holes in the skull.
Use water hose with a sprayer to clean more of the tough to remove stuff.
Dont boil to long or the bone gets weak. Dont use a pressure washer, it can break small bones.
Once its cleaned fully. Place in a tub of hydro peroxide, if you dont have enough, add water and cover entire skull.
Leave in there till it reaches your desired whiteness. I left mine in for 24 hours.
Pull out and rinse.
I pulled all my teeth out before whitening. I wanted them to stay natural looking.
Make sure all the teeth cavities are removed of blood and muscle.
Display wherever.

(https://hunting-washington.com/smf/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fi452.photobucket.com%2Falbums%2Fqq243%2F92xj92yota%2FMobile%2520Uploads%2Fmms_picture.jpg&hash=cc712a72637a00148beba7f1b8e38afb604865ac)

Thanks I will give it a go this weekend
Title: Re: Bear Skull....need help
Post by: Michelle_Nelson on July 16, 2012, 11:22:23 PM: Did the taxidermist degrease it? If not you will have to do that first. If you don't, after you whiten it the grease will leach through and you will have a yellow skull.
Title: Re: Bear Skull....need help
Post by: Hunter Dug on July 17, 2012, 06:43:17 AM: Bears are one of the hardest animals in my opinion to clean for display. You can do as the guy above explained, and you will have a skull that looks exactly like the picture for about a weeks. After that time it will start to turn a yellow color and begin to crack, and come apart at every seam.

Euro mounts are a very simple process. I mean process because it takes time. There is no speedy results that look good enough to display in MY OPINION. A bear can take anywhere from 3 month (rarely) to 6 month (most of the time) to do but its not a big deal. Its something you can just set in your garage and check on once a week AT A VERY MINIMAL PRICE.

Remember guys you spent a lot of time and money to harvest these trophy's, take the time to do them properly so you can remember them the rest of your life without them falling apart.

I guarantee that most of the Taxidermist on this site would give you a step by step if you gave them a call.
My advise is free. Click on my card at the bottom, and shot me a call.
Title: Re: Bear Skull....need help
Post by: jackmaster on July 17, 2012, 06:46:32 AM: have it beatled, there is a thread on here from last week a guy in orting or graham has the beetles and he is pretty cheap if i remember the thread right....
Title: Re: Bear Skull....need help
Post by: 92xj on July 17, 2012, 07:05:25 AM: Shay, Keep your skull in the freezer for a few weeks.
I did my skull 3 weeks ago and took that picture last night. The color is not changing, it's not falling apart, no part on it is brittle, the seams are still super tight and nothing is coming apart.
This is about the 20th skull I've done, but first bear skull. All my other skulls are still looking like they did the day I completed them. I will take another picture in a few weeks for you for an update.
Clean it good enough, get everything off of it good enough and display it however you want. Speedy to someone might not mean the same as speedy to someone else.
Title: Re: Bear Skull....need help
Post by: bucklucky on July 17, 2012, 08:08:08 AM: There is a reason I quit simmering skulls. Do it the right way first and you will be happier in the end. I dont know how many people have brought me in bear skulls they simmered only to have then slowly leach grease over the year because they did not degrease properlly.
Title: Re: Bear Skull....need help
Post by: sirmissalot on July 17, 2012, 08:12:28 AM: If its already cleaned it will need degreased, otherwise it will never turn white and will turn yellow and stink from the fat still left in the skull. I use a crockpot on the keep warm setting with some dawn dish soap, change out the water every couple days. Should be done in a couple months with a good and greasy bear skull
Title: Re: Bear Skull....need help
Post by: Ballance1 on July 17, 2012, 08:13:46 AM: 6 months from now it will be yellow in the back and along the jaw. Bears are greasy and need to be done right.
Title: Re: Bear Skull....need help
Post by: Hunter Dug on July 17, 2012, 08:27:01 AM: Like I said everybody wants to help, shoot one of these guys a call, get the low down and do it in a fashion that makes it look good for years to come.
Title: Re: Bear Skull....need help
Post by: Michelle_Nelson on July 17, 2012, 12:34:45 PM: 92xj,

I would like you to seperate the bottom jaw from the skull and take pictures. Take pictures of the back of the skull, both right and left side, and the underside. Also take pictures of the bottom jow the same way.

