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My euro is getting close to done. Got to polish up in the part where the dog chewed on it.
I did the cold water bath method and it ended up more bone colored than white like the deer the taxi did. I think it will get whiter overtime
Looks like it's turning out pretty good.
TBM- can you please go into detail the steps you took doing the "cold bath method"?
That painting looks familiar. Who is the artist?
And how long did you cold bath it...and how did it impact the hardness and roughness of the bone vs a hot bath that weakens the bone...thanks!
Joey that's a Hayden lambson. He did all the drawings in the book Barebow, which I consider a must read for bowhunters, espiciallly since its on kindle.
Njbuck everything I did was based on info I got off if bowsite. There are probably some past threads that have better info, but thus is basically what I did. Didn't come out perfect white so there is probably more I could do to improve.
after removing all the hide and lower jaw in the field, the maggots pretty much took over from there and soft tissue like the brain was running out by the time I got home. Had I not been in town with close neighbors I would have likely let them do more.. instead I submerged the head up to the antlers using a mineral bucket for the container. I would change out the putrid water occasionally. Bugs were working underwater and after 3 months most of the meat was gone. I had to use a coathanger to loosen the major strip of cartledge up his nose. Then I made a paste of borax and peroxide and pasted all over the skull. I would wash of the paste and repaste every couple if days.
Pikentrout there were no lost bones..all are still intact..some a little loose but still holding together. That was the reason I did the cold water method ...it takes no skill other than patients. WARNING: I did loose the ivory teeth and some of the enamal came off the other teeth. Either pop the ivory out before putting in the bath or you will have to filter through the putrid water for them as you change the water.
I like the cold bath, though my wife hates it, stinks like no other.
to get it whiter I have found that using the strongest hair bleach works better than the peroxide/borax paste. You can find it at any beauty supply store for not too much and can do multiple skulls with it.
Nice job tbm. If you really want a poor man's euro and have a compost pile, chuck the sucker in it for a few months. Might want to throw a cinder block or two on top to make sure no raccoon gets it. There's enough beetles, worms, and the like in the pile that they get the giblets off just fine. No fun smell to deal with either. Comes out a really nice tan, which will fade if you leave it outside in the sun for a month or so.
Looks clean, how did you degrease it or did you skip that step?
I like the European mounts have one myself. A lot less maintenance and they look great over a period of time.
I skipped the degrease step. I will try some of that hair bleach.
Might be better off simmering it with some dawn dish soap. The grease will come out after time.
I had a friends cow skull soaking for about a year in dish soap and in the sun... about 4mo later you could see the grease patches surfacing so I had it hydro dipped.
Degrease is important. Otherwise it will show big time in a few years.
Soak the bone in Peroxide ... the bone will get nice and white and also remove the grease....best to drain off and re-do several times at about a week apart! (It Will NOT damage the bone like 'bleach' does).
TBM, I always enjoy your input!
nice whitetail is that your baby elk did u wipe the milk from his lips ?
Plywood is not meant to span 48" like the studs are in that picture!
The spread on that elk is 18" so he must have used 20" centers when he framed that wall.
The whitetail is about 21 inches wide if that tells you anything
Beach sized medicine ball
Not a chance that whitetail is 21"... this deer is 22.5" inside.
TBM what happened thought u were gunning for PY sized bulls not them dumb little pisshead types that can be called in with a flute ? Must have been a easy pack out half the size of a mature bull
Good job TBM, you should be proud.
Great bull & nice job on the Skull! David
City at least I didn't take multiple pics of the same bull and claim it was two different ones..like we couldn't see that...come on man!!
I'd like to know if anybody knows where I could purchase Ms Kays Dioxygen liquid developer 40 vol in a 1 gallon size?
thanks
Any Sally's beauty supply
Looks good TBM. If you were able to find the ivories, you need to glue them back in. That really sets a Euro off and gives it a finishing touch.
