skull boil

[MuleyFever]

Was going to start a skull boil but won't get it done tonight. Would there be any issue with just turning off the heat and leaving it sit in the pot until I can resume it in the morning? Hear about skulls cracking or softening but I assume that's from too much heat and not too much time in the water.

 

[colonel00]

Heh, I just did one today for my dad. I can't ever seem to get all the meat and crap off and don't have a power washer handy so I just get them to this point and then bury them in the garden until late next spring. This is the second time I'm doing it myself and last time I did overheat a bit and some of the bones became frail it seemed. I don't think letting it soak overnight will hurt but we'll see what other people say. When I did a mule deer and bear skull two years ago, I did the same thing and in the spring I let them soak in soapy water for several weeks to remove any grease (mostly from the bear skull). I didn't see any ill effects.

 

[Backpack Hunter]

No problems with letting them sit assuming nothing runs off with it. In fact leaving a skull in mildly warm water for months is a style some folks use....it can certainly get smelly.

 

[Felix40]

I left my last one overnight because I couldn't finish it. No big deal. That is a lot of meat left on the one above. I prefer to just scrape a little then boil then repeat until it's all clean. Took probably 5 hours to do my last one.

 

[Brianb3]

Watch the Eastmans video on YouTube. Cape it. Remove as much flesh as possible n remove brain. Boil with dawn n most important step use Oxyclean. Boil for 45 ish. I washed mine with a hose. They say to use Hydrogen Peroxide paste from a beauty salon but I poured house hold hydrogen peroxide n it turned out great. Took about 2 hours start to finish.

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[colonel00]

I left my last one overnight because I couldn't finish it. No big deal. That is a lot of meat left on the one above. I prefer to just scrape a little then boil then repeat until it's all clean. Took probably 5 hours to do my last one.

Yeah, that's why I bury them for 6 months or so to let the bugs do their work on whatever meat is left.

One other tip, once the skull is cleaned and bleached, apply a couple coats of Elmer's glue. It will soak in and seal the bone.

 

[efnm]

I did my first one this year and saw some great advice on using a compressor. Remove the skull from the simmering pot (don't boil, people!!!) after picking the big chunks and place into another pot of warm soapy water. Then use your air blower attachment on the compressor to blow in each of the little holes in the skull. I could believe how much of the hidden crap came out.

 

[kpk]

I've done warm water and air compressor with good results. Buried one once and didn't like it, it took on a lot of color I was never really able to get rid off. If you power wash, you're likely to blow out all the nasal cavity bones.

 

[Jason Snyder]

Keep your water below the boiling point and your end product will be much better. I let them soak in water with 1/4 cup of Oxiclean, at just below boiling, for about 8-10 hours. I rinse them off with a hose. I never scrape anything, it all falls off. If the flesh is dried on there, you'll need to soak longer.

 

[Bulldawg]

It should only take a few minutes at a boil to clean a skull, boil for 10-15 minutes then pressure wash off the gunk, may take longer if the meat has been left on the skull and dried to the skull. I boil mine with Oxy clean for a few minutes, pressure wash everything off and clean up very good then boil in a pot with peroxide for a few minutes. When you pull them out of the pot they won't look super white, but after you let it dry for a while it will really whiten up. If you boil for a long time the bones will become super brittle.

Go on Youtube and look up Whitebone Creations. He does the best job of giving a step by step process and his heads look great.

 

[MuleyFever]

My last one took like 6 hours. This one took about 3. I did boil it too hot though. This time I added Borax to the water and then pressure washed it. Way better.

 

[Catfish65]

For tips/info on boiling skulls from big to small and variety check out white bone creations. Herd about him on a podcast.
WHITEBONE CREATIONS HUNTING
- YouTube

 

[MuleyFever]

So I was wondering your experience with the whiteness of a skull. My first one was way whiter than this one. Any ideas on why one would be so much more white? The only difference is that I added Borax this time.

 

[Daniel_M]

That's all grease still in the bone. I don't boil, I prefer using a 5gal bucket and a fish tank heater set to 110* and rotate out the water every 2-3 weeks with Dawn dish soap. It takes longer, but the results are much better overall.

For whitening, make sure it's dry and use a salon 40 volume cream with some Basic White powder. 2 scoops of powder for a cup works fine. Coat it well and get some heat on it to activate the peroxide/developer. I use a buddy heater from underneath a set of saw horses with a small tarp laid over the top to catch the heat.


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[Marshmstr]

I boil with dawn soap, then smear the Sally's 40% cream and set in the sun. Always white. I always wanted to try the Aquarium heater.


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[Brendan]

I've had issues with discoloration in skulls that is tough to get rid of if I let them sit too long before degreasing / boiling. I think as it starts to rot - you get discoloration that's tough to get rid of. Where, if you clean it up, boil and degrease while it's still "Fresh" - it's been no problem whatsoever for me.

In my book - best thing you can do is treat the skull like meat, don't let it rot, and get it cleaned quickly to make it easy on you. I've had fine luck with simmering in dawn and then household peroxide if I do it this way. No need for anything fancier.

 

[pods8 (Rugged Stitching)]

I boiled a couple skulls this year for the first time, bit of a PITA since if you don't do it long enough the little stuff doesn't come off, do it too long and bones get soft, cracks open up, teeth fall out, nose bones break off and still bits are stuck around on it (even when running to the car wash to pressure wash it). Now they are soaking in dawn water to degrease (and rot off the last little bits) before I peroxide them. I don't have a place to do a maceration (warm water rot) due to the smell and not having a shed in the back yard or something to do it in. Hence hindsight 20-20 I'm drop future skulls worth the clean up off at a place with beetles or maceration services.

 

[camping1601]

So I was wondering your experience with the whiteness of a skull. My first one was way whiter than this one. Any ideas on why one would be so much more white? The only difference is that I added Borax this time.

I did one this year from a cow elk I got in CO that I paid a local taxi to skin remove brain and salt for the trip home. It had dried meat and stuff left on it and had a pretty funky smell. I rehydrated it at home and boiled it at the same time as doing a fresh doe skull and the elk skull came out very stained while the doe was very white. The doe was super white after 3 days in 40 cream while after a week the elk still has some staining. I just did a fresh buck and it also came out very white. My elk looked very much like your deer.

 

[MuleyFever]

So this one was killed in Sept and put in the freezer the same day, then boiled last weekend.

I actually don't like the bleached white look. I like more of a natural look but this one is a lot darker than my last one. My last one I boiled within a few days if I remember right. Can I dilute the 40 peroxide in water and let it soak? Again, don't really like the bleached look.

 

[huntinfool84]

It's grease, get some purple power (degreaser) from Wal-Mart soak it for a couple days pour out it and repeat as much as necessary. It will leave the natural look but take out the yellow.