Boiling skulls?

OP
R

Ridley

Lil-Rokslider
Joined
Oct 27, 2020
Messages
138
Update. I had to boil it a bit longer than I had hoped to get rid of the residual “stuff”. I put it in peroxide for 4 days and everything is really clean. As mentioned above, the jaw did separate and most of the teeth fell out but I have collected them. I’m gonna have to leave the skull for a few days as my wife, daughter and I have a hotel room on the Oregon coast for thanksgiving. I will put it back together after the holiday weekend. Here is a pic of everything so far. Thanks to all for your advice and I wish you all a safe and happy thanksgiving.
197B3F99-B173-421E-980E-B1B73D43E79C.jpeg
 

Bdjones

Lil-Rokslider
Joined
Feb 11, 2020
Messages
186
Doint boil, simmer. Shouldn't take long. Add some dawn dishsoap or oxiclean and simmer for 30 mins- 1 hour then check.
100 percent good info.

I've done 4 now this way.

Sent from my SM-N960U using Tapatalk
 

30338

WKR
Joined
Jun 2, 2013
Messages
1,863
Small skulls are cool. Here is a porky I did last winter.

Your bobcat looks great from what I can see so far.
 

Redwood

Lil-Rokslider
Joined
Jun 2, 2020
Messages
118
white bone creations on youtube has great DIY tutorials. I followed his directions on my Antelope and it came out great!
^^^^^this I found his videos a few years ago. Just follow his instructions and your skulls will turn out awesome they are really simple also
 

MeatBuck

WKR
Joined
Aug 30, 2018
Messages
783
Location
woodpile, Commiefornia
Update. I had to boil it a bit longer than I had hoped to get rid of the residual “stuff”. I put it in peroxide for 4 days and everything is really clean. As mentioned above, the jaw did separate and most of the teeth fell out but I have collected them. I’m gonna have to leave the skull for a few days as my wife, daughter and I have a hotel room on the Oregon coast for thanksgiving. I will put it back together after the holiday weekend. Here is a pic of everything so far. Thanks to all for your advice and I wish you all a safe and happy thanksgiving.
View attachment 235397
Teeth falling out is usually a sign of over boiling.
Wild hogs you need overboil to get the tusks out so the roots can be boiled and pressure washed out. Plus then you can glue them in to make them appear as long as possible.
With deer and small game you should watch it carefully as it simmers or boils so you don’t lose teeth or crack(separate) skull or jawbone.
Best way to tell is when the meat on the forehead starts to split. At that point take the pressure washer to it. If it doesn’t get everything off then dunk it back in for a bit and repeat.
Here’s a video and if it hasn’t been said already, whitebone creations is full of good euro knowledge.

 

N.ID7803

WKR
Joined
Nov 25, 2020
Messages
456
Location
N. Idaho
Check out Youtube and search White Bone Creations. Guy is really good and shows lots of tips and tricks
 

mstahlz

FNG
Joined
Dec 4, 2020
Messages
25
Location
South Central MT
Overboiling will soften parts of the bone to the point a pressure washer can tear it apart, so boiling in phases as several people have said (boil/scrape&wash/boil/scrape&wash) is the way to go. I've blown the front of the nose off of two antelope and a deer letting them go in the boil pot too long.
 

Catchfish

WKR
Joined
Jan 21, 2019
Messages
375
Any chance to put the bobcat back together yet. I just did to blacktails but they are still whitening.
 
Joined
Sep 7, 2018
Messages
1,104
Location
Pennsylvania
This is the best way to do it whether a fresh kill or old:
Skin and scrape the skull, simmer for an hour with dawn or laundry detergent, this will pull the fat and oil out of the skull that will later cause discoloration, I pressure wash the rest of the flesh off and brains out but with more delicate skulls like deer and small animals it can damage them if you get too close. Be careful. Let it dry.
Next get 40 volume peroxide and whitening powder and mix into a paste, cover the skull then wrap in plastic for 24 hours. Wash off
 

bsnedeker

WKR
Joined
May 17, 2018
Messages
3,020
Location
MT
This is the best way to do it whether a fresh kill or old:
Skin and scrape the skull, simmer for an hour with dawn or laundry detergent, this will pull the fat and oil out of the skull that will later cause discoloration, I pressure wash the rest of the flesh off and brains out but with more delicate skulls like deer and small animals it can damage them if you get too close. Be careful. Let it dry.
Next get 40 volume peroxide and whitening powder and mix into a paste, cover the skull then wrap in plastic for 24 hours. Wash off
20201213_181848.jpg

I just finished up this year's buck with this exact method. First time ever doing it this way, very happy with how it turned out.
 

aron

WKR
Joined
Dec 27, 2012
Messages
533
Location
North Dakota
What pressure are you guys using to clean the skulls with? I brought two skulls through the car wash and that didn't seem like it was near enough pressure to get the skulls clean. These skulls were simmered for a decent amount of time before head through the car wash too.
 

