O.K. boys & girls & kids of all ages, it's here...the 5 hour tutorial. I hope you gain something out of it, if you learn one thing then it has not been in haste. I did up by splitting the top by dropping it in the sink, but oh what the hell, it still looks good
I started this skull at 2 P.M. this afternoon & finished it at 7:15 tonight....that's after taking pictures, skinning 2 deer in between & going to sonic
LOL There are probably several grammar & spelling errors but i'm too tired to fix them tonight & will do it in the morning
Let's start from the beginning.oh
Let me say first, the cape this skull came off of IS FOR SALE $150 shipped..it has a bad tear in the right ear (gives it character
) but is an AWESOME cape with an AWESOME
DOUBLE white patch!! Will call it a 20" but it is bigger than that.
Now back to the tutorial
Skin the cape completely off the skull & remove the eyes, some excess meat AND ALL BRAIN MATTER!! The brain is where 90% of your grease comes from. If it was a pedestal skull I would use Joey Murphys brain blaster, but on regular euros I just cut a 1" X 2" hole starting at the stem hole.
Look at that White Patch on this cape for only $150.00 shipped
Cutting brain hole with jigsaw
Eyes out
Mix
1 box of baking soda in a pot of water & SIMMER THE SKULL.....
DO NOT BOIL!
Simmer for an hour or so & pull out, clean off any loose meat & stick back in pot for 30 minutes more or so.
O.K., we're clean as much as we're going to get it simmering (notice nasal cavity is not split..I told you I dropped it!!!)
Now is the most important step in this process!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Immediately get your skull into
HOT soapy water!!!! This is the most important part in getting the grease OUT of the skull that has been retained. Get your skull in the water & start boiling it with air in all crevices & orfices!!!
Like I said, and I hope the top pics exagerated the fact enough, "air boil" the living hell out of that skull!!!!! Your hot soapy water along with the pressure from the air will literally FORCE the grease residue on or in your skull out!!!
Now, most important step #2....this is vital for if you do not do it you will be in a wreck.
Punch 2 holes (1 each side) into the top of the nasal cavity and start blowing air through it....then submerge it and do the same. You know those NASTY grease spots you get in between the antlers & eyes
This right here is what you are eliminating. I hope the pics below show exactly what i'm talking about.
Shove the point of your air gun directly in there & swivel it around to keep loosening up meat matters & grease.
Next, pop out the ear canals. No need for them & you will get out a ton of greasy meat in one fell swoop!
see how easy that was
Now put your skull back in the hot water for a few more minutes and clean any residue you may have left. You can rub your hand under water and feel any greasy areas that may be left...just apply water pressure with your airgun to boil off grease with pressure.
This is what your skull looks like after only 2 1/2 - 3 hours....we're getting there quick!
Now take your skull and put in front of a heater...gas preferably, but a hot burning electric will work just as good & you can get the skull closer to electric heat than you can gas & not risk damaging it.
NOW, on to bleaching after it has dried for 10-15 minutes in front of the heater.
Let me touch on this subject briefly......NOTHING pisses me off more than the exact WRONG information given out by some on here about this subject. Whether we macerate, bug eat or simmer our skulls, we are all right in our own right!
BUT!! Some of the crap about bleaching is so stupid untrue that it hurts. HEAT-not light or days sitting on the skull is what makes your bleach work!! Let me repeat!! HEAT, not light or days sitting on the skull is what makes the bleach work!! I'll give you a test to do on yourself, stick your finger against the side of a freezer wall & then DIP it in a mixture of Basic White & 40 volume mixing cream...guess what will happen in the first minute....ABSOLUTELY NOTHING!! Now go rinse & try this.....rub your finger tip on your jeans creating friction (heat) and take a "small dab" of the same mixture and put it on that "hot" finger....with in a few seconds your finger will start burning & when you rinse it off it will be bleach white where you applied it. That's because it is HEAT activated...NOT BY LIGHT OR AMOUNT OF TIME IT SITS!!!!! Also, I have seen people reccomend everything from baking soda to flour to mix with the 40 volume cream...that is BULL $h!T!! The Basic white is your "whitener...together these two activate the whitening!!!
Now that we have that little rant out of the way...let's bleach!!
I mix my powder & cream until ot is "Vanilla Malt" thick
I then apply it to every last centimeter of the skull...inside & out!!
I then wrap it in cellophane to keep it from drying out & "deactivating" Let me give a small example I have used before....these old blue haired ladies at the beauty shop...when they put color or lightener in the hair...where do they stick them??? In a closet??? NO! Under a flourescent light
HELL NO!! They stick them under a dryer with
HEAT Well we don't have a dryer, but we can all damn sure get a heater. Stick your skull there, rotating it so it gets hot all over & make damn sure you don't catch your cellophane on fire!!! I do this for roughly 20 minutes....30 minutes is better as long as you don't catch the damn cellophane on fire!
I don't know if you can see it or not, but there is steam coming off the skull when I took the cellophane off
Now put in CLEAN water & reboil the whole thing with air!
Looking good fresh out of the water
Put back in front of the heater & let dry for 20 minutes or so....rotating every 5 minutes.
Now after it is dry we come to a crucial point of discussion, BEAUTIFICATION!!! This skull did not need touch up paint, but if it does USE THE DAMN STUFF!!! If you have followed these instructions, YOUR SKULL WILL NOT LEACH GREASE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! If you have a stain on top which is normal, pull you out some WASCO SUPERHIDE WHITE catalog # WA 10 and airbrush the damn stain. Like I said, if you carefully followed what I said about running your air gun all the way through every crevice of the skull, especially the back top nasal holes you gotta make & clean YOUR SKULL WILL NOT LEACH GREASE!!!
Now, on to finishing this little skull.
Take you a piece of 1 X 2 whitewood (not yellow pine) & cut you an approximately 3" piece depending on the size of the skull.
Drill you 3 or 4 "holding" holes in the bottom of it. When you fill the back of your skull with bondo, you will rub some into these holes which allow it to grab. "If you do not use these holes, the wood will slide right off the block since it contracts after cooling AND BONDO IS NOT AN ADHESIVE (ode to George
)
At this time I will correct a problem I caused. when I turned the skull upside down while bleaching in front of the heater some ran down to the antler burr. This is easily fixed by blending paints to the desired color, mixing with a small part of rubbing alcohol in it will help it thin & absorb.
Now, fill your back hloe in the skull with Bondo. I do not use toggle bolts for several reasons #1 being that you are using the actual bone of the skull as your point of pressure resistance....not smart. #2, some deer skulls are uneven in back...you will never get one even with toggle bolts & #3, this method does not scratch panels & is 20 times stronger to say the least.
O.K., here we go.............
Fill in Bondo and also force the extra bondo left over into your 3 or 4 "holding" holes
Set in your block & then turn over, LEVEL & let dry 70%
Now clean off any excess Bondo that may have leaked....you want even the back to look clean
Take "flat" white spray paint or your airbrush & whiten the wood & skull until blended. Try not to get spray paint on skull unless it is f"MIRACAL" flat white from Dollar General. It is honestly the only one I have found that does not leave over spray residue on the skull.
Now, pre drill you 2 small holes in your block & prep your panel.
Attach
4 all of you that said a nice, professional looking , grease free skull could not be done in 5 hours....all I can say is....we just did it! 
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