skull bleaching issue

[User00003]

Gents/Ladies.

I had a couple of large stag trophies boiled off by a friend as something urgent came up I had to attend to. Whilst they did a reasonable job, and I've been working on finishing them off and getting them bleached, they seem to have come out with a bit of a yellowish tint to them - particularly around the eyes and top of the skull.

Every skull I've ever boiled has come out white, and after a bleaching session with 35% commercial grade hydrogen peroxide (ref. http://stores.ebay.co.uk/BIOSTAIN-ON-E-BAY/Hydrogen-Peroxide-Therapy-/_i.html?_fsub=937780011 - in case you're struggling to source) they have looked nice and crisp white, even the older stags skulls...

Not sure what's happened here, overboiled, underboiled, left with tissue residue on, etc. etc.???

more importantly, I'm trying to bleach them nice and white, but even the 35% H'gen Peroxide is struggling to do the job..

any input from people who've had similar experiences?

 

[User00003]

Edit - just noticed on another forum some people use lacquer thinner to decrease the skulls before bleaching, leaving the skulls in it for up to a week. I've never used this method, only simmered them for a 10-20 minutes, then rinsed and bleached - which has worked fine on stags/roe for years.

could retrospective lacquer thinner help get rid of the yellow tints, or is it game over and I'll just have to deal with them as they are...

 

[sws]

I had that on some good fallow bucks, even after 35% H202.
I subsequently them in water mixed with Caustic Soda for 24 hrs and all the yellowing was removed. I then re-peroxided them.
A friend who shoots a lot of goats overseas tells me that they place them in water at a medium temperature for upto a week and the fat is removed.
Don't boil with water mixed with caustic as the skulls will disintegrate.

 

[User00003]

do you recall the proportions you used? I don't want to disintegrate them!!!

also, is caustic soda not super dangerous?

 

[moose]

I add washing up liquid when boiling out and this tends to do a decent jobs of degreasing, don't add too much or you will end up with a foam party

Moose

 

[limulus]

Put them in warm water (30-40C) with a couple of dissolved dishwasher tablets for 24hrs

 

[375 mag]

Re - boil them in soda crystals this will remove any fat for an hour or two, i've never damaged any skulls using this method then dry them and bleach them !

 

[norma 308]

as soon as head is taken out of burco it must be put straight in a bucket of cold water till all heat is gone failure to do this will cause the head to become far less porous and take up of the hyd /per will be less effective .

 

[Paul 600]

I use soda crystals but I have also added sodium bicarbonate which works well. I then mix hydrogen peroxide with hydrogen peroxide powder from a hair dressers, the powder is blue but works very well. Just apply with a paint brush, leave for half an hour and rinse off.

 

[sauer]

my brother uses they cream peroxide from the hairderssers,, quite gloopy so sticks on well.....place skull(roe) in a plastic chinese takeaway dish....and then paint skullin cream...leave overnite then rinse.....no need for stuffing cavities with kitchen towel or the like to soak up fluid/ liwuid to ensure constant contact.

its really easy to use the more viscous cream than straight fluid peroxide


sauer ./ paul

 

[tika.308]

When i boil them i chuck a handfull of washing powder in.

 

[User00003]

thanks lads,

please note, the heads have been boiled and peroxide'd already, but need a re-treatment to remove some yellow staining left behind from fat deposits not being properly removed.

Therefore, just to confirm, you believe that re-boiling them with soda crystals might help, or leaving in water with dishwasher tabs, or with caustic soda should re-bleach them to the point where they can be re-dried and re-treated with H2O2?