Thread: Deer skull clean???....help

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

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

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.

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.

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......?

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

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.

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....

Originally Posted by Twoshotkill

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????

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?

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

Originally Posted by Scouser

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!

Originally Posted by Twoshotkill

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

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

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