I hope I do not sugest something so elementary that I offend...but I would like to mention that there are, in the nasal cavity of mammals, a series of fragile bones that are arranged vertically. I do not suppose these would be of particular interest to most of the people who come to you to have a skull cleaned and mounted, however, if you are preparing a skull for display in a museum or if your customer is particularly discriminating, you will want to make sure these lace like bones are not damaged. Not easy to do and should probably best be left for the dermestid colony. I do not know whether they should be protected by a spray coat of shellac or etc. Perhaps someone who has taken the care to preserve this part of the skull can advise. rs/bm
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I never have cleaned a skull and lost any of those bones yet. They are fragil but still they are not that easy to get out of the nasal cavity. Then of course I do not boil my skulls but mainluy use the maceration method, which works great where I am at. Simmering in wter with baking soda or sal soda does not dammage those bones either it you pay attention to what you are doing. I usually just put a quick squirt of sealer on the bones as well as the whole skull in the end. Other than that I do not treat them any different.
those bones seem pretty fragile - but all bone is designed to withstand some abuse by its very nature... I have actually molded them before. I woudln't recommend that to anyone but the most experienced molders as they are incredibly tricky.. but it can be done. Simmering wont harm them - as per usual - do not boil - that leaches calcium out of the bones and weakens sutures. Maceration works well - you can use one of those pump up squirt guns like Super Soaker, or even a syrginge - to really squirt up there and knock the scuz out. Dermestids do a wonderful job as well. And if anyone is curious; those bones work as baffles in warm blooded creatures. When you breathe through your nose those bones baffle the air intake - exposing it longer to the thin walled skin and thus nearby blood vessels, warming the air before enterring your lungs. Thats why they are so thin.. to expose more air to more blood. In treating my skulls and bones I liek to fully immerse them in flat acrylic urethance. A topical application keeps the pieces kinda stuck together, but allowing it to soak for half an hour penetrates right intot he bones into the marrow and all and REALLY locks everything up. Just how I do mine =)
I haven't had any trouble with preserving these bones either (except when I get in a hurry), but as Super pointed out, maceration works wonderfully! I usually steam (not boil or simmer!) my skulls first and peel as much meat and such off, then put in a 10 gallon aquarium with a fish heater and let soak for about a week. After a week I clean em up a bit more, then soak em for another week, etc until everything is off. Then they go in peroxide to whiten and get the last little bits off that I missed. Depending on the type of skull I can have it clean in 1-4 weeks.