When whitening a (bear, lion, badger, etc.) skull do you peroxide the teeth too? If not, what method would you use to keep the teeth natural?
thanks in advance
shawn
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I pull out all the teeth on my euro mounts. They hang better on the plaque.
Don't remove the teeth! Teeth are a key part of any skull (a lion just wouldn't be the same without its chompers and a deer would be much more difficult to age without its teeth). Many of the teeth will fall out anyway during the cleaning process, and should be whitened the same as the skull and replaced in the correct order. I personally remove all the teeth during the cleaning process; the membrane that surrounds each tooth, if left in, may stain the skull later on. Depending on what whitening methods you use, your teeth will not be harmed. As for a "natural look", today's euro mounts of carnivores and omnivores look better with nice white teeth, while herbivores look better with somewhat natural stained and worn teeth. If you are using normal household peroxide for soaking(~3%) or hair bleaching quality peroxide for painting(6-15%), it will do just that; teeth of bears and such will be whitened, while teeth of deer and such will lighten a bit but retain their natural wear patterns. Using stronger peroxides will remove this natural look. Regardless, it just doesn't look right to have a white skull with dirty yellow teeth. If you enjoy the natural look, I suggest not whitening the skull. The overall presentation will be more true to life.