rossislider Report post Posted July 25, 2017 Hey guys and gals, big thanks to all of you for the support of my son's skull cleaning business since he started it a few months ago. You guys have kept him and his free slave labor, me, (isn't it supposed to be the other way around?) busy with about as much work as he can handle. He has probably done 100+ skulls in the past 4-5 months and has really learned a lot and has greatly improved his techniques. While we were working on some skulls this past weekend we got to talking about a few things we have noticed that hunters can to to greatly improve the final product of their euro and wanted to pass some of it along. 1.Don't keep them in the freezer too long. Skulls will freeze dry over time and start to darken. I don't mean weeks or even a few months, but this will usually happen after a year or more. When this happens the final product will often take on an orange tint during the whitening process. This doesn't ruin your skull, but it is near impossible to get that bone white look. We have gone through the whitening process on some skulls as many as four times, but ultimately there is only so much that can be done. The sooner you do your euro or get it to a taxidermist the better. Even dried up deadheads come out better and cleaner than freezer damaged skulls. Example-The following two skulls were whitened simultaneously in the same pot with the same batch of peroxide. The only difference in the process was that my son has attempted to rewhiten the darker (second) one two additional times with minimal success. 2. If you are going to put it in the freezer for an extended period, DON'T remove the hide. The hide will protect the bone from freezer burn. We had a skull brought to us that had been in a freezer for over 5 years with the hide left on. The hide was badly freeze dried and nearly fused to the bone. After soaking in a bucket of water for several days to rehydrate, we were able to remove the hide and the skull came out very white and clean. 3. Try to keep it in an air tight bag while in the freezer. Easier said than done on a horned/antlered animal. But if possible it will serve as and additional buffer against freeze drying and burn. 4. Don't overboil. We have had several skulls brought to us to finish/salvage where the hunter had tried to clean the skull himself. They showed many cracks and weakened bone from over boiling. Don't let the water get to a hard boil. Keep the water at a low simmer. It may take longer, but the extra time spent will show in the final result. 5. Don't use bleach! People say bleach all the time as an expression rather than an actual step in the process. Bleach is harsh and terrible on the bone. Use peroxide. Again, Draysen has had a handful of bleach skulls brought to him. But at that point, not much can be done. 6. Don't rush the degreasing. Ungulates (deer, elk, etc.) really don't require any additional degreaing beyond the normal whitening process. However, pigs, javelina, bears, etc. have a lot of grease packed into those skulls. The normal process that you would use on an ungulate will have them looking fantastic at first. But after a week or two the grease will start to leach back out and will leave the bone looking greasy. This won't harm anything and it is purely a cosmetic thing, but just doesn't look as good. Eliminating 100% of the grease may be impossible. Believe me, we have tried and have consulted many other taxidermists. But you can eliminate most of it. These skull need to be left soaking in a mild degreasing agent for a week or more to slowly draw it out of the bone. There is no substitute for time in the degreasing process. I'll post more tips as we remember them and will post some pictures soon to show examples. Thanks again 12 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
RackTracker Report post Posted July 25, 2017 Thanks for the tips. This is excellent information. Those look great ! 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
lancetkenyon Report post Posted July 25, 2017 Man, those look fantastic! 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
AZHunter1 Report post Posted July 31, 2017 Your son does some very nice work!! Good info. 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
tjhunt2 Report post Posted July 31, 2017 Glad to see Draysen hasn't got burned out on his skull work. He is doing a fine job. Keep it up young man. Kudos dad! TJ 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
