I have kept the head from a deer as I would like to process and keep the skull for display. Not a European mount but the whole skull with the lower jaw. As this is my first attempt any tips would help. Anyone out there done this before?
Skulls
- Thread starter oopswasthatyourdog?
- Start date
Boil for a long time in water Dawn dish soap the dish soap will cut the grease, so the skull doesn't discolor (yellow)..
Clean meat and nose cartilage off,make sure to get all the brains out.
Let sit for awhile in water and Dawn, scrub the skull clean
.I bleached mine with hair dresser bleach.I then use a mixture of 40% peroxide, available in beauty department of some drug stores or a beauty supply shop, to make a mixture of about 50/50 peroxide and water and soak the skull for 4-10 hours taking care not to get any of the solution on the antlers as it will bleach them white also.real bleach like Javex etc.. turns the skull chalky/
The lower jaw may split if boiled to long..so either check on it..or glue them back together..let us know how it turns out
Clean as much off as you can first, before you boil..lol..take the tongue out the bottom, not sure if you have done that yet,
Clean meat and nose cartilage off,make sure to get all the brains out.
Let sit for awhile in water and Dawn, scrub the skull clean
.I bleached mine with hair dresser bleach.I then use a mixture of 40% peroxide, available in beauty department of some drug stores or a beauty supply shop, to make a mixture of about 50/50 peroxide and water and soak the skull for 4-10 hours taking care not to get any of the solution on the antlers as it will bleach them white also.real bleach like Javex etc.. turns the skull chalky/
The lower jaw may split if boiled to long..so either check on it..or glue them back together..let us know how it turns out
Clean as much off as you can first, before you boil..lol..take the tongue out the bottom, not sure if you have done that yet,
Same exact process as a euro, you just kept the jaw.
1) remove the meat -a)bugs b)simmer c)maceration
2) degrease
3) whiten
4) seal(optional)
As of right now I have a complete head that has been sawed off.....fur, eyes, tongue....the whole package
What do you use as a sealer?
a fungicidal sealer..like polytranspar ..I am not sure but any clear sealer from an art store may work?? You may use a satin plastic spray sealer or a mixture of 50/50 Elmer’s glue and water painted on with a brush to seal and protect the skull.
Paraloid B-72
I have done 4 deer skulls with this one kit http://www.vandykestaxidermy.com/product/102434/skull-bleaching-kit
They all came out great.. your gonna need dental picks and small tweezers to get out all the meat that just doesnt wanna come out.. you can get them at princess auto
Good luck
They all came out great.. your gonna need dental picks and small tweezers to get out all the meat that just doesnt wanna come out.. you can get them at princess auto
Good luck
Use laundry detergent. First clean of all the bits from the skull you can with a knife; hide, muscle, eyeballs, brain etc. The fill a bucket with luekwarm water add a scoop of detergent and the skull. Let it brew at room temperature for 2-3 days, pour of the fluid and repeat. The enzymes in the detergent will break down all the soft tissues and after a couple of days you can brush/wipe all the bits off. It also degreases and whitens. Simple, cheap and effective.
Skin it first. Then cut out, or off, all that you can, like eyes, tongue, etc.
At that stage, if you could get it in a freezer over winter, there is a very simple method. I think you have access to the country side, so next spring stake and chain it down by an ant hill and cover dirt, or moss, etc. over it. About early fall there won't be a speck of flesh, in it or on it. You can then bleach it. We have just used househild bleach directly on it.
At that stage, if you could get it in a freezer over winter, there is a very simple method. I think you have access to the country side, so next spring stake and chain it down by an ant hill and cover dirt, or moss, etc. over it. About early fall there won't be a speck of flesh, in it or on it. You can then bleach it. We have just used househild bleach directly on it.
The two I did, I did in a roasting pan, one on the stove (wife was away) and one on the Coleman on the back porch. (she was home)
Skin it and strip as much of it as possible. Simmer, don't boil.
A bottle brush, in through the spinal cavity, gets the brains out. A package of bamboo skewers is handy to work at the sinuses.
Things to watch. The bone in the sinuses is REALLY fragile. More-so when wet. Patience pays here, if you want the spirals to remain intact. I found that rinse and repeat was a better strategy than picking at it to remove the bits.
Better to cook the flesh then sluff it off, than to cut it with the knife dragging across bone. It leaves marks.
The nose bars fell into the pot. I fished them out, placed them where they belonged, and they are still there. This, and the jaw falling apart, is from the cartilage between the bones dissolving.
I used dish soap to cut the grease while cooking mine. Use lots, change the water a couple times to reduce the amount of fat floating around.
Both mine smelled like someone s**t a tree, at first. They smelled better as it went along.
My first one, still wet.
The second one (no pics yet) turned out a little less white. I mostly attribute it to the skull having sat in my garage for a week before I got onto it. It still looks pretty good to me, a bit darker than the first one turned out.
Cheers
Trev
Skin it and strip as much of it as possible. Simmer, don't boil.
A bottle brush, in through the spinal cavity, gets the brains out. A package of bamboo skewers is handy to work at the sinuses.
Things to watch. The bone in the sinuses is REALLY fragile. More-so when wet. Patience pays here, if you want the spirals to remain intact. I found that rinse and repeat was a better strategy than picking at it to remove the bits.
Better to cook the flesh then sluff it off, than to cut it with the knife dragging across bone. It leaves marks.
The nose bars fell into the pot. I fished them out, placed them where they belonged, and they are still there. This, and the jaw falling apart, is from the cartilage between the bones dissolving.
I used dish soap to cut the grease while cooking mine. Use lots, change the water a couple times to reduce the amount of fat floating around.
Both mine smelled like someone s**t a tree, at first. They smelled better as it went along.
My first one, still wet.
The second one (no pics yet) turned out a little less white. I mostly attribute it to the skull having sat in my garage for a week before I got onto it. It still looks pretty good to me, a bit darker than the first one turned out.
Cheers
Trev
- Location
- London, Ontario
I cleaned a skull in ha;f bleach half warm water and let it soak for about 30mins...it worked great with no damage to it...
- Location
- London, Ontario
WELL THEN...lol should I coat it in something to prevent this?
Nope, just be gentle with it. Do a search on taxidermy.net perhaps someone over there can point you in the right direction for a neutralizing formula.
I skin it and scrape off as much non-bone material as possible, then boil for 20-30 minutes MAX in water (I find its very easy to discolor the bone if you boil too long). Also teeth can loosen/fall out. then take it out, scrape scrape scrape till you're sick, then scrape some more and start applying 30% or stronger peroxide to make any remaining flesh gummy and whiten the bone. Works for me.
I'm trying this method.
Prepped the skull this afternoon and I'll see how it turns out.
Things I learned so far:
After a few weeks the brains came out like a marshmallow topping for ice cream.
There's more fat in the head than I thought there would be.
Eyes are harder to cut out than I expected.
