Did my son and my bear skulls about 3 wks. ago, from our Idaho bear hunt. Took about 3-4 hrs., then left them out for a couple of weeks, in the sun, to dry. They came out bleached white the first day. I asked my taxidermist, and this is what I did.
1. Cut off all the excess meat you can prior to boiling.
2. Put skull in a pot of water. To this pot add a dash of dawn dish washing detergent, a cup of
bleach, and THE SECRET, sodium carbonate. I bought this as ph pool enhancer, from a swimmi
ng pool shop. It is an alkali, and helps get the meat off AND whiten the skull.
3. When water comes to a boil, turn it down to a simmer, or soft boil. Check the skull every hr. un
til most of the meat falls off. Don't over boil or the teeth will fall out.
4. Take skull out, and with a small scalpel, or exacto knife cut off all fat, meat membrane you can s
crape. This will take 1/2-1 hr. Stick wire in skull and stir up brain[which has turned to mush].
Go outside and with a hose squirt water[at high pressure] in the skull. The brains, etc. will dum
p right out. Put the skull outside, in the sunlight to dry, and finish the bleaching process.
My 2 skulls came out snow white, no teeth fell out, and I was essentially done in 4 hrs. including boiling time. Hope this helps.
Mad Dog
