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DIY Euro Mount

FormulaLT1Power

FormulaLT1Power

New Member
So I've got a buck I'm wanting to Euro Mount. Here's what I've done so far:

1. Simmered in a "Buck Boiler" for about 12 hours with some Cascade Dish Detergent Powder. (To get meat, etc off skull)

2. Let head soak in boiling hot water (in sink) for 2 hours with some Dawn Dish Soap. (To degrease the skull)

3. Put some Hydrogen Peroxide (40 strength) cream all over skull. Been about 4 hours.

My questions:

A. The cream doesn't seem to be making the skull as white as I'd like. It's not "soaking" in the cream, its just pasted onto the skull. What am I doing wrong?

B. How do I hang the skull from a plaque? Do I need to drill a hole somewhere? Or use the hole where the brain is located?
 
FormulaLT1Power said:
My questions:

A. The cream doesn't seem to be making the skull as white as I'd like. It's not "soaking" in the cream, its just pasted onto the skull. What am I doing wrong?
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It needs some sunlight to help bleach it. Put it outside for a couple of days.
 
gundog870 said:
Step #1- post pictures
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This prepping it for the peroxide cream. I saran wrapped the bases, and applied tape. Also put bags over a "grabbing" point, incase I needed it for any reason.

2012-11-25_11-55-23_879.jpg
 
euro

Heat is what makes the whitening proccess faster. If you don't believe me, put some of that 40% on your finger when it's cold. Now rub your finger on your jeans real fast to get it hot and then put some of that bleach on. Once I put the whitening mix on, I wrap it with cling wrap and sit it by my heater. Rotate the skull every 20min or so to spread the heat around. As long as the mixture is moist, it will still whiten but as soon as it is dries out, it's done. Remove the saran wrap and wash it off real good. At this point it will not look very white but as it dries it will whiten up nicely.
 
spencer52356 said:
Heat is what makes the whitening proccess faster. If you don't believe me, put some of that 40% on your finger when it's cold. Now rub your finger on your jeans real fast to get it hot and then put some of that bleach on. Once I put the whitening mix on, I wrap it with cling wrap and sit it by my heater. Rotate the skull every 20min or so to spread the heat around. As long as the mixture is moist, it will still whiten but as soon as it is dries out, it's done. Remove the saran wrap and wash it off real good. At this point it will not look very white but as it dries it will whiten up nicely.
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So...cake the 40% on the skull, wrap it with cling wrap and set it close to a heater? How many applications, how long, etc?

And P.S. I got some of the 40% on my finger...and it burnt like hell. I washed my hands twice, and started wearing gloves...LOL
 
Degreasing for an hour or two is not nearly enough. You really need to let that skull soak in a degreasing solution for a minimum of two weeks, maybe longer.
Then use clear caulk around the bases and let dry, this will protect the bases during the whitening stage. Follow up with the 40% peroxide cream and basic white powder mixed until its a thick cream and wrap in Saran wrap. Then put HEAT on it for 30 minutes.

Remember: Degrease MUCH longer!!
 
impactarcher said:
Degreasing for an hour or two is not nearly enough. You really need to let that skull soak in a degreasing solution for a minimum of two weeks, maybe longer.
Then use clear caulk around the bases and let dry, this will protect the bases during the whitening stage. Follow up with the 40% peroxide cream and basic white powder mixed until its a thick cream and wrap in Saran wrap. Then put HEAT on it for 30 minutes.

Remember: Degrease MUCH longer!!
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When I simmered the skull it had powdered Cascade in it as well...? I was hoping that was enough, but figured the 2 hour soak in Dawn wasn't going to hurt anything.
 
I usually change wate ra couple times while cooking to help with the degreasing aspect. Then cover with 40% cream, then plastic wrap & set in front of a milk house heater over night. Not so close that it melt the plastic but good & warm. Rinse & let it dry. It will be white when it's dry. Then a coat of satin laquer to seal it.
 
I think you are boiling them for to long. I Euro mount every one of my deer even if i am planning on doing a shoulder mount. But i do not use the method you are doing. I only boil mine for 2 hours in a pot after i have fleshed them out and taken as much meat off as i can. After 2 hours in the pot i pull them out and cut the remainder of the meat off or use pliers to pull if off. Then i boil it in clean water for another half hour, pull it out and power wash the rest off. It only takes 3 hours from start to finish. If you want it to be super white you can put it in a mixture of hydrogen peroxide for 15 min. It will whiten out more as it dries.
 
worst comes to worse, tape the horns up good, find an off white color spray paint. saw it done, not to bad looking. anyone else try it?
 
Another good step in the process is to fill a plastic storage container half full of the hot water mixed with dawn and take the skull from the pot after you have all the meat off and submerge it in the tub. Take your air hose and stick in all the crevises under water to "air boil" the greese out.
 
cjgarrett said:
I think you are boiling them for to long. I Euro mount every one of my deer even if i am planning on doing a shoulder mount. But i do not use the method you are doing. I only boil mine for 2 hours in a pot after i have fleshed them out and taken as much meat off as i can. After 2 hours in the pot i pull them out and cut the remainder of the meat off or use pliers to pull if off. Then i boil it in clean water for another half hour, pull it out and power wash the rest off. It only takes 3 hours from start to finish. If you want it to be super white you can put it in a mixture of hydrogen peroxide for 15 min. It will whiten out more as it dries.
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It took longer because I was a complete noob at this and only skinned the head. Didn't remove any meat, etc before boiling/simmering. Lesson learned for next time...
 
HorseDoctor said:
I usually change wate ra couple times while cooking to help with the degreasing aspect. Then cover with 40% cream, then plastic wrap & set in front of a milk house heater over night. Not so close that it melt the plastic but good & warm. Rinse & let it dry. It will be white when it's dry. Then a coat of satin laquer to seal it.
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Wont the laquer cause it to turn yellow? I did this last year and mine turned yellow after some time. Looks like crap. But i used polyurethane spray.
 
Lacquer shouldn't yellow. I believe that's what the real life bone/skull taxis use. None of the dozen or so that I have done have yellowed & some of them are many years old. Either the polyurethane yellowed or you didn't de-grease well enough and that caused yellowing. Is it all yellow or just some areas?
 
All yellow. I did one this year that turned out perfect but i am hesitant to put anything on it to seal it for this reason. However i am also going to try to duplicate this "yellow" skull with a junk one to see if i can boil the poly off and try again.
 
My only fear is that you have boiled it to long and stained the bone. That water gets pretty nasty!!! I am not sure if soaking it in clean water would do anything but i bet it wouldn't hurt...
 
You probably don't want to wait this long but I buried my deer head when it warmed up a few years ago and let it sit for a few months during the summer. When I pulled it out it was perfectly clean. I power washed it off and then spray painted the skull white. Looks awesome. I tried to boil and bleach one once and didn't work well for me and was pain the ass.
 
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