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My next door neighbor, Darin is a taxidermist who prepares skulls for presentation as a part of his business. I was interested in this topic and got him to lay out the entire process he uses. It's worth noting he has roughly 100 skulls in process at the moment...and that those he presented as "finished" were flawless indeed. He's the consummate craftsman.

1. To de-meat the skull there doesn't seem a substitute for Dermestid beetles. I saw mentioned in a previous thread that ants might be used for this. Mentioning this to him he immediately shook his head and said that if the ants aren't thorough then the meat can harden to the point where it can't be removed by anything else. These beetles are sold through most taxidermy supply companies.

2. Degreasing is done with soap and water at an elevated temperature. I mentioned lighter fluid and kerosene and he didn't see the point in using volatile chemicals when soap and water works just fine. The idea is to keep the water hot but not boiling. 160-180 F. If you boil bone it loses density according to Darin. So simmer without bubbles for a few hours up to a whole day. The trick is to check often for yellowing...which is the oil coming from the bone. When the yellow no longer presents, simmer for another length of time half of what was done up to that point. He said failure to do the extra time could result in more oil (yellowing) appearing over the course of time.

He uses an industrial soap but he said dish soap was just fine. Neither was he particularly adamant about the mixture. He pointed to a heated tank that looked to be about 10 gallons and said to, "just use a whole bottle of "Dawn" in that (pointing to the tank)".

3. A 50% Peroxide solution is used as a final whitening step. Degreasing alone can remove the yellowing oil but even after that bone can have gray discolorations that the peroxide will remove. He uses an industrial peroxide that is stamped "50% peroxide". We made the assumption that the other 50% was water or distilled water. Room temperature suffices for this step but he warned it can take as little as two days or up to a month, depending on the nature of the discoloration. Perhaps a little more research is necessary to determine whether or store bought peroxide is as potent as what he's buying. He mentioned bleach as being a poor choice for this step as it also breaks down bone...but on that particular point I could have misunderstood him. He clearly prefers peroxide though.

Skulls would necessarily be more difficult to process than a piece of femur I imagine. I expect there would be quite a bit more latitude for all these steps because of the simpler shape and uniform thickness of a femur.

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I read Emerson on the can. A foolish consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds...true...but a consistent reading of Emerson has its uses nevertheless.

StuMusic

Thanks Stuart. Seems like a femur would take longer to process than skull since it's thicker, but I don't know anything about this subject. Might be something worth asking him.

I've been simmering bone to process it, and it ends up being quite hard enough, thank you!

See if you can get a beef 'pin bone' from your butcher: that's the upper part of the thigh bone below the condyle, and is the straightest and thickest bone. Get one with some meat on it. Simmer it for a day and make up some soup, being sure to get out all of the marrow. Next day you put it in to simmer again, but this time start with clear water (no onions, carrots, etc.) and shave in a little Ivory soap (nothing with lotion in it!). Keep it going all day, and put in some more soap every time you see any fat on the surface. If the 'broth' get too thick and nasty, pour it out and start over with clear water (this goes nicely if you heat with a wood stove). Eventually you'll stop seeing fat coming to the surface, and then you're done.

I do get some scale on the outer surface of the bone; probably from too high heat. Under that, though, the bone is nice and hard; much better than the stuff you get at the pet store! Peroxide would probably be better than chlorine bleach, although that works OK.

If you want to get some beef stock from the bone, first bake it in the oven for an hour at 325-350F. You'll get tastier soup, and you won't get the scummy froth floating on top.

Alex

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"Indecision is the key to flexibility" .... Bumper sticker

Let me gett this right Alex...

if me bake me bone for an hour at 325 , mme won't be getting this scummy froth floating on me fret board?

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Audiences and dispensations on Thursdays ~ by appointment only.


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Yup. And if you throw a bay leaf in the pot, it'll taste pretty good when yer shreddin' like Jimi!

Alex

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"Indecision is the key to flexibility" .... Bumper sticker

Perhaps...weakening it by boiling is my neighbor's warning. I've never done any of this myself.

Frankly, after taking a look at the process I'll remain satisfied using Dupont Corian.

But if I did use bone I think first sectioning it off into short lengths would help in the processing of it.

_________________
I read Emerson on the can. A foolish consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds...true...but a consistent reading of Emerson has its uses nevertheless.

StuMusic

Thanks Stuart, that's very helpful. I've been curious about this process for some time.