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european/whitening skull mounting

tph

tph

New Member
hey, i am looking for advice on the best kits or methods for skull mounting a few whitetail heads i have? any one do this alot and has some suggestion i would apreciate it, thanks
 
Bill Winke's midwest whitetail site has a segment that covers the way I always do it. Boiling, clean everything off, then peroxide, and a day or 2 in the sun. But dont get the peroxide on the teeth or antlers. He goes into more detail on boiling time and materials, just dont over boil or the bones fall apart and the teeth fall out. Usually I use some superglue to keep the teeth in when done. Boiling will work on old nasty mummified heads, but I usually mulch them in a cage, to keep critters off, with dirt and leaves and let the bugs and bacteria clean the crud off then a quick boil and peroxide. Them old mummys just smell too bad when boiling for me. I have also left them submerged in a watertank for awhile and that worked pretty good but takes alot longer.
 
I've done a dozen or so by method of boiling..works great. Just peel the hide of boil for couple hours and keep pulling as much meat off with a pair of plyers as you can every 15 minutes or so. Power wash the heck out of it and walla... Make sure you stick the nosel of washer in the spinal hole of the skull to get all the brain matter out. I have used peroxide on some and some i did not. To be honest I see hardly any difference...though I have never used the 40 volume cream developer by solon care. Buddy uses this stuff and really works well. It is a paste and he put it all over the skull with a toothbrush, lets it sit overnight and hoses it off in the morning. Even the teeth come out white. I guess it depends on how thorough you want to be. Good Luck.
 
Have done it a couple times too. What we use is a turkey cooker..and it works nicely.
We try to take off as much fat and skin as possible before we put it in the cooker, use buck knife, pilers works good for some parts, and other tool that you may need. And then just gradually work on picking the rest of. Boil for 1-2 hours, clean it, boil it again, and just repeat the process until you think the skull is completely clean. Don't forget about the brain though..you have to work on getting the brain out also. When you put it in peroxide, make sure the base of the antlers are not in the peroxide because it will turn the base bleach white too! What works nice too is putting tin foil or saran wrap around any part of the antlers that you may think sit slightly in the peroxide. Just let it sit in peroxide for 2-3 days and just air dry it out sometimes if it is a nice day out.

Oh, and of course, when you boil it...it will smells nasty!!
 
van dykes taxidermy has a great kit, comes with whiting powder you mix with peroxide and paint on with a brush and let set overnight and rinse clean. No mess, no need to use saran wrap or tinfoil. I think it is under thirty bucks and you can do several skulls with it.
 
I have the van dykes kit. I like it because you make a paste with the peroxide and the powder. Put it on and then brush it off after it dries. It is easier to keep off the teeth and antlers that way.
I put my heads in water and leave them for weeks. Dump the water after a few weeks and refill. AFter a couple times, take it out and rinse in fresh water. I let them sit out for a while as they smell horrible. Smell goes away and I then do the peroxide kit. This takes longer, but no boiling, scraping.
 
I think it looks better to leave the teeth their natural color, like the antlers.
 
I've got 8 on the wall that I've done with the kits and they looked ok...until I went and hung the last 2 that were done w/ beatles next to them. Lets just say I'll be using beatles from here on. No matter how careful you are boiling you are going to leave some meat in the nasal or brain cavity and sooner or later that is going to stink. Beatles get it all and IMO the finshed product looks more natural.
 
Power washing is the key. I have absolutely no meat or brain matter on mine but if I didn't power wash there would be some for sure. Beatles cost more than I care to spend on a Euro when you can do it yourself. IMO
 
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Cut out a plaque and glue a fridge picture frame to it and for about 5 bucks you got a nice looking trophy.
 
If you are looking for a cool way to mount the skull when you are done check out skull-lok.com He has some really neat stuff, and he does custom work if you ask. He lives in Belle Plaine. I know him personally, and he is a really good guy.

Dan
 
Is there any upkeep involved with the beatles?
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Some, we're still learning though. Basically water them with a spray bottle and make sure they have some dry cardboard or wood chips to bed in. We have not run out of skulls to clean as of yet but when we do we're going to use meat scraps from the local locker to maintain them until fall.
 
blakesburg said:
I have used peroxide on some and some i did not. To be honest I see hardly any difference...
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If you're not using the strong stuff you likely won't. Also you've got to degrease the skull or they will all yellow. That's one important step I haven't seen mentioned yet.
 
ok, thanks for all the input! i have just learned anbout this "Buck Boiler" bucket. it has awesome reviews, just wondering if anyone has tried one? costs about $100 but if it works half as good as they say it would be worth it.
 
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