Not bad Terry.
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I've got mine "working" right now. I prefer the passive method though.
![Laughing :lol:](./images/smilies/icon_lol.gif)
Got the skull soaking in water out in the barn. Got it suspended so that the antlers are up out of the water and check the water about once a week for any evaporation and add more when necessary. Yeah, it stinks when you get close to it, but luckily the wind blows away from the house.
Mix up a paste of hydrogen peroxide and baking soda and paint it on the skull and let it sit for about an hour. Take a water hose and wash it off and see how white it is. If you didn't get what you wanted, apply more of the paste and let it sit for another hour or so.
Whatever you do, don't use straight bleach!
![Shocked :shock:](./images/smilies/icon_eek.gif)
The bleach will eat the bone away!
Boiling the skull will also harm the bone to some extent, so that's why I prefer to soak mine and let the flesh come off that way. Yeah, it takes longer, but what the heck. I'm pretty patient.
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I don't have access to any of the beetles, so it's either soak it or boil it. If you live down south somewhere, you can actually find a fire ant mound and put the skull on top of it and the buggers will clean it up pretty quick also. Gotta make sure though that no other critters make off with it.
This one that I'm doing now, I'm going to try to keep the bottom jaw with it. I've got one one that I did a few years ago by soaking it that turned out pretty well. Figured I'd try to be a little different on this one.
I posted this last year, but here's a site for some custom made euro display stands.
http://www.racplaques.com/
This is not a big company, just a regular guy in North Carolina that is trying to make a little cash. He makes a good product and doesn't try to rape anyone with the price either. I've gotten some of his stuff and will be getting another one for the one I've got in the barn.
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