I am working on a large doe skull now using this method. I will try to keep this thread updated as to the progress
"Boiling" Method
Everyone (including me) calls this the boiling method but there should be NO boiling involved. If the water gets too hot the teeth will crack. Cooking for too long will cause the teeth to fall out and the bones may come apart. Simmering would be a better way to describe it…slowly heat the water only till it starts to simmer. Never a roiling boil.
-Remove hide, eyes, and as much meat as possible. Make sure to remove all fat. Take a stiff wire and bend a hook at the end, small enough to insert into the brain cavity. ‘Scramble’ the brains and remove as much as possible…rinse under running water.
At this point I put the skull in a dishpan or bucket and fill with COLD water. Let it sit till the water looks bloody and then change the water….I may keep doing this for a couple days. Eventually the water will stay fairly clear…then it’s time to ‘boil’.
Solution can be
-plain water OR
-salt water, 1c.salt/gallon OR
-salt and soda ash, 1c. Salt and 1/2c. soda ash (sal soda) per gallon.
To any of the solutions you should add a degreaser. For a home recipe Dawn dish soap will work, 1Tbsp./gal.
Place skull in solution and SLOWLY raise the temperature until the water is ABOUT to boil. Simmer until the meat can easily be removed. Check often, remove as much meat as possible then put back in the solution again. Keep checking until all soft tissue is removed.
Once all the soft tissue is removed, rinse well. Mix a new solution of hot (not boiling) water and Dawn dish soap. 1/2c. Dawn/gal water. Soak skull for 24 hrs. The more grease you can remove from the bone the whiter your skull will be. For bears and boars a commercial degreaser should be used. Check after 24 hrs---if there is grease floating on top of the solution mix a new batch and soak again.
After degreasing rinse and let dry 12hrs.
Soak in hydrogen peroxide--3% is available in any pharmacy. Stronger concentrations can be found in beauty supply stores or from your hair dresser.
Soak only as long as it takes to whiten the bone. Drying in the sun will also help make the skull white.
There are a lot of different ways to clean skulls but this is the method I’ve been using for the last few years. By soaking in plain, cold water for a few days before you ‘cook’ the skull it draws out the blood. I believe that the blood and grease are what causes yellow looking skulls because they get cooked into the bone.
Some 'don'ts' when cleaning skulls.
-Don't heat a frozen skull rapidly...the teeth WILL crack.
-Don't rush it....change the water several times if need be, picking meat off each time.
-Don't use bleach....it causes the bone to get chalky/flakey.
