To bleach or not to bleach before getting a head measured?

[Silvius]

Hi Guys, I have a head that I think will get my first medal from a wood I have been managing for a few years with gradually improving heads. I am keen to get it to score as well as possible. To this end I boiled it quite lightly and took a long time taking the meat off, rather than boil it hard and let the meat fall off. I hoped this would retain a bit more weight than boiling the bones out hard. As you can see from the photos, the skull is just about OK now but not super tidy. Should I bleach it risking losing colour to the pedicles if I get it wrong and and lose a bit of weight doing as the peroxide must eat something that or just submit it as is? Do those who frequently submit trophies think that a smart trophy is like neat home work -more likely to be marked kindly? How much weight does a good peroxiding lose? Thanks in advance for your advice.

 

[TH4]

What weight is it at the moment? It looks quite light

 

[Silvius]

Its 526 to 529 for the last 9 days depending on how my wife's kitchen scales feel. Its day 21 I think today. I think the volume is less good than the weight. I find that harder to estimate with my equipment (spring balance) but 150 to 160? I hope. Certainly its clearly better than one of 125 I had measured so I hope 150 is safe.

 

[Mick9abf]

I always clean and bleach heads as ready for mounting before getting them scored - my view is they either score or they don’t.

I don’t know how your applying the peroxide but either put it on with a brush or spray bottle and if your worried wrap the antlers in clingfilm before hand.

Don’t think you would lose anything if there was a couple of small spots which were obviously caused by accident when bleaching but will happily stand corrected.

 

[baguio]

You have probably missed the boat now anyway which is a shame as it would have been a nice trophy for the wall. Bleaching is far less effective on a dry skull.

 

[Shootgun]

As above…

 

[Silvius]

Oh dear. Looks like I messed up there then. Thanks for educating me guys. I didn't know that about bleaching when a skull is wet.

 

[csl]

You can still bleach it, albeit won't be as effective. It just takes time to wet the skull again.

 

[Silvius]

So soak it overnight in water first?

 

[csl]

You can try try over night but it might take longer, with water only. Then add peroxide as normal.

 

[baguio]

I would give it a week at least before adding peroxide. It may work?

 

[csl]

It depends on how well things are stuck together, the quality of the collagen/calcium in the bone, how long you wet it for in my opinion. There is a risk the nasal bones might detach etc. Take your time!

 

[Silvius]

Thanks guys.

 

[sh1kar]

It depends on how well things are stuck together, the quality of the collagen/calcium in the bone, how long you wet it for in my opinion. There is a risk the nasal bones might detach etc. Take your time!just superglue nasal bones back on when thoroughly dry