started - now finished my euro bison, 8-11-11 update

[Dand]

Thanks to advice I found on this forum and especially from Swiftone and Buckskin I made plans to do my own euro mount of my bison head.  After a lot of reading I decided on the boil and pressure washer system as faster and safer than others.  But I was stumped on how to get a pot big enough.  It finally dawned on me that I had some old 55 gal gas drums buried in the snow. My boy (13) has become a bit of a tool junkie and got an inexpensive sawsall this winter.  In about 10 min we had the drum sawed in half.  One part was to be the kettle the other the stove. I went to the dump for some raw materials and came home with some pipe and conduit for a stove grille.  With a few minutes of sawsall work we had had a hole for air and wood in on the lower base of the stove and some notches in the top for the grille pieces. I think we made the whole thing in less than an hour - a record for me.  Most of my "short" projects explode into days.
 


I wanted to get going on this thing before the brown bears come out and today was perfect.  Warm (34-37) and sunny and not to breezy to start.  I set everything up on the far back of our lot where a creek flows.  A pallet so the contraption wouldn't disappear into the snow.  Some concrete slabs to keep the pallet from burning. Fire wood and boy scout juice to start and a few gallons of water to start.  It worked well but the breeze came up and I had to put up some scrap plywood as wind breaks.  Started about 11:30 am.  Once going I shoveled snow into the pot until I had enough water to cover the skull then poured the heat to it.  If I had planned better I'd have take the head out of the freezer a couple days ago.  I had plenty of wood in tho and in about 2 hours the water was boiling.  I kept it cooking until about 7:30 pm  when the meat and tissue was  falling off on its own.  I scraped and shook a lot off, then back in the cooker for an hour.  Set up the pressure washer  (was getting cold again by then) and blasted the skull.  It was getting dark by the time I quit and my glasses were splattered pretty good.  I'll take a look in the morning when I have time and its a dried a bit.

The dog loved all the meat that came off.  My son shoveled a lot of the snow and bits onto the creek ice so hopefully the area will be rinsed pretty clean by the time the bears are out.  Funny thing, a local bear guide drove by on his snogo and asked what's up.  He's gearing up for the season so I guess its a good thing I got going on this.  My pressure washer is just a little electric unit but it did pretty well tho it splattered stuff far and wide.  Hope there isn't much to attract the bears by June.  I'm sure the neighborhood dogs will do their best to clean the place up.

I hope to post more as I progress on this.  I have to find a source of the hair dresser peroxide.  Hope I can get it locally.

Thanks to all who have posted helpful advice on this forum - its a huge help.



8-11-11  UPDATE


Was in Anchorage in June and found some peroxide gel at a hair place. You could get 20% 30% or 40%.  I tried 30%.  I smeared it all over and let it sit in the sun - when we had sun - the rinsed with water.  I couldn't tell if it worked much really.  Might not be the best way to go. But with intermittent sun exposure I got it as white as I could. Even ran some acetone over a greasy spot I found - seemed to help a little.


Found a nice walnut plaque through Walnut Creek Hardwoods.  They are real reasonable on prices, will use the mail (only way for bush AK) and pretty fast.


Got tired of the skull clogging my loading bench.
Trimmed and sanded a piece of  hemlock 2x4 to fit the back of the skull and painted it white.
At first I was going to glue it - well Marine Tex it.  But I decided there was enough bone so I bolted it with two 1/4 in bolts.
I can take it all apart to clean or improve if I need.
Screwed the wood block to the plaque, made a heavy aluminum hanger bar and now it glowers at my wife when she plays the piano.
Nice to have it done.  Saved a bunch compared to paying a pro.
But I appreciate even more, the amount of work, knowledge, and craftsmanship a good pro brings to the project. They earn their money.


And good work takes time.  A close look at this will show I'm not a in the leagues with the pros and have more to learn.


But I had fun and have a great reminder of a really fun hunt.
My regular camera is dead so could only add this one photo of the final result.

[Siskiyou]

Dand thanks for the post.  Good information.  Made me think of the large pressure cooker the wife has stored in the garage.

