Just wondering if anybody has used the German trophy bleaching agent (Trophaenbleiche)???
and if so, what do you think of it?

It is sold in small 250grm tubs and the instruction say to use 15-30g per 100ml of cold water...If I'm understanding that correctly, it means one tub will make up roughly 1 litre of solution?

I bought it to try it as an alternative to ordinary liquid 40 volume Hydrogen Peroxide, hoping to get better results on some African skulls I am doing..But if one tub only makes up one litre of the solution, I don't think it will be very practical??

Any tips of idea about it use? Anybody know what the the stuff actually is?

Regards,

Pete

I use Peroxyde, on cotton wool which I wrap around the skull and tie with string. works fine for me

I second that, can be bought at the pharmacy and will bleach beyond white..

/C

quote:

Originally posted by bobby van der Putten:
I use Peroxyde, on cotton wool which I wrap around the skull and tie with string. works fine for me

Thanks gents,

Thats generally what I use, but these skulls were never cleaned properly before they left Africa and I was hoping to find something that would work better than Peroxide..The skulls are badly stained and still full of grease.

The size of the skulls makes simmering very difficult, but I am degreasing each one as best I can using paint thinners.

I was told this bleaching agent had a degreasing actin as well, which was the reason I bought it..

Regards,

Pete

Pete,

If it does a better job than peroxide on a test skull then it may be worth buying for the other ones. considering what you have been through with those trophies, it might just end up being money well spent.

Personally I only ever use strong peroxide, but then a couple of my skulls need degreasing. YOu are welcome to take some next time you are down. it is a 120 volume strength.

Rgds,
FB

FB,

Cheers for the offer! If I have no luck, I might take you up on that..

Regards,

Pete

Pete, if you try the trophaenbleich please let us know how it worked. I've also got some that could use a going over, Waidmannsheil, Dom.

Pete,

The only sure fire way to get the skulls back in shape is a lot of hard work.

Here are a couple of pictures of a nice stag a mate shot in Devon. He brought it back un-prepared and gave it to a well meaning keeper friend of ours.


Through lack of experience or bad advice, he decided to clean the head in the 'old skool' method, and buried it in the poult run for a year !!

By the time it got to me it had soaked up its fair share of tanning from the soil and was still a grease-ball mess. The antler’s had been bleached white by a long hot summer as well.

The first step is to soak it. Long and hard. The solution needs to be very hot water with either a large hand full of sugar soap, or soda crystals. Both can be bought from a hardware shop or Tescos.

Change the water after a couple of days. Get access to a pressure washer and give it a good blast. Soak again in another solution of soap /crystals. Repeat the process again.

Be careful, as the natural glue that holds the bones together can start to come undone. This can be rectified after with glue, so don't worry, just don't lose any of the bits.

After this process the skull will still look pretty shabby. The old method of wrapping it in cotton wool and soaking in 40%/vol Hydrogen peroxide is still the best.
It will continue to dry the bone out, forcing grease out into the solution.
It will also, if left too long, start to attack the skull and turn it porous, like pumis. So keep an eye on it. This head took 3 days with two changes of peroxide .

Once the skull has taken on a uniform colour appearance, wash it off.
It should be stressed that this is a continuous process. At no time should the trophy be allowed to dry out again. This will result in an uneven mottled colour at the end of the process.

Allow to air dry once all of the peroxide has been washed off.

The stain on this set of antlers was from a local stalking supplier . it’s a chocolate brown alcohol based stain , that you apply with a cotton wool swab .




15 pounds sterling for a tin that will last a lifetime .

End result. Better than when it started

Dom and Pete,

I have used it for a couple of Roe that needed a bit of touching up. I found it works better with a warm water and with cotton balls/cotton wool covering the skull.

It is supposed to be non toxic, so after the 15 or so hours, just pour it down the drain, rinse the skull and throw the cotton balls away.

Don

With regards to touching up the antler colour, I have found that shoe shine and a brush give very natural results if you are careful with it.

for recoloring the antlers also a potassium permanganate work nice, the purple turn in brown and the color is very realistic!