I shot my first Iberian red deer a couple of weeks & have now got the skull nice & clean but not yet nice & white.

Is hydrogen peroxide the best way to whiten it, what it the best way to apply it & does it need exposure to sunlight to maximise the whitening effect please?

Boil it out. (I do red's goats etc on a low heat for a few days). then I soak it in a weak carbolic soda mix for two days to remove any grease and then do a 24hr H2O2 soak followed by exposure to the sun.
If its not gone yellow, soak it in water for a few days and go back to the carbolic stage and start again.
I would suggest that you also look to polish the skull

It's already boiled & clean as a whistle & not greasy at all but I'm not sure if I should try to whiten it in the winter sun here or wait until we get the BRIGHT sun of the Portuguese summer.

Steve. Use beauty supply kit and make a paste (which you leave on for a day or so out in the sun). Keep it off the horns/antlers. I did this with a stained kudu skull after degreasing (unneeded) but the iron was already fixed -- had to use arts/craft supply paint, but that was something over a year's wait from RSA.

To clean a skull use 1 lb baking soda per gallon of water and boil a fleshed and de-brained skull for about 3 to 4 hours. Rinse with a cold water from a garden hose. This will completely clean and degrease a skull of any tissue. Sometimes I use a nylon brush to get any stubborn little pieces of soft tissue off.

After the skull is cleaned mix in a 50% hydrogen peroxide water mix to cover the skull completely. Bring to a rapid boil for 15 minutes then shut off the heat and let it sit in the solution overnight or about 12 hours.

WARNING

Anything that gets into the solution will be bleached white so you'll need to mid you antler bases. i use a steel rod and wire to suspend the skull and keep the antlers out of the water. I also use something like saran wrap with multiple layer to keep the antler bases out of the solution.

This works my friend and it's the quickest and easiest method I've ever seen. You'll just need a pot big enough I use an outdoors propane burner with a 20Lb propane bottle. Don't do this inside as the defleshing process is NASTY smelling.

Thanks

I've prepared no end of 'em up to the clean skull stage but then of course send them onto the taxidermist but am doing this one all myself.

I did all the usual like boiling the skull etc and then took a pressure washer to it and that got as clean as a whistle and fairly grease free.

I'm glad to say that one of my adegas/storerooms is equipped with a spare propane cooker and big pots etc so I won't have to worry about stinking the house out.

If it looks white enough for you and is not greasy you can stop at the stage you are at and seal the skull and call it done. This gives you a natural, bone colored skull. If you want it a little more white, I would recommend the peroxide paste kit. Mix the two parts until you have a nice wet paste and paint it on the skull with a disposable brush. Cover all areas you want bleached, stay away from horns/antlers. Let it dry. I believe it is heat activated so putting it in the sun would help or use a hair dryer on a hot setting to warm it up. Rinse in clean water to remove all the paste and let skull dry completely. Seal with matte finish or Elmers glue.

quote:

Originally posted by Grafton:
If it looks white enough for you and is not greasy you can stop at the stage you are at and seal the skull and call it done. This gives you a natural, bone colored skull.

Having spent some time looking at it today, I think that's exactly what I'm gonna do. It's not pure white but not too far off of it and I've decided it looks more natural the way it is.

I'll just give it a coat of clear varnish and mount a piece of wood at the back of the skull and then screw through the back of the shield to hold it together.

Thanks for the advice gents.