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:
