# Hunting > Taxidermy >  Deer skull clean???....help

## Scouser

Wasnt sure where to put this?....so ive searched the forum, one good thread about boiling then leaving in a 50% solution of Peroxide....another one off the net said 50% water/Borax.....

what do you guys do to get the 'Euro mount' look, as regards cleaning all the meat/residue off the head (and inside the cavity).....

cheers

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## phillipgr

With my chamois I just boiled it up in the pot for 30 mins or so (you might want to do an hour), then picked off all the meat, let it dry a bit outside, then bleached it. You'll find all the last little bits of grease and membrane get eaten away by the bleach and any bigger pieces can come off easier once it's been in the sun for a while

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## veitnamcam

Make up a pokey thing so you can stir up the brains to get them to come out.
Boil,waterblast is good,another boil,scrape/cut anything left off.
Even Janola whitenens them up and helps with the smell.

What ever you use to whiten if anything be carefull to keep it away from the antlers.

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## Kaweka_Neil

Get a big enough pot that will take the entire scull.  Boil it for a good while, making sure the boiling water covers the scull but does not go higher than the burr.  That's the bit at the base of the antler where the fur is encountered.  You don't want to remove the natural antler colouring, which you will do if you get boiling water on the antlers.

After around 45 minutes, give or take, and the boiling will be done.  At this time you will notice the sinew across the scull cap is probably shrinking and exposed.  Slide your knife under the sinew and cut it.  The sinew will spring back and shrivel on top of the scull.  Get some steel wool, or sandpaper, and sand it smooth so that any leftover sinew is removed and only bone remains. I've use steel wool because it doesn't mark the scull.  Put it out in the sun for some days until there is no smell coming from the scull.  

My preference is to cut the scull in half, horizontally, through the eye sockets so the brain cavity is fully exposed and the brain is easily removed.  

I've done quite a few and it seems to work out easily enough.  Just follow your nose and you will be ok.

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## Roy Lehndorf

I've done quite a few and it seems to work out easily enough.  Just follow your nose and you will be ok.[/QUOTE]

Can you Slam a few photos up of your work......?

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## Twoshotkill

What you need is a pot like this!!!!

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## Tahr

Don’t cut the skill if you want to enter the head into the NZDA competition.

I put a hand full of clothes washing powder in with the skull. Have also used napisan. Comes out white, and it softens the meat and tissue. 
I use a butchers steel in spinal column hole to mush the brains before the skull goes in, and when finished a bit of wire with a hook bent into the end to get the brain bits out.

If you over cook it the nasal bones break up. About an hour on a slow boil does it.

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## Scouser

hey hey guys...had my first 'boil' going last night, bought a big 'round' pot from the 'wurrie furrie' and bashed it into shape to fit the skull...

most of the membrane from the top & sides just fell off, along with the underside of the jaw, teeth are still intact,......so are mine as i closed all the bedroom windows before i started.....

will do a second one tonight, some meat around the neck area and gunge in the nostril cavities....will use 'the long haired ones' BEST ice cream spoon to get the brain out....shhh she might be listening!!!!!!

No one told me about the sharp 'hook' under the eye socket....there was nearly blood i can tell yer....

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## Scouser

> What you need is a pot like this!!!!
> Attachment 22423


fark....thats the tinmans coffin from the wizard of fukin Ozz......did you dig the poor bastard up????

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## Tahr

Before you do the boil, remove all the hair and skin. That includes the hair between the pedicles (base of the antlers). I use downward strokes and take the hair right back to within about 1/4" of the bottom of the pedicle. Its easy to work with because there is a layer of gristle under the hair. Work your way arounfd the pedicale with downwards strokes.

After all of the skin is removed, you will find there is a slimy layer of tissue right across the skull from the eyes down towards the nose. I trim this off too.
Also, at the back of the skill on the top of the spinal column is a very dense layer of meat. Trim this right back before the boil too, and then after the boil take it right back to the skull. Once the cooked meat dries there it is hard to remove.

I take the eyes and stuff behind them out before the boil too. Cut around the eye with a sharp thin knife and push it all out from behind (there is a cavity).

Scouser, did you have have much difficulty removing the botton jaw? You took that off before the boil, eh?

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## Scouser

Yeah Tahr, took off the bottom jaw first, cheers for the info, will chew it all off myself if i have to.....

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## Twoshotkill

> fark....thats the tinmans coffin from the wizard of fukin Ozz......did you dig the poor bastard up????


My own invention that one! I call it the coffin pot!

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## Roy Lehndorf

> My own invention that one! I call it the coffin pot!


You've got a product there that you could market ... ill buy one off ya  :Thumbsup:

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## Scouser

Starting to look the bizz guys....i used a dremel to get the hard to reach shit off....worked like a treat, now for a nice piece of wood to mount it on...

big thanks for all your advice

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## Bavarian_Hunter

wrap the antlers in foil as the heat can discolour them as well.

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## EeeBees

We will need a foto of the finished product, of course :Grin:  :Grin:

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## subs

I done mine over the weekend, it had 5 days of rotting then slow rolling boil for a hour,  cut of as much as you can then water blast. Repeated boiling and blasting. Came out pretty good.
Unsure best way to bleach it yet, heard everything from janola to toothpaste. 
Its pretty white as it is anyway.
Will post pic when mounted to its yet to be made shield.

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## Wirehunt

Euro mount?  Get the saw out and take the cap of.   Leave outside for a month or so and done.

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## Dundee

@Scousers  trophy head......looking good mate :Thumbsup:

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## Scouser

Big thanks Dundee, first go at it, thanks again for all the help from the forum members.......LOVE THIS SITE!!!!!!!!!

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## square1

Good work Scouser! I can't wait to do one of these  :Have A Nice Day:  When I whitened my goat skull I used hydrogen peroxide I think, picked up a couple small bottles from the pharmacy. Did the trick for me  :Thumbsup:

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## EeeBees

Very nice...love the timber!

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## Dundee

> Very nice...love the timber!


He couldn't have done it without me @EeeBees  :Grin:

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## dale

hi there I found that I boild my heads in a pot with a little washing powder to give it a clean smell for about 45 mins on a rolling boil then used a water blaster to blow the brain out and also removes all meat with ezzs then I leave it in a bucket of bleach for the night and shes a minta

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## Scouser

Cheers Dale, put mine in water/bleach for a night, its really white now!!!!!!!

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## subs

Talking to a man that has done a lot of skulls,  he reckons mix peroxide and baking soda until toothpaste consistency brush on and leave for 24hrs , clean off and repeat if necessary. 
Will try this week

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## Tui4Me

> Talking to a man that has done a lot of skulls,  he reckons mix peroxide and baking soda until toothpaste consistency brush on and leave for 24hrs , clean off and repeat if necessary. 
> Will try this week


I've tried the above as well as bleach and washing powder as well as just about everything else

The best no fail way to get a perfect sparkling white skull is to firstly remove as much of the fat and grease as possible before even trying to whiten it. Boil and scrape the fat that escapes from the skull sutures and then degrease the skull with a rag with a very small amount of white spirits or something.

Once bone dry and fat free, soak cotton balls in pure peroxide and stick them all over the skull until it is covered with them. Leave them on for a half a day or so keeping them moist with peroxide as they dry out. Then put the whole skull outside in direct sun and in a few hours should be perfect.

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## Remmagged

I boil in an electric dog tucker cooker for a few hours, then water blast. =do not have to bleach (if you do the procedure while the head is still fresh)

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## waynebow

I did my sika and it was the best one of done using all meathods i've tried. First skin the skull Then stick in a plastic bag for two to three weeks outside, and let the maggots do the work. Then I waterblastered it clean (don't spray the antler obviously).  I then boiled it for fifteen minutes in water (you can make the boned brittle if you over boil it).  then I soaked it over night in a water and janola sullution about three caps of janola. It came out perfect and white (dont get janola on the antlers). a photo is attached not that good a light but you'll get the idea

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