i am doing a few skull mounts on various greasy animals such as black bear, hogs and javelina. My beetles have cleaned the skulls but they appear very oily what is the best way to degrease them before i put them into my bleach?
Return to Gamehead Taxidermy Category Menu
I have always scrubbed my bear skulls with Dawn detergent and water. That has always worked for me. I'm sure there are a few commercial degreasers that will work better but but Dawn is cheap.
I have a small skull cleaning business here in Alaska. For all of my greasy critters I soak in Laquer Thinner for at least 3-4 weeks to insure that all of the fat is out. Make sure to elevate the skull off of the bottom of the container as the fat and grease will sink to the bottom due to different specific gravities. Dawn dish soap is great stuff but alone it will not reach the deep areas of the skull. Soap is a surfactant degreaser where as thinners are solvents and break down the grease into more of a liquid state. I always give a quick clean in Dawn after removing from the thinner and then let dry for a few weeks before throwing in the H2O2. Hope this helps, shoot me an E-mail if you have any more questions.