I want to do a european mount. I don't want to do the boiling because I don't think my stomach or my neighbours could handle the smell. I have heard a few alternatives that I have never tried but sound like they may be worth a try. Reviews also say n

[FirstBubba]

Looking good, Ian!
What's your next step?

[jhjimbo]

Is your nickman 'the skull man'? Are all those yours? Why do you have so many duplicates?
Do you display them in your man cave or sell them ?

[IanS]

Today I hosed them all off again and washed the horns out with soapy water and a bottle brush.

[FirstBubba]

Keep us posted, Ian.

[IanS]

Brought my skulls home yesterday. They are meat free. A little smelly but nothing I can’t handle. I broke out the cartilage and have them soaking in water now so that the bugs that are stuck in will come out.

[IanS]

Ian, if it works.....?
The odor can be neutralized later with just hot (not boiling) soapy water.

Oh it works great. All the others I’ve done have been scent free with soap and water.

[FirstBubba]

Ian, if it works.....?
The odor can be neutralized later with just hot (not boiling) soapy water.

[IanS]

* not good smelling-should have clarified. It works amazingly well.

[IanS]

I soaked that bear head for a few days but more research said the smell can be awful. My maggot way is not good but it is fast so I took it out of the water and put it on a cake pan and put it in my compost bin. Cake pan so no teeth get lost.

That was a few days ago and it’s already crawling with maggots so I expect a couple more days and I can hose it off and let the maggots go at it for round 2.

[IanS]

Just from internet research which I know you can sometimes take with a grain of salt, it’s where you put the skull in water but not boil it or even simmer it. Idea, as I understand it is 2 fold.

1. It soaks and softens the meatballs till it falls off. Kind of like soaking dishes in the sink that have burnt on cheese.

2. A bacteria forms in the water and helps eat the meat off as well.

I don’t know how well this will work but giving it a try.

[FirstBubba]

My apologies Ian, my friend. Guess nobody here has done the cold water maceration thing.

What IS cold water maceration?

[IanS]

A friend asked me to clean a black bear skull for her. It’s skinned and the last few days here have kinda cooled off. I have it in a tub of water-trying the cold water maceration. If it warms up and we get flies again then I’ll dump out the water and let the maggots go at it. I am curious to see how maceration works. I know it’s slow but I’ve heard you do get good results with it.

Has anyone done the cold water maceration? How well did it work?

[IanS]

That’s the problem. I like the current look but I’ll have to remove it so it does not stink.

[bowhunter75richard]

Just don’t want them To start stinking

Ian, the stains are a result of the grease/fat that is left in the bone. Until it is removed, there will more than likely be an odor at some time. Bubba is correct with a washing with soap, it will help to some degree but will not solve the odor problem permanently ! Until that grease is totally removed (usually through boiling) it will cause problems. There really are no short cuts to this situation, bite the bullet partner and get the grease/fat out !

[FirstBubba]

Ian, I've never treated well a skull the way you're doing it.
I had a local taxidermist with beetles clean up some turkey wing bones to make yelpers.
When I got the bones back, they were greasy and smelled bad. He had a heat lamp to keep his beetles warm. It was hot enough to render the fat out of the marrow that soaked into the bones.
They weren't overly smelly, just not something you'd want to stick in your mouth! LOL!
I had to boil the bones with a little Dawn dish washing liquid to get rid of the grease and odor.

That's about the only experience I've had with that method.
Anything you can do to wash your skulls with Dawn dish washing liquid will help reduce odors.