Just cleaned up a wolf skull

ciphery said:
Do not use bleach!!!! It will disolve the bone.
Use hydrogen peroxide. It will pull out any remaining oils and leave it squeaky clean and white
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Not entirely true regarding bleach, enzyme bleach powder works very well and doesn't turn to bone to chalk and brittle like standard bleach, enzyme bleach powder is what a lot of museums and biology labs use.

Peroxide is heavily recommended and will be my foot here out.

1899, look forward to the skull we'll have a collection here, and no just Sunlight and Spray Nine, worked really well, haven't tried baking soda yet. Laundry detergent works but no different than Sunlight and Spray Nine, both of which have enzymes that break down grease / protein to my understanding; and they make the skull smell good. :)
 
After, comes out as a greasy white goo, easiest way I've found is a stiff zip tie / zap strap with a loop in the end just about the size of the opening into the cranium. Poke the loop in there, twist and twirl it around, and everytime you pull the loop out it'll be full of brain. Flush the cavity repeatedly and eventually it's all out. The ears are a challenge to get right clean, thin needle nose pliers and a set of picks is handy.
 
p17 said:
A presure washer works good to get the brains out and clean the ear holes
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Best to do it in a 5 gallon pail or else you'll be looking for the teeth. :D

I also smash the back of the palate with a knife and pick out the "brown" stuff in the nasal cavity (looks like honeycomb), that stuff starts to stink quickly.

Hairdressers are a good source for high percentage peroxide needed to bleach.
 
Easiest way (for me, anyways) is to bury the whole head in my "bone bin", a compost heap full of creepy crawlies, and leave it for the winter. When it warms up in the spring, take it out, and hose/pressure wash it off. Boil in salted water, and scrape what you can off, repeat as needed. Once it's clean, I soak in bleach overnight (1 in 10 solution), rinse well, and let dry. Once you're happy with it, neutralize the bleach with a mild acid solution (Muriatic 3% ish), dry, glue the teeth in, and done.
I have a roomful of bleached skulls, no problems. Don't keave them in bleach for too long, and remember to rinse and neutralize at the end.
However: Strong H2O2 is preferred, but not all can get it. Anyone can get bleach.

Nice skull! If you want, enter the details in the Wolf database thread here on CGN, and I'll immortalize it on my site! :D
 
I like it! I've got a bear skull sitting on my shelf that I fcuked right up. It's still all dirty and covered in dried flesh... lost a tooth or 2 also.

I need to give that a try, but gotta wait until the wife is off to relatives, later in the summer. She'd have a fit if I tried boiling a skull on 'her' stove.
 
I'll have to post a pic of the setup I use, it's just a coffee can fueled by alcohol (sure methanol is easily sourced for you Demonical!).

I drilled a ring of holes, 1/8" or so, around one of the grooves in the can about 3" from the bottom, then a second set of holes halfway up the can. Convection pulls in air over the methanol, which boils and makes fuel vapour, and it sends a strong flame out the top and the holes look like inward jets of blue flame. Then put a metal pail on top sitting on 1" steel blocks to leave a gap and it boils a pail in about 30mins. Soon as it boils, just top up the methanol and leave it cooking outside for the desired time. Took a few fuelings for the wolf skull, about 10L of methanol over two boils, so not the most efficient stove but it's free and has the horsepower.
 
MIRAMICHIER said:
No wolves in the East you should have put a ruler beside the Skull to get an idea of the size.
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Different wolf, but a typical example of the Athabasca / Peace basin. The skull pictured isn't exceptional in any way size wise, actually from a fairly young wolf. The largest wolves I've seen have all been in NW and North central Alberta, NE BC wolves are big too, they're a little smaller here in Northern BC in general. A lot bigger than most people realise though, a mature Timber is the size of a small deer or black bear.

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