Put it in a big cooler or bucket with an aquarium heater with DAWN dish soap and rot the flesh off.
Then dont bleach it either.
Watch all the nose bones go down the drain
When the water cooled enough to handle I pulled the skull and cleaned more meat.
I had to do this three times to get it perfectly clean...a little more work but I wasn't gonna buy an aluminum garbage can...I'll start with the peroxide soon and post pics....
We use a coat-hanger hook to remove the brains first. On an older skull the brain material will reconstitute and boil out.
Finally, we take it to a car wash and alternate between low and high pressure to remove the remaining bits, being super careful to not damage the delicate nasal bones. After it dries, a liberal dosing of baking soda will remove odor. Then we use a combination of 40 peroxide paste and magnesium powder for the final bleaching.
I've done at least a dozen elk skulls this way and they come out great.
You can get a pot big enough to boil at a horse feed store.
Jaq seems to have a good recipe, I'll add a couple of things we do... No chems in the water and we only boil for maybe max 30 mins before we go at it with the knife again, fleshing away. We wrap the horns from the buttons up in plastic wrap during the process so they don't get steamed, it will discolor them, buttons don't go in the water.. Hydrogen peroxide with baking soda mixed to a thin paste to whiten, let it sit for 10-15 mins, then rinse off/reapply until desired whiteness.
I then went to the junkyard and got an old semi tire rim. It has holes big enough to slide firewood in and I just keep the fire going while using aluminum foil to protect the antlers.
You could also use it on propane. I did an 8 year old moose with it so it will take care of an elk with ease.
I have done 100's of them.
peel off the flesh.
boil it for 30-45 min.
the pressure was it off.
nothing to it. comes out perfect everytime!
Yes, you want the temperature to be high, as in simmer. If you boil, bones can break, and although it's a not a bear or hog, any grease will sink further into the skull making degreasing more difficult.
Also, using a pressure sprayer (car wash) can cause you to lose teeth, it can be done, but be prepared to search high and low for that missing molar (or even a piece of the nasal cavity).
It's just flesh, it'll fall off with warm water maceration, if you can handle the smell.....lol.
BUT, you have some properties to get em out of, um... public... Macerate... put it in a tub of water (this summer in a nice warm spot out of the sun and you won't have to heat it.) Make sure it doesn't run out of water (I know folks who cover the tub and all with a big black plastic to keep the water as well as some heat in) and let it sit a month or two...bacteria will clean it as well as beetles, just not as much fun to watch..... Hose it off good with a garden hose (make sure you don't lose any teeth or other small bones as these soaks will remove all connective tissue and swell/expand the bone) then warm water soaks with dawn and ammonia, change the water every few days as long as it takes until the water stays clear. THEN whiten with peroxide.
Again, IF you have to "boil"... one tip is you leave the nose on before you simmer, after things start cooking (use sal soda or washing soda) as it gets "cooked" you can grab the nose with channel locks and pull the nasal cartilage all out all in one piece. Only done it a couple times but worked pretty well.
However you do it, if you aren't going to degrease it, don't bother with peroxide.... just rattle can it a good color and hope the grease doesn't soak through later on....
Boiling...(gasp! pressure washer!) I saw a few heads on this thread that were missing alot of bones.
Beetles, baby, flesh eating beetles.... a fun hobby to share with friends at your next cocktail party....
And while I have no doubt the slow method TD gives above would work great, I prefer the simmer and get it done in a matter of a few days.
Simmer with a little Arm & Hammer laundry soda and Dawn dish soap, dump water every time it gets dirty, then after fully clean and water is clear, remove skull and apply 40-50% salon crème paste, let sit a couple of days and rinse off, then glue teeth back in.
Don't mind that, really, as then I don't have to listen to insipid conversations about therapy, neuroses, diarrhea, relationship drama and Facebook insults. A small, angry monkey will accomplish the same thing, but requires higher maintenance than a box of bugs, which can be left under the host's bed before leaving.
You REALLY want to make an impact... show up with Pat's maceration bucket full of.... um, elk.... for show and tell.... make that angry monkey seem downright civil, folks would offer to put the monkey down their pants to make the bucket go away....
It's a great method.... has some drawbacks...
Would those be pink vans instead of the black ones normally parked outside my house?
I've had three different "adventures" with the other FBI, investigating a relative and a couple people with whom I was acquainted back in the day. No mistaking those guys. They look exactly as they are portrayed on TV..
What Garrett said about protecting the bases during the simmering, and also during the bleaching process.
explain the aquarium heater do you fill the bucket up with water then how much Dawn do you add? How long does it take? Never messed with a aquarium heater, and never heard of this.
thanks
Here is agood tutorial !
http://www.taxidermy.net/forum/index.php/topic,48226.0.html
