Thread: Euro mount... Wet or Dry?

After shooting my first bull tahr a couple of weeks ago I have cleaned up the skull, boiled and waterblasted it.

Question now is should I keep it wet, damp or dry until I can get some poroxide on it?

Cheers.

yes LOL

Yes what? @Micky Duck. Yes wet? Yes dry? Yes damp?

Yes isn't a helpful answer without another word after it.

yes PLEASE is a good answer LOL

but yes to one of the three LOL
I dont believe it will matter at all.

@RUMPY First off congrats on getting your trophy .So l am taking it you are a newbie to doing Euro skulls ,l quickly fell out of spending the price of another hunting trip on mounts a couple of decades ago so have done my own & clients for over 25yrs .

Short answer wet is OK .But...............

So first off these are the important steps to make sure the mount turns out OK & lasts -

First Boil steps -

Are you sure you have boiled all the grease & oil out by adding 300ml of dish washing detergent to the pot and half a cup of clothes washing powder . Do this each time you change the water in the boiling pot, this is a very important step for the final look of your euro mount.

A slow boil/simmer will draw more oil & grease out. With the first boil I try and remove as much oil & grease as possible. I usually leave the skull to simmer for 4-6 hours, first off emptying & refreshing the water if a lot of gunk & grease is coming out ,then just topping the water up as needed . The more attention to this step will make for a much better & whiter mount that does not discolor from leaching grease later & causing oil spots on the mount.


Once you are sure you have this done -

First blast with the pressure washer - Do not use to much pressure it will flake the bone .I normally do this after 2 hrs of the first boil ,get rid of as much meat as you can & take out all loose teeth (glue these back when finished).

Make sure you remove the ear bone as their is a lot of "stored" greasy shit in behind it ,that will discolor the mount later ,this will also allow you to get in & dig out all brain material properly .If you have boiled on the long slow simmer the brain will come out easy ,use a bit of bent up wire if you have trouble.



Second/Third Boil-


Skull should be a lot cleaner , make sure to change water & add another 300ml of dish washing detergent. Put the skull back in to simmer to cook off the remaining meat and drag out more grease from the skull. This Simmer/ Boil is best done for a good couple of hours ,you will see the grease scum on top of the water even after a good hour .Refresh water detergent & simmer again until grease stops .


Second pressure wash: Skull will now be pretty clean ,make sure you have cleaned out the brain cavity & pay attention to the 2 small pockets at the bottom of the eye sockets as they hold oily shit as well ,again not full blast just a gentle blow out.

Skull should be looking pretty good now ,place it in a bucket of water in a sunny warm spot with 300 ml of detergent & let it soak for a couple of weeks ,a lot of time the water will start smelling rank a sign the final oils & grease are leaching out ,change water & let it soak more .

Once you are happy water has stop stinking /no grease leaching do the final pressure wash ,making sure to do around teeth/nasal passage /eye sockets /brain cavity etc


Whitening - I have found best results when the Skull is warm ,so place it in a simmering pot of water for a couple of minutes & take out when hot to touch & apply peroxide & it will start working straight away & get deep into the bone from the heat opening it up .

I like to let the peroxide react for about a hour or so, then heat the skull again, put another layer on the skull leave a hour &repeat this process until you are happy with the white achieved


Hope the Info helps, like l say l have done it for decades now & had Taxidermists ask who did them

Wow @bunji, what a through description. Thanks so much for your very informative procedure.

Oh, one more question, can I use the hydrogen poroxide liquid available from chemist shops or do you use hair colour with the powder additive in it?

@RUMPY No probs always happy to help someone starting out ,thought it might help others too. If you need any other help just ask ,l will help if l can.

Enjoy your trophy for years to come

Originally Posted by RUMPY

Oh, one more question, can I use the hydrogen poroxide liquid available from chemist shops or do you use hair colour with the powder additive in it?

@RUMPY I have used the Commercial cleaning grade peroxide while overseas but just use the hairdressing stuff here as the missus does the hair for all the neighboring farm wives ,but either should be fine as it is more a matter of keeping a eye on it until you are happy with the whiteness .If you heat up the skull you will see it bubbling up straight away as it enters the "pores" so takes away the guess work of layering it up because you were not sure it was working .

PS just asked the missus & the stuff she has is 1L 40 vol peroxide from chemists & hair supply mobs

Whitebone creations on YouTube

This is a great tutorial

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lknMPC0FQ04&t=230s

Originally Posted by bunji

@RUMPY I have used the Commercial cleaning grade peroxide while overseas but just use the hairdressing stuff here as the missus does the hair for all the neighboring farm wives ,but either should be fine as it is more a matter of keeping a eye on it until you are happy with the whiteness .If you heat up the skull you will see it bubbling up straight away as it enters the "pores" so takes away the guess work of layering it up because you were not sure it was working .

PS just asked the missus & the stuff she has is 1L 40 vol peroxide from chemists & hair supply mobs

Hi @bunji does it matter how long you leave the peroxide on for is longer the better or will it hurt it?

Originally Posted by Mr300WSM

Hi @bunji does it matter how long you leave the peroxide on for is longer the better or will it hurt it?

@Mr300WSM Around a hour between doses ,usually works out OK ,but you just keep a eye on it until you are satisfied with its progress ,sometimes you will see the brown tinge coming through where it has lifted a oily /greasy patch trapped inside the bone.

Peroxide breaks down to water once it's done it's job so there's no need to wash it off unless it's lifted gunk that wasn't boiled out then it's back in the pot.

OK, been a few weeks but I have finally got a result I'm pretty happy with considering it's my first euro mount.

Things I probably did wrong may have been blasting it too hardout on the first clean after first boil. After the advice given above, I boiled again, blasted again and soaked in bucket with dishwash tablet in it for 2 weeks.
Did a third boil for a couple of hours and then gently blasted a final time.
Brought a 500mL 40 vol ( 12%) hydrogen poroxide creme from chemist warehouse for about $7.
Painted on a nice even layer and left for an hour and gently washed off with garden hose. Still wanted a better finish so gave it another coat and left it overnight then out in the hot sun for a couple of hours. Washed off again fairly thoroughly but gently and let it dry.
During the soaking time the inner membrane of the horn separated and the horns which made the process quite a bit easier with the poroxide.

Thanks again @bunji, great advice.

My first bull. 10 1/2", about 6 years old counting horn rings.