Skull mounts

kelcher · Jul 29, 2003

Do you guys do your own skull mounts or do you send them out to have them cleaned and whitened? Have you had any of your skulls metallized? I am thinking about doing some skull mounts this fall, but I am not sure it is worth the mess.

HunterHarry · Jul 29, 2003

If the skull might go "BOOK" I wouldn't boil it, you will shrink it's final score, and should have it beetle cleaned.
If your'e not worried about that, boil it in soapy water, change it a couple of times,then in the final pot use some of that real strong peroxide you get at the beauty store if you want it snowy white. Boiling can however crack the teeth.

adamsoa · Jul 29, 2003

LAST EDITED ON Jul-30-03 AT 02:54AM (MST)[p]I have a question on boiling the skull. How much do you clean off of the skull before you start the boiling process and do you do any cleaning during it. I tried a deer skull a few years ago. I ended up with the house smelling like crappy deer soup. I never could get off all of the flesh and it was a pain in the a$$. To top it off my wife made me promise never to attempt such a thing again-----at least in the house.

HunterHarry · Jul 30, 2003

This is one of those projects that you have to start right when the ole lady leaves for work in the morning or goes shopping with momma for the day!

Clean off as much meat as possible and don't let it spoil before you try this!
Have a good air freshener readily avaliable or freak out the wife by putting on a pot of potpourri afterwords!

FullCryHounds · Jul 30, 2003

Boiling skulls is very hard on them. But to answer your question, the skull needs to be skinned before boiling. Magnesium Carbonate should be added to the water to help remove the flesh. I would have to question why anyone these days would even consider boiling a skull since dermestid beetles do such a better job. Not to mention that they are much easier and the final product is 10x better. Boiling desroys the thin sinus bones in the nasal cavity, cracks teeth and takes painstaking hours to remove the flesh. There are many companies that will clean your skulls for much less then most taxidermists charge for the boiling method. DH, Wildman Taxidermy.

HunterHarry · Jul 30, 2003

FCH,
You are very correct! I have boiled them in the past and it is a tedious job and difficult to get all the grease removed,makes a mess, and worst of all cracks the teeth.
When I took my Brown Bear I had an outfit in Montana clean it with beetles and it came back spotless and the teeth were in great shape. It also was not very expensive!

kelcher · Jul 30, 2003

Have any of you had that metallizing process done to any of your skulls? I guess they can, for lack of a better word, "plate" your skull with a nickel or bronze coating. The skull is then protected from moisture, sunlight, . . . I thought some of them looked pretty cool.

FullCryHounds · Jul 30, 2003

HH, I bet you used Skull Taxidermy, they are in MT. I just got back about 10 Bison and 3 Lion skulls from them. They did a great job...again.
I've seen the metal plating and, yes, it does look very good. I am going to get a lion skull done in the Peuter, I'll let you know how it turns out.

kelcher · Jul 31, 2003

Post a picture when you get it done. I would like to see how it turns out.

polarbear · Jul 31, 2003

Those folks at Skull Taxidermy are great. That is who I get my beetles from. Beetle are awesome for cleaning skulls, if you can get past the B.C. pig farm smell. Hehehehe....
Eric

catmando · Jul 31, 2003

Also try Jim Hackiewicz in Washington state. His e-mail is [email protected] Good proces and professional work. He is back logged for about 90 days. Said he has a ton of bear skulls from POW island.

FullCryHounds · Jul 31, 2003

I've downloaded a couple of pictures of some skulls I just got back from Skull Taxidermy in MT. All I do after I get them back is spray a clear coat on them to seal them. You can see the detail in the nasal cavity and no cracked teeth! Go to:
http://community.webshots.com/user/wildlifeservices and click on Wildman Taxidermy Album #2. I've also had Jim from Custom Osteo do my skulls and his quality is also superb.

adamsoa · Jul 31, 2003

About how much should I expect to pay for a good beatle cleaning

FullCryHounds · Aug 1, 2003

Depends on the size and condition you send the skull in and if you only want it cleaned and not bleached. You can go to http://www.skulltaxidermy.com/ and look at the prices. Do a search for Skull Cleaning and you can find many other companies also.