Warm water maceration & bleaching/whitening

[30338]

This is this am after sitting in dawn and borax water for 20 hours. Water needs swapping out again this am. Keep doing this till the water stays clear. If this step gets rushed your skull will yellow with grease over time. You can resoak it at that point if it does, just better to get it done right the first time.

 

[HunterGatherer]

Sorry if this is thread hijacking but didn’t want to start a new one. I accidentally boiled my skull after doing a water change on the third day. I was using a propane burner turned on every once in awhile to try to keep the water at 90-100° up until this point. Did I kill all the bacteria by boiling it ?

 

[Marbles]

Bleach will break down the bone structure and continue to do so for years. While the term "bleaching" is used, just use peroxide and never bleach.

I like all the small bones and leave them on.

 

[Rambo]

I thought about starting my own thread but there is great information on this thread, thanks for the guidance! I have a couple questions though. After a long nearly 2 months maceration process I let my elk head dry for a week and started the degreasing process last night. After reading this thread I decided on the wrap style stock bucket heater and a galvanized tub. Google showed 1oz per gallon of Dawn dish soap / water for degreasing. I wrapped the antler bases but not sure I needed to for this step. Over night the temp has maxed at 118 degrees according to a digital water thermometer with the belt temp set at max 150 degrees. I am assuming that is the most this belt will heat the oversized container.

Here are my questions…….

1. Is it vital to figure out a way to warm the water to 130-140 degrees or will it just be slower at the lower temperature? If 130-140 is vital, any suggestions on how to increase the temp? It is in my unheated but attached garage and over night outside temps were in the upper 20’s, garage 50ish degrees.

2. Is the 1oz Dawn dish soap to 1 gallon of water a good mix, over kill, or need more?

3. For those that add Borax during degreasing, how much per gallon of water? Will Borax discolor the antlers?

I am planning to change the water every few days until the water looks clear, no grease. Then plan to used the salon 40 peroxide / BW2 powder mixed to a paste and wrapped with plastic wrap for a week or so.

Thanks in advance to those who answer, I appreciate it.

Links below to what I am using… someone let me know if I am off track.

QWORK Drum Heater https://a.co/d/aMezeuA

HATUSOKU Digital Thermometer https://a.co/d/0NVWGuk

Clairol Professional's multi-use lightening powder https://a.co/d/1WEEfiH

Salon Care 40 Volume Clear Developer https://a.co/d/dVWHoJz

 

[GrayGoose]

I thought about starting my own thread but there is great information on this thread, thanks for the guidance! I have a couple questions though. After a long nearly 2 months maceration process I let my elk head dry for a week and started the degreasing process last night. After reading this thread I decided on the wrap style stock bucket heater and a galvanized tub. Google showed 1oz per gallon of Dawn dish soap / water for degreasing. I wrapped the antler bases but not sure I needed to for this step. Over night the temp has maxed at 118 degrees according to a digital water thermometer with the belt temp set at max 150 degrees. I am assuming that is the most this belt will heat the oversized container.

Here are my questions…….

1. Is it vital to figure out a way to warm the water to 130-140 degrees or will it just be slower at the lower temperature? If 130-140 is vital, any suggestions on how to increase the temp? It is in my unheated but attached garage and over night outside temps were in the upper 20’s, garage 50ish degrees.

2. Is the 1oz Dawn dish soap to 1 gallon of water a good mix, over kill, or need more?

3. For those that add Borax during degreasing, how much per gallon of water? Will Borax discolor the antlers?

I am planning to change the water every few days until the water looks clear, no grease. Then plan to used the salon 40 peroxide / BW2 powder mixed to a paste and wrapped with plastic wrap for a week or so.

Thanks in advance to those who answer, I appreciate it.

Links below to what I am using… someone let me know if I am off track.

QWORK Drum Heater https://a.co/d/aMezeuA

HATUSOKU Digital Thermometer https://a.co/d/0NVWGuk

Clairol Professional's multi-use lightening powder https://a.co/d/1WEEfiH

Salon Care 40 Volume Clear Developer https://a.co/d/dVWHoJz

Not an expert but here's what I do for degreasing skulls.

I use about a 1/4 of dawn in a 5 gallon bucket for smaller skulls.

Sometimes will use ammonia in the water as well for stubborn grease. I think I add 4 oz or so to a 5 gallon bucket. This may take color off the antlers though but you can touch them up with a variety of methods.

Water temp kept at 125 F. I've never tried anything above 130 so cant speak to a higher temp resulting in quicker results.

Buy a cheap submersible water pump to keep the water temp in the entire container the same. Only use the pump for degreasing though.

I change water during degreasing every 7 to 10 days. Probably could go longer between changes.

I built a box out of the insulating foam to help keep the water temp and surrounding air temp higher. Probably harder to do with an elk skull though.

Use something to cover the water to reduce evaporation. I use ping pong balls, it seems to work to some degree.

After a couple weeks to a month I'll pull it out and let the skull dry. Any spots that still look "wet" is grease and it needs to go back in to the bucket before whitening.

 

[TSAMP]

I understand the process, but who is patient enough to wait weeks for a euro. The last several I did took under 3 days. Usually 12 hrs of simmering on a turkey fryer with dawn dish soap. Do that 2 days or so. Pull out and pressure wash it. Soak another 6 or so hrs with new water. Pull it out and use a small dremmel with wire brush attachments to get the little bits still hanging on.

Then I do a peroxide cream if the folks want it whiter. That can add a couple days. The one below has zero peroxide or whitening.

 

[NV HUNTER]

These are a couple I did this year.

 

[30338]

Hey guys. Circling back to this old thread. Did my second head this year with warm water maceration (my son's buck). Turned out pretty good. Still fine tuning the process. I did a much better job skinning the skull this time, and it seemed to go quicker. I think my degreasing process still needs work/more time but the end result is pretty decent. I should have re-read this thread before starting! I want to get the next one whiter - I only used the volume 40 paste for whitening this time. How much of the white powder would you say you guys are mixing in with the vol. 40 (I'll need to pick some up)? I also did not use anything other than dawn for the degreasing. Could I have added some oxi clean to the bucket or something similar with the dawn? Thanks for the help!

View attachment 816562

Oxiclean is bad news. I just tested it and too aggressive.