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Time to Euro!

IkemanTX

IkemanTX

Well-Known Member
Joined
Oct 16, 2015
Messages
3,501
Well, I am starting process of cleaning and bleaching the skull from my 8-point.
I got the skin off and everything else was still frozen, so time for a soak. I’m going to clean it up and bleach it. I figure while I’m at it with the bleach, I can touch up two other skulls (a deadhead I found, and a 10-point I shot several years ago).

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The Oxi-clean is starting its work!

I’m gonna have to stay up and work on this skull tonight.

Man, a six pack of brewskies would have helped this process.


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Careful with the bleach, it’ll soften the bone. Peroxide may be a better choice.
 
The worst part of doing them is the smell I think.
 
I've got my first ever kill still chilling in the freezer from 2017! I need to get on it myself. Was hoping to have at least one more to add to it, but this season hasn't worked out that way for me.
 
Boys, 30 minutes in a rolling boil with nothing added to the water. Spend about 30 mind with a pressure washer and you will have it clean as a whistle. Mix some 40 developer and basic white and apply with a cheap paint brush. Wrap in aluminum foil and set in front of some heat for an hour or so. Take off the foil and rinse it. Clean, white, and done with about an hour and fifteen minutes of your time. Piss on that simmering and scrapping for hours.


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Squirrels said:
Boys, 30 minutes in a rolling boil with nothing added to the water. Spend about 30 mind with a pressure washer and you will have it clean as a whistle. Mix some 40 developer and basic white and apply with a cheap paint brush. Wrap in aluminum foil and set in front of some heat for an hour or so. Take off the foil and rinse it. Clean, white, and done with about an hour and fifteen minutes of your time. Piss on that simmering and scrapping for hours.


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I don’t have a pressure washer, but 30-40 minutes at a rolling boil would have worked perfectly if I had.

Push the low simmer up to 3 hours with OxyClean, and scrape well with a knife and it is going well. I did damage the nose when I was trying to shake the brain out the spinal hole, but I will just have to glue that back together after the boil.


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Also, 40 developer and whitener are my plan for whitening.


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IkemanTX said:
I don’t have a pressure washer, but 30-40 minutes at a rolling boil would have worked perfectly if I had.

Push the low simmer up to 3 hours with OxyClean, and scrape well with a knife and it is going well. I did damage the nose when I was trying to shake the brain out the spinal hole, but I will just have to glue that back together after the boil.


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Got a car wash close by!!?
 
Did my first this year. It was fun, definitely going to keep doing them myself.

I did an hour of simmering and scraped, then another half hour and scraped again and I was good to go. Added dawn and baking soda to the pot. The skull was still fresh which I think makes it easier. I've been told the pressure washer method blows brains and stuff all over you. No thanks I can use a knife and scraper.

To whiten I did about 4 or 5 coats of the 40 salon peroxide stuff beside a space heater. Kept the teeth natural color. Next time I am going to do an ammomia degrease as well.

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Get the brains out before pressure washing. Go to the hardware store and pick out some fiitings to attach to a garden hose and 1/4" piece of tubing. Put all that together and screw to the end of a garden hose. Shove the 1/4" tube into the spinal cavity and turn the hose on. Creates enough pressure to blow the brains out without blowing it all over you. Do this first, before boiling, as the brain has a lot of fat and what not that will seep into the skull.
 
I figured I’d update this with the final product.
Total time - 4.5 hours. 3 hours of that in the boil.

I could have shaved 3 hours off the time with a pressure washer.

I didn’t end up having to get the Salon Care 40 volume, because I ran enough OxyClean in the water that it whitened all on its own. I will have to re-color a couple of very small spots on the base of the skulls due to unwanted whitening.

All in all, it was easy as could be and I am very happy with the end result.

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I attempted my first one this year as well, I just skinned it, cut as much of the extra meat off as I could, pulled the eyes out and buried it in the back yard. I wish I had read this before on the garden hose thing, I watched a youtube of a guy that got the brains out with a air compressor and I didn't really want to spray crap everywhere, so I just left em in and buried it, lol. I have a local hunting buddy that just burry's his in the ground and doesn't even skin it, puts a bucket over the antlers and digs it up in about 11 months I think he said, lol.
 
donnieballgame said:
I attempted my first one this year as well, I just skinned it, cut as much of the extra meat off as I could, pulled the eyes out and buried it in the back yard. I wish I had read this before on the garden hose thing, I watched a youtube of a guy that got the brains out with a air compressor and I didn't really want to spray crap everywhere, so I just left em in and buried it, lol. I have a local hunting buddy that just burry's his in the ground and doesn't even skin it, puts a bucket over the antlers and digs it up in about 11 months I think he said, lol.
Click to expand...

I tried that once. Aside from having to wait the skull ended up getting stained by the clay soils we have here. Came out clean as a whistle but could not bleach out the reddish tint from the clay. Fortunately I was just testing a doe. I have done 4 bucks now and each time I keep wishing I had a pressure washer just for that one activity LOL. I’m about 4 hours with no pressure washer and they all look great. It’s a fun project


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My take...
I've done about 20 euros. I skin them and then boil them on the kitchen stove. If the skull is fresh they don't stink, I don't understand the "odor" thing. It doesn't smell any different than boiling a turkey carcass for making soup stock. They don't stink.
I boil it in a mixture of water, Dawn dish soap and Arm and Hammer washing soda. I would call it a medium boil time...maybe a little more than an hour, 2 hours tops.
Power wash it. Yeah, you will probably get a little brain blow back, but big deal...if you want ALL the crap out of the brain cavity AND the ear canals and various other nooks, crannies, and places, you can never pick with a tool, then a power washer is the way.
I'm not a big fan of the pure white euro. I like the natural, ivory color. Most of my skulls need no peroxide or bleach. Once they dry completely, there is no odor to them.
One thing that has happened a couple times...some sort of bug got into a couple of mine. Not sure what they were eating, but I was getting tiny bits of debris powder under the skull on the shelf. I gave the skull a thorough spray of permethrin...problem solved.
I like to write some notes on the underside, and occasionally on the top...date, location of kill, nickname of the stand or deer, age if known, P&Y score, anything of intrest...stuff that will be forgotten in 10 years. Someday, grandkids will have no idea about where the skull came from or other details...write something on it.
 
Don’t forget to shove a screwdriver all the way in the ear canals and break them out. Pry down, not up. It will take some muscle. Do this before pressure washing.


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I’ve done two this week and helped on a third wish I would have tried out the pressure washing method..... even without it usually have to glue my nose back together.


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