Help me with euro mount

[JimP]

I used to boil/simmer skulls on my deer. Then a visiting PH from Namibia told me to just set the skull in a bucket of water outside for a few weeks. He was right, you get critters growing in that water that eat the skull clean. I don’t even skin them. Follow that up with a pressure wash and a peroxide soak exactly as Red Leg described and you’re done.

As an aside, we clean bear skulls by hanging them off our boat in a basket in AK. It is amazing how quickly the little critters in the ocean will clean a bear skull.

That works fine until your neighbor starts to complain about the smell that is coming from your shed.

If you live in a area that has red ants you can also build a cage to place the skull into to keep the other furry creatures from packing it off and placing the skull on the ant bed with the cage over it.

 

[mdwest]

A 5 gallon bucket works just as well.. place a heavy rock or cinder block on top.. keeps the raccoons, opossum, etc out.. but let’s the ants, worms, etc access from the dirt side…

Have done both a wild hog and a smaller sized Texas dall sheep this way

 

[Rum Runner]

Check out this skull I mounted last year:

Lichtenstein Hartebeest European Skull Mount

www.africahunting.com

I used industrial peroxide, mixed with Basic White powder (ordered online) then brushed that paste on all visible bone. While wet, I wrapped the entire skull in cellophane and let it set for two days. Wash off the paste for bright white results!

 

[WAB]

That works fine until your neighbor starts to complain about the smell that is coming from your shed.

If you live in a area that has red ants you can also build a cage to place the skull into to keep the other furry creatures from packing it off and placing the skull on the ant bed with the cage over it.

LOL, that’s a fair point! My nearest neighbor is 1/2 mile away so I don’t worry about it much. That Nd the fact that the volume of heavy rifle gunfire on my range seems to have discouraged unannounced visitors.

 

[JimP]

Check out this skull I mounted last year:

Lichtenstein Hartebeest European Skull Mount

www.africahunting.com

I used industrial peroxide, mixed with Basic White powder (ordered online) then brushed that paste on all visible bone. While wet, I wrapped the entire skull in cellophane and let it set for two days. Wash off the paste for bright white results!

You can also get that Basic White and peroxide at a beauty supply store.

When I first went in and asked for some the girl asked me what I was using it for and I told her that I was bleaching javelina skulls, she asked to see one when I was done with it. She now has a bleached javelina skull sitting on one of her display cases.

 

[Gemsbok45]

I like the hydrogen peroxide and would definitely not boil again. We’re it a fresh skull Beatles are the best!!

 

[JimP]

A lot depends on how much time you have. If you have the time and a area that you don't mind stinking up then a tub or bucket of water works. That is also the case with beetles or other meat eating bugs. But it takes time.

I can cook a skull and start the bleaching process in half a day. Then after a few days I'll check to see if it is while enough for me or if I missed any spots where I have to reapply the bleaching solution and then wait a few more days.

If you have a place to keep the beetles and take care of them then that is a good way to go, but most hunters don't have the facilities to do that.

 

[Rick Cox]

I used to boil/simmer skulls on my deer. Then a visiting PH from Namibia told me to just set the skull in a bucket of water outside for a few weeks. He was right, you get critters growing in that water that eat the skull clean. I don’t even skin them. Follow that up with a pressure wash and a peroxide soak exactly as Red Leg described and you’re done.

As an aside, we clean bear skulls by hanging them off our boat in a basket in AK. It is amazing how quickly the little critters in the ocean will clean a bear skull.

What @WAB and @Red Leg said. But a pressure washer is your friend for sure. Make sure to neutralize the hydrogen peroxide with water after treating if you decide to use it. But many folks don't, preferring the 'character' of the natural bone especially once normal yellowing takes place. The photo is of a 50 year old mountain lion skull - no bleach, and a recent raccoon skull - bleached.

 

[Muskox]

You have a lot of advice, I think most of it is good.

Here is what I do.

I rot skulls. I do not boil them. Rotting them in water, and then swapping the water once a month. This only works in the summer. I use large plastic bins for this with a top. You can speed up the process with a sous vide machine or livestock water heater if you are doing it during the winter.

Rotting preserves the most bone. Except on young animals as the connective tissue is not bone and sometimes they will fall apart.

After I rot all the meat off the bone.

1. I fill a clean bucket full of a cup of Dish soap (Dawn is fine) and water, and I soak it in that for a week. Every week I swap the water and put in new soap. We go through this for 1-3 months depending on how long it takes to get all of the fat out of the skull. Pigs and bears have a lot of fat in the skull.

2. After you have degreased the skull I whiten. You have to be careful with this. The best method is probably the one used by White Bone Creations on youtube. He has multiple videos about bleaching skulls. He is doing it commercially so he uses boiling water to degrease and clean the meat off. I don't agree with this, but it works for him.

 

[Foxi]

Your trophy is not so bad looking.
A little washing powder dissolved in really hot water and then a bath of two hours and off into the sun to dry.Probably enough for simple cases like here also.
For harder cases peroxide,it helps when you do it in hot water before (no cooking again)

After I do this for over 40 years, my trophies are no longer so sacred to me.
During the lockdown, we have repainted our house (had time for it) and since I have seized the opportunity "and made the skulls new ".
With our hunters here I would run the risk of excommunication, if they knew I take white wall paint
But no visitor notices

before

after

 

[Muskox]

Your trophy is not so bad looking.
A little washing powder dissolved in really hot water and then a bath of two hours and off into the sun to dry.Probably enough for simple cases like here also.
For harder cases peroxide,it helps when you do it in hot water before (no cooking again)

After I do this for over 40 years, my trophies are no longer so sacred to me.
During the lockdown, we have repainted our house (had time for it) and since I have seized the opportunity "and made the skulls new ".
With our hunters here I would run the risk of excommunication, if they knew I take white wall paint
But no visitor notices
View attachment 409316
before
View attachment 409319
after

What was the technique on that, looks amazing!

 

[Foxi]

What was the technique on that, looks amazing!

Thanks for the flowers,but is not witchcraft.

I take
white wall paint as for the apartment.
potassium permaganate-a powder that we get for a few cents in the pharmacy,
a little of it dissolve in the coffee cup with cold water
2 brushes: a small one for the beam(right word) ?, a bigger one for the skull.
painters tape to cover
Please do it in the garden, if the cup with the potassium liquid falls over in the apartment, you are guaranteed trouble with your wife

my procedure
1.tape the white ends of the deer trophy.
these are so dense that they can not/badly/ be colored,but you will mess them up if you don't do it anyway
2. tape skull plates, potassium liquid stains brutally.
3.turn the trophy on his tips,important,otherwise it will drip on the skull
4.paint the horns( stag,rods,beam,?cant find the right word ) gently with potassium liquid,avoid dripping.
Let dry,goes fast.
5.When the horns are dry,whiten the skull,let dry,done.
As I said,have not had any complaints yet with my restoration.
However, start with the stag trophy that means the least to you.
With the third you are then a master.

Greetings from Munich
and apologize my English
Foxi