Skull Whitening

ElkSniper · Oct 29, 2013

Need some help on whitening an elk skull? I want the skull to be almost paper white. Most of it is already white but there are some spots that have that darker shade to them.
Any tips?

eurosbyRT · Oct 29, 2013

For one , NEVER BOIL, it will be hard to get it paper white if it was, you can soak it in peroxide or find someone local to try and make it look good.

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ElkSniper · Oct 29, 2013

eurosbyRT...

Would a simmer work?

I used Surf laundry detergent along with a simmer which turns the meat to a gel like substance and then high pressure washed it off.

I have heard of guys using a bleaching cream hair product to whiten skulls

Have you heard of this?

gnatboy911 · Oct 30, 2013

Have you done any degreasing? In the long run there will still be yellow spots if you don't get the grease out. I just high percentage hydrogen peroxide that I get from a pool supply store. Soak it in that for a few hours if its warm, longer if its cold. be very careful, the stuff causes really bad chemical burns. Get some gloves. head over to the forums on Taxidermy.net and do some searches in the skulls and skeletons section. TONS of info there.

asphalthunter · Oct 30, 2013

I use Volume 40 or 50 (if you can get it) peroxide cream. You can find it at any hair/beauty supply store. I paste it on and let it sit in the sun.

SlimShedy · Nov 3, 2013

A mixture of 130 volume peroxide (35% peroxide) and magnesium carbonate works pretty good. As stated above, it will burn, so be careful.

eurosbyRT · Nov 5, 2013

>eurosbyRT...
>
>Would a simmer work?
>
>I used Surf laundry detergent along
>with a simmer which turns
>the meat to a gel
>like substance and then high
>pressure washed it off.
>
>I have heard of guys using
>a bleaching cream hair product
>to whiten skulls
>
>Have you heard of this?
Simmering cooks the grease in still, if you want it white you don't ever want to simmer or boil, the grease will always come out a few months later, plus it will never get all the meat and tissue out of all the areas, beetles is the only way to do it right, then properly degreasing it takes time. You can go to sallys and get basic white and volume 40, mix up a pancake batter and put it on the skull and wrap it with saran wrap, let sit for a couple hours to soak in and then place near a heat source, unwrap it first though, rinse it off after it is dry and it should look pretty good

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HiMtnHntr · Nov 5, 2013

As stated above, use a high volume hydrogen peroxide. Paste it on and let it sit in the sun. I usually end up washing it off and repeating the cycle until I get it brilliant white. If you snooze on cleaning the flesh off then it will be harder to get white.

ElkSniper · Nov 5, 2013

Thanks for the info guys.

I don't know how the pic of the guy with the deer got on my post. It was a pic of an elk skull. Don't know what happened there. Don't even know the guy.