From the picture you posted I can already see a lot of grease in the bottom jaw. When I skull is whitened a lot of the times the grease will come through almost clear. It will look like wet spots. Over time it will turn yellow.
Title: Re: Bear Skull....need help
Post by: 92xj on July 17, 2012, 12:53:53 PM: Call a pro.
Title: Re: Bear Skull....need help
Post by: ellensburgpo on July 17, 2012, 01:48:48 PM: Easy big fella. I think some if the pros are stepping in to offer their two cents. I didn't hear them trashing you, just saying there are better ways. Which seems pretty generous seeing how they make their living doing these things. And they are offering free expert advice trying to help a guy get the best results he can. For free.
Title: Re: Bear Skull....need help
Post by: Michelle_Nelson on July 17, 2012, 01:53:23 PM: Ya know what 92xj I would loose the attitude.

You've got 3 people on this thread who do this kinda work for a living. Call them profesionals or experts if you'd like, offering free advice and there knowledge. Giving people techniques and tricks that they have spent years and years tweeking, making changes to, and refining to get the results they are getting today.

If you want to get all butt hurt because we have pointed out a few things that you could improve on than so be it. If your happy with the work your doing that is fine. If you feel you have no room for improvement than thats fine too. As far as I am concerned I've put a lot of time and effort into my methods and and so have the others. I DO NOT owe it to anyone to share my methods and neither do they, but I do willingly because I know there are people that can't afford to have a profesional do it for them. If you don't want to take advantage of the free advice that will save you time and improve the quality of your work, that is your choice.

When people come on here with that attitude it make me want to just shut up and not offer advice to anyone. Why should any of us if all we are going to get for it is an attitude.
Title: Re: Bear Skull....need help
Post by: 92xj on July 17, 2012, 01:57:42 PM: No attitude. Erased my post, since it came across as that.
All I did was offer my opinion as well.
Never said you or your methods were incorrect.
I still didnt see any methods posted besides a crock pot with soap for a few months.
Im sorry I posted and responded to comments.

This thread isn't about my skull. I simply answered a question the OP asked and showed a picture of how my skull turned out.
Title: Re: Bear Skull....need help
Post by: bucklucky on July 17, 2012, 03:48:00 PM: Hey Shane , here is a good post to look through. Stuff about skulls has been beaten to death on here already so I really don't want to type 10 pages trying to explain something so simple. Best word of advice I can give while degreasing is BE PATIENT, Bear skulls more than likely will need more than a few months to degrease. I just check a few of mine that sit in 125 degree water for 3 months straight with dawn dishwashing soap and there is still plenty of grease pressent. These are 2 young bears also which are usually easier than older critters.

Here is the link to that thread Michelle put up and added to a while ago.

http://hunting-washington.com/smf/index.php?topic=16008.msg181209#msg181209 (http://hunting-washington.com/smf/index.php?topic=16008.msg181209#msg181209)

If you want more info than you can handle go to www.taxidermy.net (http://www.taxidermy.net) and check out the skull section or just type in degreasing methods in the search bar. The more reading you do in there the better idea you will have on what really works and how long it takes with the right equipment. I use a Horse trough and 2500 watt heating element with a thermostat to keep my water at 125 consistently. 125 degrees is kind of a magic number when degreasing skulls. You get too hot and they chalk , too cool and the grease wont come out as easy. 125 is a good safe number. Good luck.
Title: Re: Bear Skull....need help
Post by: ShaneTyTrey on July 17, 2012, 10:09:36 PM: Thanks all for your help, greatly appreciated