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July 19, 2012
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whats everybody getting best results with for degreasing skulls?
I do 75% bear skulls and the rest a mix of small critters and deer.
I have been using dawn and water with a fish tank heater.
If you use dawn how much do you use per gallon?, and at what temp do you keep your water?
I have also read to use acetone on bears, anyone have any input on this?
Thanks in advance for your help!!
July 22, 2011
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Head Quarters has a commercial heavy duty grade degreaser that will clean any skull you got. It only takes a few ounces per gallon of water.
Be careful with the Acetone, it is highly flammable. A local taxidermist just died a couple weeks ago in an explosion in her shop, from what has been reported as started by Acetone fumes and a gas hot water heater. I would not use it with the fish tank heater for sure.
I simmer with baking soda dawn and HQ degreaser till meat fall off.dump.remove what little is left on back of skull. I have a plastic pan mix water and a cup of 30 volume peroxide.pour it in pot get i t hot pour in pan set skull in.pull out in couple hours.dry in sun warm room or couple of halogen lamps on each side.they are white when I do them this way.
July 19, 2012
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D.Price, do you know roughly what kind of time frame it takes for something like a bear skull in that degreaser??
July 22, 2011
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nrtaxidermy wrote: D.Price, do you know roughly what kind of time frame it takes for something like a bear skull in that degreaser??
It’s hard to put a time on that, it has alot to do with the size of the skull, and how long it was in the freezer allowing the grease to penetrate the bone. Way to many variables involved. Could be a week to more than a month.
Best degreasing temps is 110 deg. F, fish tank hetar won’t help you there. never used the commercial degreasers due to not being cost effective if you do a large number of skulls. I use dawn/water (concentrated dawn) heated to 110 deg. F to degrease skulls after skin and meat removed either with maceration or dermestid beetles. I mix the dawn and water at a shot glass per 5 gal. of water. water is changed out every 2 days for the first 2 weeks and then only as needed. deer skulls take 4 to 6 weeks to get completly degreased and bears can take 2 to 3 times as long to get completely degreaed. I stress completly degreased, I used to simmer my skulls also but switched to the slower method of degreasing due to the higher quality end product.
July 19, 2012
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Thanks Toxic, the only dawn the local store has is Blue, I would imagine I would want to find the clear?
Also what is the “concentrated dawn”/ and where have you found it in stock??
THANKS.
you can use the blue, have not had discoloring from it at these levels. concentrated is sold here along with regular, use the blue and add about a shot glass and a half to 5 gal of water
November 26, 2012
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How do you keep your water at 110deg? Aquarium heaters dont get that temp? I just got some beetles a couple weeks ago and am just feeding them meat for now. I have a couple skulls in the freezer waiting for a bigger colony of bugs. I have a question… How do you clean the box or do I nead to? I have lots of pieces of styrofoam that are all burrowed up. Do I need to change the shredded paper? How do I do these things without losing bugs? Any suggestions will help.
October 24, 2012
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How do you maintain a 110 deg. temp?
Toxic wrote: Best degreasing temps is 110 deg. F, fish tank hetar won’t help you there. never used the commercial degreasers due to not being cost effective if you do a large number of skulls. I use dawn/water (concentrated dawn) heated to 110 deg. F to degrease skulls after skin and meat removed either with maceration or dermestid beetles. I mix the dawn and water at a shot glass per 5 gal. of water. water is changed out every 2 days for the first 2 weeks and then only as needed. deer skulls take 4 to 6 weeks to get completly degreased and bears can take 2 to 3 times as long to get completely degreaed. I stress completly degreased, I used to simmer my skulls also but switched to the slower method of degreasing due to the higher quality end product.
January 12, 2013
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FWIW, I use an old waterbed heater submerged in a dawn solution on a GFI circuit. T’stat is broke but it seems to be comfortably warm. I have never checked actual temp.
January 27, 2013
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Hey CS O. I am just outside Zebulon myself and have been working with Skulls about 2 years now. (still a rookie) The best thing I have found is made by Cajun Injector and it is an electric fryer/steamer and the pot that is big enough for anything I have done, mainly deer and bear. It has a digital temperature set and also has a timer. There is also a fry basket in case you were doing small skulls. You can set from 100 to 250 degrees, and use the timer or heat indefintely. I think it is around $100 and I believe mine came from Agri Supply in Garner. Hope this helps. I know mine has been well worth the money. Wayne
January 28, 2014
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Hooter4 wrote: How do you keep your water at 110deg? Aquarium heaters dont get that temp?
You can make them work… The ones I use came from wal mart. Make sure it’s one with a knob for adjusting the temperature, the cheapest one they sell does not have a knob. To get it to 110 degrees, turn it all the way up, then remove the knob and reposition it so that you can turn it up even more. I have done this to two heaters and they’ve been in constant use for almost a year and are still working just great.
May 25, 2014
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I’ve been trying the dish deterg. method for a few days to get the worst of it snd then rinsing well and following up with a couple days soaking in ammonia. The end result seems to be fantastic but I was wondering what people thought about the safety of ammonia to not damage the bone.
July 22, 2011
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Dan, I have never used Ammonia on skulls before, but it does work great, cut with water, to clean your airbrush if you use water base paints. Thats what I spray through mine every time I change colors and also to soak parts in when I take it apart for cleaning.
As for the skulls, I’m not sure if you are diluting the ammonia with water or not, but I would think if you did, it would not be strong enough to damage the bone.
The ratio I use for cleaning my airbrush is 30% ammonia to 70% water.
