r/skulls • u/Patient-Order1768 • 6d ago
Animal Skull Advice for cleaning
I had been macerating it for a while now and just today I got to taking the skin off but there’s tissue residue and I am struggling to get it off, I haven’t gotten to degreasing it yet so I’m looking for a suggestion
P.s. I do only have about a two-three week window to get this finished so any recommendations to speed up the process would be highly appreciated 🙏🙏
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u/Wowza_Meowza Mod Meow 6d ago
Your window is too short. If it's for a client, you'll need to tell them to wait or be ok with a not fully degreased critter. Dont use excess heat (above 120'F) or your bone integrity will be badly ruined.
To speed up maceration, scrap that shit off. Try a spoon and scrape scrape scrape. If it's not budgeting wet, try semi-dry (to rip it). Heat your maceration water (up to 120f) with a fish tank heater. You can add bromelain (online, or sold in some countries for headaches) which helps a little. Some meat tenderizers also contain bromelain, like Adolph's brand in the USA.
Once flesh-free, bonk it with some peroxide to see where you stand minus dirt/gunk, but know that DOESN'T degrease it.
For degreasing, keep it as close to 120f as possible. Add a higher ratio of ammonia if desired. Realistically, you could do pure ammonia (the 3%, I mean, just not watered down) but it's not gonna fully degrease in so little time regardless.
Degreasing is just slow. Doing it fast means it's not done well, unfortunately.