What's up with the cold water thing. Haven't tried that.
What's up with the cold water thing. Haven't tried that.
Cold water will shrivel the frenulum and if left in long enough, make everything fall off.
I like the maceration process better. Yes it takes longer but I find it gives you a better result.
You've got one life. Blaze on!
I have done several, both boiling and cold water maceration. Maceration is the easiest I have found, but takes more time (but less effort). I skin the head and remove the eyeballs and lower jaw. I then submerge the entire skull, antlers and all, in a large Rubbermaid container filled with water, cover, and let it sit for 3-4 months. When you take it back out, you can wash everything off, and out of the brain cavity with a sprayer on your hose pipe.
I then boil it for about 20 minutes with some Dawn dishwashing liquid to help remove any fatty, oily deposits. After doing this, I let it dry, then paint the entire skull with 40 volume H2O2. (Do not get the H2O2 on the antlers) Let it dry, paint it again, let it dry, then wash it off good, dry again, and spray with a good clear acrylic to prevent the bone from absorbing anything from the air.
(Pro Tip-the water left in the Rubbermaid container after completion is great for making Perlo Rice.)
Make a Plaque and hang'em up. I didn't kill these just did the skull and wood work.
40 vol liquid is easier. hate the paste
That's a cool deer on the right longbeard. Where did u kill it?
"We have become so open minded that our brains have fallen out"
Gregg...All those bucks come from the same tract I presume ?
I used to drink like a fish and run like a dog
Done a whole lotta shit not permitted by law
People call me the Picasso of painting the town
take your time and dont boil them as long and you can save those really thin nasal cavity bones. they are paper thin and are the hardest bones to save, but i really think it makes a euro mount.
ive gotten pretty good at it over the last few years. simmer in water with a few squirts of dawn. take it out, hit it with pressure washer, put it back in, repeat until done. let dry and then use the 40vol whitener to bleach bone.
just because i thought it was cool- here is a comparrison between a 155lb sc ten point and a 200+lb missouri ten point. the size difference is unbelievable.
and whatever you do, dont spray paint a skull.
the two it the middle were in same 10 acre tract....on left, about a mile away....drop tine on the right was taken on same as the two in the middle, but fella had been on him all season with pictures about 2 miles away....just in the right place at right time for him
there's nothing wrong with any of the methods....i've done the boiling before with good results.....it's a beer drinking afternoon for sure....i think you're more likely to lose some of the nosrtal that way though if you're not careful and on your 6th - 11th beer
all i do with the cold water is let set a month or two, dump about half the water out and replace with fresh water (this probably isn't necessary).....let set for another two months....remove and hose any small pieces off and rinse brain center out....let air dry and then set with a solution of 40 volume on it.....rinse and let air dry....ready to display
Like Dixie said,boil,pressure wash,boil and pressure wash.......pressure washer makes quick work of cleaning off the meat and brain matter.......I've done the maceration on several skulls and they turn out great too.One tip I will give you for why your skulls are not bright enough is that you arent leaving the solution on the skulls long enough.......put the peroxide paste on and let it sit for hours, best way to do it is paste it on a bright sunny day and sit the skull in the direct sunlight, that will yield a bright white.If you do it right there is no need in painting the skulls.
Last edited by ccleroy; 12-12-2016 at 12:32 PM.
I wish I could breathe life back in him, if I could I'd hunt him again tomorrow. - Ben Rodgers Lee
www.springallurecustomcalls.com
https://www.facebook.com/springallure.customcalls/
I take paper towels and wrap the skull with them. then i paint on the solution with a brush. the paper towels absorb the peroxide and it will stay on the skull longer and do its job longer. then ill set them in the sun until the paper towels have dried. remove and squirt with water hose.
this will whiten the skull and leave the brown stain on the teeth.
So this morning I put the nose back on since I pulled it off last night. It's easy to put back on.
You can put masking tape around the nose to pull everything back tight and then apply superglue to adhere it all back together
I wrap the antlers in a plastic bag with tape at the bottom before I paint. If you do get any overspray on the antlers it is easily removed with a little acetone and a paper towel.
As I said earlier, the lesser you boil them the stronger the skull is in the end and the nose won't come off as easily. The longer you boil the skull the easier it is to clean off but the more brittle it will be and you will have to take extra caution and care with the nose. But let's be honest, if you have it hanging on the wall or plaque and it gets knocked off the nose is probably going to break regardless of how long it was boiled.
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
I always skin mine out on that old wire spool in the picture. I use the holes in the middle to my advantage when removing the jaw. I basically stick the bottom jaw down in the hole as if the buck was trying to bite a piece of wood off. I pull back on the antlers and the bottom jaws is wedged in place. The skull rocks back and it helps to pop the jaw out of socket. You'll have to cut a little muscle/ meat out of the way and the jaw will pull right out.
Also worth mentioning if you use an actual buck boiler and not a propane burner. The buck boiler actually sends an electric pulse through the water which from my understanding helps cook/seperate the meat. So don't stick your hand in the boiler or you will get shocked ( a friend of mine found out the hard way).
Bookmarks