My taxidermist has gone out of business and now I have 6 skulls that were boiled clean in Africa but still need bleaching. In reading prior posts, I see that it is recommended to bleach the skulls right after boiling. Obviously, this can not be done.

Does anyone have any suggestions how to "whiten" these skulls. They have areas of yellow or are a little bit discolored from the smoke of the fire used to boil them.

The horns have been pulled and cleaned. What would I use to glue the horns unto the bone base?

Thanks.

Ron L

If your skulls have big areas of discoloration, they will need to be degreased first. Soak the skull completely submerged in white gas (Coleman fuel) for a couple of days and that should help. I ofter go underneath the skull and drill small holes from the bottom into the greasy areas to give the grease a place to get out.

Rinse the skull, let it dry, and you're ready to whiten it.

Go to a local beauty supply and buy some hydrogen peroxide. It may be sold as "developer" and should cost about $6 -$8 per gallon. You can get different strengths from 20% to 40%.

Don't get it on your skin . . . it will burn!

Keep it out of the light as it is a light sensitive chemical and over time it will lose it's strength.

Soak the skull in it - completely submerged, for 6-8 hours, depending on strength of solution. DON'T put it in a metal container!!! Use plastic instead.

Rinse it off thoroughly with water, let it dry, and spray a clear sealer on it and you're done! For a sealer I prefer Krylon Clear Acrylic Spray. It dries fast, gives the skull a little sheen, and will not yellow. (you may notice that the application of the clear slightly changes the color of the bone but don't worry about it . . . it will lighten back up.

As far as re-installing the horns, most taxidermists use Bondo auto body putty. Mix some up and put into the horns and press the horns on. If any squeezes out, resist the temptation to wipe it off. Just let it go into the hardening process and the excess trim with a knife and drips will pop right off the bone(don't wait too long . . . do this when the Bondo has hardened but is still warm. If you let it cool it's like cutting rock!)

Good luck!

JDS

Ron L,

It would appear from what you have printed that the skulls were field prepped. The yellow is either fat or sinew that needs to be removed prior to final bleaching.

Correctly done the skin and meat should be immediatley removed from the skull, then placed in cold water for a period of time say, overnight to assist in congealing the fat away from the bone/skull. This is then removed in the inital par-boil. The cooking time depends upon the size of the skull, from 5 minutes for a small Roe Deer or Duiker to 20 minutes for a Red Stag. The idea is to simply cook the flesh for easy removal, including in internal organs like brains and sinus'. These should be removed as quickly as possible after the par-boil.

Skulls should only be boiled long enough to par-boil/cook the remaining meat and sinew, since cooking/boiling for an extended period of time will eventually loosen the cartlidge and sinew holding the bones together at natural joints, i.e, nose, jaw, etc. Do not cook them for a long period of time. Also every moistening or additional cooking will soften this cartlidge.

Net, the remaining "yellow" you mentioned needs to be removed by gentle scraping with a blunt knife, butterknife, etc. that does not scrape the shull/bone away.

There are many receipes for bleaching, the easiest is to use 30% peroxide (use rubber gloves) with either a layer of kitchen roll (white only), tissue or cotton layed on the skull to hold (read: cling) the peroxide directly to the applied areas. Yes, you may have to do this in two steps for the outside/inside. Overnight is all it needs, (more than that won't make it any "whiter") followed by a rinsing with clear water. Lay the cotton (a thin layers of rolled cotton), kitchen roll or tissue on the skull and apply with a something that can control the dosage, spoon or eye/nose dropper. Pooring peroxide directly onto the skull will simply run off. Do not use a metal or plastic container with peroxide, I use clay pottery.

The horns on most African game do not have to be glued, rather the horn stubs should hold them firmly in place and this is actually an advantage to remove them for occaisional cleaning, dusting and additional transport or moving about.

Cheers,

Gerry

Ron,

The only thing I would add is that I woulddip the skull in boiling water for a few minutes just before you use the Peroxide...it seems to help get the peroxide into the bone so to speak...if you look a little further down in this forum, there is a thread on Euro mounts and this contains alot of info on the subject...

Regards,

Pete

We use Flat Whit Spray paint around here. Fast, Easy, and Works like a charm.

Good Luck!

Reloader

I agree on the peroxide, i use 40% but i mix it with "frosting creeme" that the beauticians use to belach hair.Mix it with the peroxide and Paint it on with a small brush and let dry, then brush off it does a great job and is cheap. For removing those small bits of sinew and cartilage i use my Dremmel it is very quick and will touch up all those hard to get rid of pieces. I have done many deer,bears and a big boar pig and all have come out great this way...P