Hey, I know there’s a lot of vulture culture folks here so I figured this is the right place to ask.
I have a few animal skulls and one of them, a badger skull, is starting to look a little old. There are areas that used to be pristine that is looking porous now, such as the ear holes and some of the natural cracks in the cranium. I found it in the woods where it had been exposed to elements, but it was properly boiled and has looked nice for some ten years, stored in a dry indoors environment, so IDK what’s up. It has not been bleached. There are no bugs, and there is only a very, very faint smell, nothing noticeable unless I directly put my nose on it. The only thing I can tell that’s off is that some areas, mostly the upper palette close to the molars, there’s a layer of what looks like dust that can be scraped off pretty easily. It looks like this is bone dust, so it seems to be very slowly decaying, but I have no idea what’s causing it. Mold maybe? I haven’t seen it before. It’s a very slow decay since I’ve owned it for ten years and only noticed it now, but I’d like to keep it for ten years more if I can!
I’m thinking about boiling it again, but tbh I’d rather not, since most of the teeth are gone already. It has a nice yellow, weathered color to it too so I don’t want to bleach it either.
Hey, I know there’s a lot of vulture culture folks here so I figured this is the right place to ask.
I have a few animal skulls and one of them, a badger skull, is starting to look a little old. There are areas that used to be pristine that is looking porous now, such as the ear holes and some of the natural cracks in the cranium. I found it in the woods where it had been exposed to elements, but it was properly boiled and has looked nice for some ten years, stored in a dry indoors environment, so IDK what’s up. It has not been bleached. There are no bugs, and there is only a very, very faint smell, nothing noticeable unless I directly put my nose on it. The only thing I can tell that’s off is that some areas, mostly the upper palette close to the molars, there’s a layer of what looks like dust that can be scraped off pretty easily. It looks like this is bone dust, so it seems to be very slowly decaying, but I have no idea what’s causing it. Mold maybe? I haven’t seen it before. It’s a very slow decay since I’ve owned it for ten years and only noticed it now, but I’d like to keep it for ten years more if I can!
I’m thinking about boiling it again, but tbh I’d rather not, since most of the teeth are gone already. It has a nice yellow, weathered color to it too so I don’t want to bleach it either.
[img]https://www1.flightrising.com/clan-profile/375057[/img]
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KitchenOfDeath
"properly boiled"
No such thing. Boiling incorporates the fat into the bone, locks it in and can, at worst, make them rubbery, but at best will always leave a faint smell and cause some degree of structural issues.
Bones can be simmered to get the meat off of, but boiling is never a good idea. Definitely do not boil it again, that can cause even more problems
I personally know hunters deal with trying to save boiled skulls more than vulture people, for some reason hunters have a big problem with boiling their skulls. I'm going to look on
taxidermy.net to see if I can find any topics that might be able to help you, but my advice would be to try and get rid of the fat. Apparently
borax can help save recover boiled bones, but since that's so harsh and the bones are already dissolving I can't recommend that.
Here is the FR taxidermy hub, you should probably ask around there too, we have several professionals. I'm doing my own research for you and will get back if I can find anything helpful. I've cleaned plenty of skulls myself, never tried to save a boiled one before though. Don't worry though, almost every problem has a solution, I'm sure we can figure it out.
As for the powder, I have bone dust issues myself but that's because of soil acidity. No idea if that could be a result of boiling though, might be another issues. I'll do some research on that and see if I find anything too
@
KitchenOfDeath
"properly boiled"
No such thing. Boiling incorporates the fat into the bone, locks it in and can, at worst, make them rubbery, but at best will always leave a faint smell and cause some degree of structural issues.
Bones can be simmered to get the meat off of, but boiling is never a good idea. Definitely do not boil it again, that can cause even more problems
I personally know hunters deal with trying to save boiled skulls more than vulture people, for some reason hunters have a big problem with boiling their skulls. I'm going to look on
taxidermy.net to see if I can find any topics that might be able to help you, but my advice would be to try and get rid of the fat. Apparently
borax can help save recover boiled bones, but since that's so harsh and the bones are already dissolving I can't recommend that.
Here is the FR taxidermy hub, you should probably ask around there too, we have several professionals. I'm doing my own research for you and will get back if I can find anything helpful. I've cleaned plenty of skulls myself, never tried to save a boiled one before though. Don't worry though, almost every problem has a solution, I'm sure we can figure it out.
As for the powder, I have bone dust issues myself but that's because of soil acidity. No idea if that could be a result of boiling though, might be another issues. I'll do some research on that and see if I find anything too
@
KitchenOfDeath
Okay, found something great for you!
I think you might need to try degreasing the skull.
Blue dawn dish detergent is fine for this, and I've seen plenty of pros swear by it. It might be worth trying to simmer the fat out, and use the dish detergent as a agent to help.
Here is some great instructions on simmering, and I think it also mentions why the bone dust problems:
Quote:
There is no need to be heating your degreasing solutions to over 120°F. Heating the bone above that point over a long term as in degreasing will begin to break down the supportive structure of the bone itself and it may eventually fail and degrade.
After you degrease your skull, you might want to seal it to combat the degradation overtime. Worth popping into the taxidermy hub and asking what they use to seal, I know a lot of people have different methods and what some use might work better. I personally use mod podge, but I know for a fact there's better varnishes and sealants out there. Take your time to make sure you can do everything as best as possible for your badger, it's better to go slow and make careful choices than rushing into things.
@
KitchenOfDeath
Okay, found something great for you!
I think you might need to try degreasing the skull.
Blue dawn dish detergent is fine for this, and I've seen plenty of pros swear by it. It might be worth trying to simmer the fat out, and use the dish detergent as a agent to help.
Here is some great instructions on simmering, and I think it also mentions why the bone dust problems:
Quote:
There is no need to be heating your degreasing solutions to over 120°F. Heating the bone above that point over a long term as in degreasing will begin to break down the supportive structure of the bone itself and it may eventually fail and degrade.
After you degrease your skull, you might want to seal it to combat the degradation overtime. Worth popping into the taxidermy hub and asking what they use to seal, I know a lot of people have different methods and what some use might work better. I personally use mod podge, but I know for a fact there's better varnishes and sealants out there. Take your time to make sure you can do everything as best as possible for your badger, it's better to go slow and make careful choices than rushing into things.
Drink milk ha ha ha funny joke
I’m sorry its like 5am
Drink milk ha ha ha funny joke
I’m sorry its like 5am
