KeeperOfTheWoods
FNG
- Joined
- Mar 18, 2019
- Messages
- 53
Hello All,
Yesterday I worked on a bull elk euro mount and have some questions after noticing a few issues this morning. The bull was shot 4 weeks ago, I soaked the skull in water/borax mix for the last three weeks. Yesterday I boiled, it was 30 degrees with sustained winds so it took a long time to get the water heated up. I wonder if I goofed by leaving the head in the pot the entire time. (3 hours to start of boil) Once I started to see a rolling boil I cut the heat and pulled the head out. I hit it with a pressure washer which left quite a bit of meat still on the head. So I returned it to the pot for another hour at a simmer. After pulling the head out I noticed the bones on the nose starting to pull apart.. I finished the work with a havalon, brush and pliers to try and remove the rest of the soft tissue. After I got as much as possible removed I applied the 40 peroxide paste to the skull and let it sit over night. This morning when I removed the residue I noticed some grease spots, and lack of white. So my issues are remnant grease and the bone separation. After doing some reading on forums I am thinking I will return the skull to a pot of hot water mixed with degreaser, and put a binding around the nose to pull the bones back together. I will leave this for 8 hours or so and then pull it out for another application of peroxide paste.
Any thoughts on this?
What is the best degreaser?
If the peroxide does not get the whitening I desire, any other recommendations? ( I am nervous about over bleaching and causing the bone to flake)
Thank you for your time! (I will try and post pictures this afternoon)
Yesterday I worked on a bull elk euro mount and have some questions after noticing a few issues this morning. The bull was shot 4 weeks ago, I soaked the skull in water/borax mix for the last three weeks. Yesterday I boiled, it was 30 degrees with sustained winds so it took a long time to get the water heated up. I wonder if I goofed by leaving the head in the pot the entire time. (3 hours to start of boil) Once I started to see a rolling boil I cut the heat and pulled the head out. I hit it with a pressure washer which left quite a bit of meat still on the head. So I returned it to the pot for another hour at a simmer. After pulling the head out I noticed the bones on the nose starting to pull apart.. I finished the work with a havalon, brush and pliers to try and remove the rest of the soft tissue. After I got as much as possible removed I applied the 40 peroxide paste to the skull and let it sit over night. This morning when I removed the residue I noticed some grease spots, and lack of white. So my issues are remnant grease and the bone separation. After doing some reading on forums I am thinking I will return the skull to a pot of hot water mixed with degreaser, and put a binding around the nose to pull the bones back together. I will leave this for 8 hours or so and then pull it out for another application of peroxide paste.
Any thoughts on this?
What is the best degreaser?
If the peroxide does not get the whitening I desire, any other recommendations? ( I am nervous about over bleaching and causing the bone to flake)
Thank you for your time! (I will try and post pictures this afternoon)