question on boiled grizzly

[coop1212]

Customer brought these two in after they were boiled by another skull cleaner ( problay that guy in Montana or Idaho ) anyway I took them out to dry to check progress and the smaller one looks like good solid white bone. The larger one the bone looks very translucent .....was it boiled to death. They have dryed for 5 days. 

[Bugs N Bones]

120 degree dawn water and ammonia.. Explain to the customer that it probably wont be perfect when its done because it was boiled. Pay close attention to the skulls when you change the water because theres a good possibilty the bone especially on that little black bear it will start to fall apart. You will have to make a descision when enough is enough.

[Skull Designs]

I would put it in ammonia or acetone and set it aside for awile, I had a leopard come in that was boiled in Africa and you all know how they treat the skulls, it soaked in acetone for 3 months and then into dawn and 115* water and its starting to look really good, just got in 2 warthogs that Im just soaking in the dawn water mix, doesnt seem to be working as good. The grease is going to be harder to get to break up and pull out with them being boiled, my guess is the bigger one is older, so the bone is more dense

[Sea Wolf]

Good long and slow degreasing. Acetone soak, then into Dawn. Might have to go back and forth. Boiling (simmering too) cooks the grease and alters the way it responds. It also drives it deeper into the bone in areas where there was a lot of it. Just tell your customer to be patient. It will take some time. Neither one looks too bad tho.

[coop1212]

The larger one is alot older. Bear has about two good teeth in his head.k9s are terrible.  I'm afraid it so old its got alot of natural calium loss already ..  and both are grizzly bears in pic

[ravenswings1]

omg

[Great Skulls?]

The biggest problem is that boiling removes some of the collagen from the bone - that's why boiling a chicken makes tasty soup.  The collagen is the protein that holds the calcium of the bone together.  (This is a big oversimplification, but...)  That means, that when you degrease these - and as the others said - the boiling did set the grease in - the calcium might start to flake apart.  This is a similar problem to the one that happens when skulls are whitened in chlorinated bleach except the chlorine denatures the protein instead of the heat.  In other words, these skulls may fall apart!  Degrease them as recommended, and then as soon as they are dried thoroughly, they will need to be sealed or they will flake forever.  I would warn the customer ASAP that these skulls will never be 100%.  In fact, personally, I wouldn't have taken them in.  Bears are tough enough to degrease to start with, and adding this problem stuff on top of that makes it really not worth it for me.