Elk skull not getting white and cracking

[Bowhunter50]

Hi everyone, I’ve done a handful of elk skulls and they’ve all turned out pretty good. I shot a solid bull this year and I’m having a hard time getting the skull white and it’s starting to crack in some spots near the bases. I boiled in a mix of dish soap, borax and baking soda. For whitening, I used gel peroxide and the bleaching powder. Wrapped in aluminum foil and had a space heater on it. I’ve tried this a few times now rinsing and reapplying and it’s still pretty bad.

Wondering if I need to cut my losses at this point and accept it for what it is or if there’s a way to whiten it without worsening the cracks. I saw a method where you mix in 50/50 regular 3% peroxide and water and boil. I’m guessing the darkness is due to a poor job of degreasing and I bet this would pull out some grease. Of course worried that the peroxide and heat will worsen the cracks. Hoping someone with experience here can point me in the right direction.

 

[SnakeEater]

I use the 18% hair salon peroxide on my skulls after boiling and I don’t dilute it. Pour a little into a bowl and paint it onto the skull. Wrap the skull with Saran Wrap and let sit for 12-24 hours then expose to the air. If it’s sunny place it in the sun during that time. This usually whitens them up well for me. Here’s the blacktail I got this October using this method.

 

[Eleven]

It looks like you boiled it too much. The yellowing is fat, dish soap (standard dawn) is one way to try to work it out. But at this point with the cracking and maybe the plates starting to separate I’d probably leave it as is.

 

[Sccritterkiller]

18% hair peroxide and a coule scoops of the BW2 lightening powder. Make a paste brush it on and let it sit for 6-8hrs..if will foam up a little, perfectly normal.
Fallow deer I shot in west Texas earlier this yr.

 

[butcherboy]

You have some serious grease issues in that skull. Don’t boil skulls because if it gets too hot it will crack. Always best to simmer with some baking soda added to the water. It takes a bit longer to do than a hot boil. You can also add ammonia to the water. This can be found at most Ace Hardware stores. If you try and degrease again with dawn soap make sure the water temp does not get above 105-110 degrees. Too much degreasing or boiling will also make the bone become brittle and chalky so you may not want to do any degreasing again. The skull won’t get much whiter than it is just because that grease is down deep in the bone. Sometimes cold soaking in acetone for a long time will pull that grease out but that much acetone is expensive. Probably best to leave as is at this point unless you want to spend some time and really baby that skull through the process.

 

[justinspicher]

Paint over it. They look better painted.

 

[go_deep]

Here's my suggestion.
You need to get more of the oil and grease out, you could try mixing a baking soda, borax, and dawn dish soap and maybe a little water to make a degreasing paste, put it heavy on the skull, wrap in a bag and let it go for 24 hours. It would need to be room temperature to get the oil to move.
I'd like to tell you that will solve all your problems, but not sure, just thinking it'll help pull more of that oil out. Might need to do that more than once too.
Then use the salon 40 peroxide cream to whiten.

 

[MuleyFever]

I dont like the bleached white look so it looks great to me. You could try to soak it in warm water and Dawn for a while but dont boil it anymore. Get a little aquarium heater or something like that and leave it in for a few days.

 

[wildernessrimfab]

Wrapped in aluminum foil and had a space heater on it

Try Saran wrap - it can be wrapped more "airtight" and the gel peroxide is an oxidizer and will react to air.

 

[GoatPackr]

Acetone
It'll soak deep in and pull the grease right out. Preferably warm but DO NOT use it around an ignition source.

 

[North of 60]

You have some serious grease issues in that skull. Don’t boil skulls because if it gets too hot it will crack. Always best to simmer with some baking soda added to the water. It takes a bit longer to do than a hot boil. You can also add ammonia to the water. This can be found at most Ace Hardware stores. If you try and degrease again with dawn soap make sure the water temp does not get above 105-110 degrees. Too much degreasing or boiling will also make the bone become brittle and chalky so you may not want to do any degreasing again. The skull won’t get much whiter than it is just because that grease is down deep in the bone. Sometimes cold soaking in acetone for a long time will pull that grease out but that much acetone is expensive. Probably best to leave as is at this point unless you want to spend some time and really baby that skull through the process.

My experience echoes Butcherboy's.