Home Forums Hunting & Shooting General Big Game Skull maceration

Wish I could get some of the progress that some of you all have.
Going on about 6 weeks now.
My heat source is a 2nd hand hotplate on the roof of my barn. Plenty of warm days have the water temp in the 80's pushing 90 but haven't had any of those days lately. Adding Dawn and septic treatment chemicals.
Stink is greatly reduced making me think the material that remains is inert but haven't been eager to get hands-on with removing it.

Yes, fresh...I prefer green.

I don’t get it why folks wait seven months for something to happen that can easily be accomplished in three or four hours in my backyard. I boil the skull in a pot with borax and laundry detergent. Periodically I scrape off and all remove the meat that has been cooked off the bone. About the time “most” of the meat is removed, I’ll pour out the water and re-boil with a new borax/detergent solution to really clean and deodorize. I have a somewhat large set of forceps I got from a surgeon buddy that really help with the little bitty meat scraps that want to hang on. Plus, it’ll yank the brain out, piece by piece, very effectively. After that I wipe it down with a 40 volume peroxide paste solution from my beauty shop overnight and all is well. The end result is as professional looking as any ther skull mount you’ll see.

For years I used a 40 volume liquid solution for the skulls. It would require three or more gallons to cover the skull. I could reuse it maybe two more times before the peroxide lost its strength. I used a paste solution this time, painting it on with a small brush and the results were outstanding. I may have used a third of a gallon. So in the end, it works better and is less expensive.

Haha I’ll try the rid x....

That may work, but I KNOW the horse turd does.

Tis time of year here, brown.
It's seasonal as you know.

It does indeed. When I lived in Fairbanks, i had friends that worked for the Inst of Arctic Biology. When they had any animal that they wanted to clean not just the skull, but the entire skeleton, they made a stop at Casa Ironbender for a trash bag o'sshit.

IIRC, more than a few ended up on display.

I knew Squarebanks is different, but displaying bags o' Ironbender schit is going much farther than even I imagined!

It was a BIG bagful! very impressive!

My sshit is also awesome on rhubarb.

Well, I just got a new horse and his is green. They was feeding alfalfa......

The seasonal change here is very evident. Color and consistency!

Also, we need a thread with pics and stuff.

Took some horse shoes to work and had a inmate make me some skull hangers.....

Goofball.

Them are tack hooks.

Haha seen em on the web so I figured I’d have some made up

Heat seems to make a big difference. Have two tank heaters in insulated 5 gallon bucket. Figure in these cooler temps I'll need 3-4 weeks. After that will blast with hot water and put in heated dawn soap soak. Then the peroxide and done. Hope to see some pics from folks in a few weeks.

Any thoughts on an antelope skull with this process? Remove horn sheaths before soaking?

I would...

Yes remove them. The ones I've plaque mounted I mixed up Bondo, poured some in the sheath, placed the sheath back on the bone, works good.

so does silicone caulk....