Any issues whitening skulls when cold outside?

[7mmfan]

I have heard that whitening skulls with peroxide is more effective when they are warm, which makes sense. Is there any issues when doing it when its cold? It's not overly cold here, probably in the high 40's in my garage. I have several to do and don't have a spot inside the house to do it, so I want to make sure I'm not wasting my time doing it in the garage right now.

[JWEBB]

I'm no expert but I've done many myself outside in the cold and have always had great results.

[buglebuster]

Do it in the bathtub!

[7mmfan]

Last time I did one in the bathtub, I forgot about the cleaning lady was coming over. She got quite the surprise when she went in to clean the bathroom!

I just coated 3 "test" skulls and wrapped them in seran wrap out in the garage. We'll see how it goes.

About 24 hour's and then brush it off right?

[NRA4LIFE]

Not an issue.  I have done them this time of year many times.

[buglebuster]

Last time I did one in the bathtub, I forgot about the cleaning lady was coming over. She got quite the surprise when she went in to clean the bathroom!

I just coated 3 "test" skulls and wrapped them in seran wrap out in the garage. We'll see how it goes.

About 24 hour's and then brush it off right?

Ya 24 is good, if you have a little heater set it next to them

[blindluck]

Room temp is  preferred

[Ballance1]

Heat lamp. Just far enough away to not melt the plastic wrap

[BlackRiverTaxidermy]

7mm,
Most peroxide you use starts to lose its effectiveness (quickly) at 45 degrees or less. With the cold weather it sometimes can definetly affect it. After a peroxide bath following degreasing I paint on the mixture of whitener and peroxide and let the skulls sit with the cream on them for at least 5 hours, better is longer but depending on what type of chemical your using in conjuncture with the peroxide can dictate how long it will last before it starts to dry on the skulls. It won't hurt it to dry to the skulls..it just makes it kind of a pain to get off all the way.
Here's the trick I found with cold weather.....as long as its not freezing out, the application of the whitening cream is fine to do outside, BUT when you rinse the skull off of the cream rinse it with HOT water! The hot water re-activates the peroxide. Then I put the skulls under a heat lamp for at least 12 hours, use an actual bright/hot heat lamp, not one of those red infrared ones. The heat also keeps the residual peroxide going/working on the skulls. The only thing better than a heat lamp is a good hot outside sun...but we live in Washington 
Best of luck!
Joel/BRT

[2MANY]

Purdy nice of a couple guys that whiten for a living giving away their trade secrets.
 

[blindluck]

I've added some  Brown bottle peroxide 3% to my degreaser for a few hours, worked awesome but be careful it can be very harsh on the bone if you let it soak to long, bone may flake. I would practice on a skull or two to find what works best for you.

[BlackRiverTaxidermy]

I've added some  Brown bottle peroxide 3% to my degreaser for a few hours, worked awesome but be careful it can be very harsh on the bone if you let it soak to long, bone may flake. I would practice on a skull or two to find what works best for you.

yeah, be careful doing that!!! It swells teeth, flakes bone, whitens antlers if they are touching the water, and destroys the filament bones....all in short order. I keep that peroxide away from any kind of heated water when Im degreasing.

[blindluck]

Yep

[7mmfan]

Well they sat in the garage with the 40 volume/basic white paste on them for nearly 2 days. I cleaned them off last night under hot water, and they are cleaner, but they aren't white. I'm letting them dry in the house for a couple days and then I'll readdress them. I'll probably move them into the guest bathroom that doesn't get used. The cleaning lady came last week so we have a month before she's back. I'm sure they'll be out of there by then 

Thanks for the input from everyone, I appreciate it. I have a few "test skulls" laying around that I can play with to get my process dialed in before I do the ones that I want to turn out nice.

[Ballance1]

let them dry for a couple days, check for grease.  They may need to be degreased a little longer then whitened again.