Up for a young man that wants to do his own.

Thanks for sharing the tips. Is there an advantage over simmering? I built a homemade "buck boiler" and it takes about 6-8 hours start to finish. Only problem I have is the nasal cavity. Sometimes it comes right out and cleans up nicely but sometimes its a b***h. Picking it out is rough on the fragile bone. Got any tips on that part? Thanks again on the great post!

I personally think maceration does a better job of maintaining the nasal bones. I really use maceration because I generally have so much going on that I can let them work while I do other stuff. It's a bit less work but much stinkier work. I use stats to get to all the stuff all up in the hard to reach areas. I never simmer mine more than 30-45 minutes at a time and they are usually clean after one time. Then I degrease and let the skull dry completely before I do the whitening.

I seem to always get the bleach or peroxide on the horns so the last few I did I just taped around the bases and spray painted the skull an it looked nice. Great post

I like to put mine on a plaque with a small wedge of wood to make the skull sit at an angle more like a shoulder mount. I have never tried degreasing with dawn in the water, that could work well. For whitening I usually just use regular hydrogen peroxide and put probably 2 cups per gallon of water in the boiler and let the skull boil for about 30 minutes. Here is a funky horned mount I did for my uncle. This one really sucked because there was velvet on the bottom horn and I couldn't get it too wet. I finally ripped it off and epoxied it back, the pedicle was only held onto the scull by cartilage.

I was always taught that maceration was a sin
.....sorry - I just couldn't help it