Lytro

WKR
Joined
Jun 19, 2019
Messages
513
I use an electric pressure washer I bought off Amazon instead of my gas pressure washer. The lower pressure takes longer but it doesn’t cause any damage and it works great. I simmer in water with dish soap for 2 hours (time starting when I light the burner) before removing and pressure washing. That will get most of it, and I return it to the pot for about another hour and remove the rest. I use a long needle nose pliers and a long forceps to pull any remaining nasal tissue and the brain membrane. I let them dry overnight and apply straight 40v cream developer with a silicone brush. I like to set them out in the sun if I can and I leave the 40v on for 2 days. After that I pressure wash them clean and let them dry. Doing it this way I haven’t had any teeth loosen, or any bones separate.

The pic of the solo skull was after cleaning without any whitener applied yet.
 

Attachments

  • 7CD57F7B-AF1F-48E4-9BC2-9575BA330AEE.jpeg
    7CD57F7B-AF1F-48E4-9BC2-9575BA330AEE.jpeg
    211.2 KB · Views: 21
  • E410232D-7CD1-490C-BDB2-949511411C6F.jpeg
    E410232D-7CD1-490C-BDB2-949511411C6F.jpeg
    252.5 KB · Views: 21
  • AE4F47B3-D7A2-4DCD-A7A7-DB8E53BF0632.jpeg
    AE4F47B3-D7A2-4DCD-A7A7-DB8E53BF0632.jpeg
    583.2 KB · Views: 20

bsnedeker

WKR
Joined
May 17, 2018
Messages
3,020
Location
MT
What pressure are you guys using to clean the skulls with? I brought two skulls through the car wash and that didn't seem like it was near enough pressure to get the skulls clean. These skulls were simmered for a decent amount of time before head through the car wash too.

This is the one I have...cheap but works for little stuff like this. I also have one of the big gas-powered jobs but that seemed like overkill and I was worried it would destroy stuff:

 

Erict

WKR
Joined
Jun 28, 2020
Messages
590
Location
near Albany, NY
I have done a number of coyote and smaller skulls and found that:
- Boiling or excessive heat will cause teeth, especially the long canines, to crack longitudinally.
- Boiling/excessive heat and pressure washing is more likely to destroy the delicate inner spiral nasal bones, which may or may not be important to you.
- Many options for cleaning including beetles, maceration, simmering. I simmer at 180 after removing as much tissue as possible. A cheap set of harbor freight dental picks works great for pulling bits and pieces out of places like the gumline. Unless I go too long, the teeth do not fall out and they do not crack. Use a good squirt of dawn dishwashing liquid AND a cup or so of Borax (sal soda) to your simmering juice. The borax will cause some of the remaining tissue to "gel" up and it will be easier to remove.
- If you see any yellow on the skull you probably still have grease in it - take the time to use another soak with dawn to get it all out.
- I use Bacaquil oxidizer (pool chemical - 27% hydrogen peroxide) to whiten smaller skulls like coyotes and smaller. Just bought a gallon for $17 and you can reuse it (strain through a coffee filter to get the bits out). After simmer, I rinse in water and dry, then into the straight oxidider for about a 24 hour soak. Skull should come out 100% white.
- Seal the finished dry skull with something like Krylon clear coat to make it easier to keep it dust free.

Good luck!

This is the first skull I did, a coyotes, that was boiled. The teeth fell out and no nasal bones:

 
Last edited:

hami0528

FNG
Joined
Dec 8, 2019
Messages
10
I got a little lazy after soaking and cleaning a deer skull out, and have not simmered it in dish soap. It has hung in my garage for over a month now. Is it too late to simmer those oils out of the bone at this point?
 
Top