Deer skull cleaning.

Tikka391

Well lads,
I have been gifted a fantastic stag scull with lovely antlers. A good friend of mine gave it to me today. He was given it about 18 months ago from a friend of his.
His plans for cleaning and mounting it were fupped up when his wife saw today it and was not impressed in the least when he brought "Bambi's dad" into the house.
So his hard luck I'd my good luck lol..

So it has been out in the wild for 18 months and and all soft flesh has gone, there was only a small bit of dried up skin left on, which I pulled off and gave a good blast with a power hose.

I am looking for info on how to finish cleaning and get ready for mounting.
How have ye done yours, anyone that has.

It still has a small bit of residual flesh stuck on here and there and bits of kind of stains/discolouring.
So any advice would be fantastic guys.

I have no experience with this sort of thing what so ever.

Grizzly 45

Ok a couple of ways you can finish this off. Nature has done 98% of the work already it seems for you.
Get a big enough pot of water and immerse just the skull in it and boil if for a few hours until you can pull off all the rest of the meat. Probably best done outside and not on the kitchen stove. A BBQ or open fire might be a good once off option for a heat source. OR just keep power washing on a mild setting to get the rest of it off if boiling isnt an option.
Next, let it dry and then stuff the internals and cover the external with cotton wool,up to the "roses IE the base of the antlers, where they join the skull. You then need to get hydrogen peroxide at a commercial grade.C hemists won't usually have it, some hairdressing suppliers might have[.Google is your pal, but the usually chemical warehouses that have it. You want as strong a HP as possible. Wear protective gloves and eye protection with this stuff too.

Next you pour this onto the cotton wool and saturate it thoroughly for about 48 hours..Check it where it was discoloured until it changes to a white[ish] colour.but make sure the bone isnt going soft to the touch as it is then starting to break down from reaction with the HP.If that is the case.Remove all the cotton wool immediately from the skull,and live with the colour provided buy the reaction.But by rights, you should have a paperwhite skull at the end. Let it air dry for a couple of days,and you are good to mount it as you see fit.

RossiFan08

Another way to remove the dried in skin and flesh is to wrap the skull in wet paper towel and then cling film and leave for a few days. This sorts then flesh and allows you to wash it off with a hose.

If you going the boil route instead make sure none of the antler in the the water. Only the skull

Tikka391

There is only very small bits of grissle stuck on here and there but seem well dried in and stuck on.
Also a bit in the nooks and crannies.

Thanks for the advice guys.

Limerick Sovereigns

When "bleaching" the skull make sure that you only use hydrogen peroxide or "hair bleach" as advised by Grizzly above. Domestic "cleaning bleach" is a different chemical and will eat away at the bone rapidly. I speak from costly experience!

cookimonster

Another tip when boiling, if the pot is smaller then the witdh of antlers make sure that the flames from your heat source are not licking up the edge of the pot and or the top edges of the pot are becoming hot.
Either way this can cause the antlers to shear off at the point of the heat, antlers can be easily cut into sections by repeatedly scoring around the circumference with a hot glowing pointed stick.
I was able to source hydrogen peroxide from my local chemist, it was the other chemical (?) used to restain the antlers that was a no no, as a prohibited substance.
You can use brown shoe polish, sponges and plastic pot scrubs to bring back the colour in weathered antlers. Plenty of pictures as a source if reference.