50 Handy Tricks

Step 35 Clean a Skull by Hanging it from a Tree

Steve and Nikki at Hidden Villa Ranch, California are trying out a skull cleaning method they heard of.
Just hang it from a tree branch. The insects will do the rest.
This sheep skull is from an animal they butchered in November. Now in July of the next year it appears that a strong wind will finish the job.

Comments

[bleary2]

sorry, but that is disgusting....
I am a fan of skulls. I have done two myself.. I agree with Metal blade. Hot water maceration or cooking and then pulling the meat off. I have a nice clean white skull of a wild turkey exactly one week after I brought it home. I put the head into boiling water as soon as I cut it off. I boiled it for as long as it took me to prep the turkey for roasting. I then shut the hot water and let it cool. I then pulled off all loose tissue and meat. Then I boiled it the next day for about 15 min, and repeated. Three days ago.. I boiled it, let it cool and sat down and pulled all the meat off. I used the back of a spoon to rub down to the bone and get all the meat off. The fossa did separate and I was left with several pieces of the skull... nothing broken, just separated at the fossa. I then let the skull pieces dry for two days. Yesterday, I pulled any remaining chunks of meat off.. I think there was one small one. Then I took out my super duty liquid nails glue and gently glued all the fossa pieces back. I also glued the articulations at the jaw and beak so that the skull could be picked up in one piece. I am very very happy with it. I will run a q tip over it dipped in a drop of bleach in a few minutes to polish it up nicely.
I have seen several skulls just left to rot.. they get a very weatherized creepy look to them.. and they all had bits of brains and fur left in them.. not to mention the teeth usually fall out.,

[tjesse]

We lived near a canal, we would tie a rope to a dock pillar and throw to animal in the water. The crabs do most of the work.

[HamatoKameko]

One of our dogs took out our impressive curled-horn ram when I was in high school. I got off the bus to find it's slack-jawed head, tongue hanging out, dangling from a tree directly above one of the paths I had to take to feed the other animals.

As you might imagine, I was not amused. The death of the thing I could handle (raising animals tends to get you used to gore to a degree), but having to see it every day as it decayed, bits falling from it and the jaw slowly widening to a more and more unnatural degree, was slightly traumatizing.

The point: This works great (we still have the skull), but man, if you're gonna do this, choose a tree that you don't have to see (let alone walk under) every day. And if it doesn't bother you, at least take your stepdaughter's feelings into account...

[JamesRPatrick]

That's messed up.

[andygreene]

Best comment of the day....

[spyderman5413]

Put what you want to be cleaned in a bucket with an inch or two or water in it outside and maggots will do the cleaning in half the time!

[killerjackalope]

to get the dirt off and any minor remnants of flesh get a bucket put the skull in and add enough water to cover completely add to this fairy liquid (washing up liquid) and bleach stir that up a bit and leave for a week (putting a lid on is a good idea if you're likely to bump into it) the skull will come out a brilliant white

[nakigara]

I've heard that using bleach will cause the bone to continue deteriorating/decaying long after removal. I remember some of the skulls I used to have that were bleached would get all chalky and soft looking in areas later on. I've heard of using borax to remove any oils/grease after boiling or using bugs, etc. And, I think I was told to try ammonia too, but that was quite a while ago, and I don't think I tried it...

[METALBLADE]

I'm a taxidermist, this works but it's extremely slow. Bugs are the best way to clean skulls but in the USA the flesh eating bugs are slow and sloppy. Even after five years you are likely to have bits of dried skin and meat on the skull that are a real bitch to get off. If you skin the head and cut off most of the meat first, bugs will do a great job with the leftovers, and a short soak in hydrogen peroxide will make the skull white and ready for display. The fastest way to clean a skull is to flesh the head as best you can and then boil it. The remaining meat will fall off the bone, just like chicken. (It even smells similar!) This also sterilizes the skull and removes the smell. After boiling, or "hot water maceration," the next fastest way is "cold water maceration." All you have to do in this method is put the skull in a bucket of water with no lid and the bacteria in the water will devour everything. The more flesh you cut off beforehand, the faster it goes. The drawback to this method is that it smells terrible, neighbors would not appreciate it. Also, all the teeth will fall out, so if you want a whole skull boiling would be a better option.

[schmeese]

i like to drag carcasses to the nearest anthill, but this is very slow if you have something big like a dear skull.