[drdougrx]

Thanks for the post Dand!  Great to have your son in on it as well.....I have daughters who think Daddy's interests are icky!  Maybe grand kids or (heaven forbid) a SIL!  

[Dand]

Well in the new daylight I think I got the job done pretty well.

But I have a question: the teeth have quite a bit of black along the outside gumline.  Some of it came off with the pressure washer but not all.

How should I clean the rest of it?  Will the peroxide do it?

Suggestions are welcomed.

Dan

[drdougrx]

If I remember cirrectly, my taxi did soak skulls in peroxide....especially hog skulls....though...I'd continue to check this out.

[crash87]

I just finished a hog skull about 2 weeks ago. I don't know what you mean by the black stuff on the teeth, but if it is just discoloring and not "meat", peroxide should whiten it. One thing I do when I'm done with the simmering, notice I said simmer and not boil, as i don't boil or put alot of heat to it. I also add sal soda to the water, it really helps to soften the meat and it literally comes right of, no pressure washing, just a nozzle on the end of a garden hose. But, after taking it out of the water let it dry in the sun for about a day, then submerge it fully in hydrogen peroxide. Some folks will tell you to use the pharmaceutical stuff, you can get at a beauty shop. I have only used the drug store stuff, .99 cents a quart and it has worked perfectly for me. submerge and leave it for about 24 hours, more should not be needed. Take it out, wash/rinse in cold water, then back out to sun dry again for about 24 hours.
This is where I found the process i have used, my son is on a class trip out of state and has my camera, otherwise i could post some pics. The skulls I have done look alot better than the ones I paid to have done before i tried it my self. To include, Deer, Javelina, coyote, fox, and the afore mentioned hog. Crash87
http://www.javelinahunter.com/step_1_prep.htm

[Swift One]

OK, OK........PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE make sure you post a pic of the finished product!!!  A euro bison mount would be sweet!!!  The things I could do with  a big skull like that!!!  I have visions of a dream catcher painted on the top of the skull and some ceremonial feathers hanging from the finished product.  Just me though.

About the black stuff on the teeth.  I am assuming is just staining or discoloration from the wear and grazing life of the animal.  I run into the same thing with deer teeth.  I have found that peroxide soaking will take some of it out but some discoloration will remain.  Dont know how your going position the final mount and/ or if you are going to use the lower jaw or not. But, with my deer mounts, the way they are mounted, you cannot see the tops of the teeth so therefore you cannot see the staining.

I just did a coyote skull that a guy shot this past season. When he went to retrieve it, he discovered that the yote had a snare around it's neck.  The yote chewed through the cable and in the process, broke one of his K9s, chipped another, and wore down some of his other teeth causing some browning in them.  A peroxide soak got most of it out.

The mount looked pretty cool though when it was done.  I mounted the skull with the mouth closed and the snare cable in the jaw like it was chewing on it. It really brought out the character of the damaged and slightly browned teeth.

[Swift One]

I usually use a 1/3 peroxide to 2/3 water solution.  You might want to try 50/50.  And, regular 3% peroxide that you buy at wally world works just fine.......

[Dand]

Update and final photo posted.  I just thought of a question about keeping this clean.  Should I have sprayed the skull with flat clear Krylon or such to keep dust from infiltrating the bone?  We have LOTS of dust here.  I didn't want to have the Krylon age and turn yellow so its just natural bone for now.


Might try to post a couple more photos if my camera starts working again.  Was careless on a canoe trip and paddle drips got into the view screen so I can see to frame photos or adjust settings.

[Swift One]

Update and final photo posted.  I just thought of a question about keeping this clean.  Should I have sprayed the skull with flat clear Krylon or such to keep dust from infiltrating the bone?  We have LOTS of dust here.  I didn't want to have the Krylon age and turn yellow so its just natural bone for now.


Might try to post a couple more photos if my camera starts working again.  Was careless on a canoe trip and paddle drips got into the view screen so I can see to frame photos or adjust settings.

First off, that skull cleaned up super.  Very good looking.  Second, I have found that on deer, spraying a finish on it, the skull will yellow a little.  I have not had this problem with a coyote skull though.