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DIY Skull Mount?
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<blockquote data-quote="HeskethPritchard" data-source="post: 165108" data-attributes="member: 6757"><p>Ok guys here goes, 1st of all your kit list:</p><p></p><p>Burco boiler or camping stove</p><p></p><p>Knife (for skinning)</p><p></p><p>Metal pan large enough to take your head submerged up to the bottom of the antlers (NOT ALUMINIUM) if you don't use the burco</p><p></p><p>Soda Crystals</p><p></p><p>Pressure washer (not completely necessary but it makes the job easier)</p><p></p><p>Plastic container that your head will fit in</p><p></p><p>Cotton wool</p><p></p><p>Hydrogen peroxide as STRONG as you can get it (if you know any dentists ask them)</p><p></p><p>Rubber gloves</p><p></p><p>OK the process (FULL HEAD MINUS LOWER JAW)</p><p></p><p>1. Remove the trophy head you want from the rest of the beast.</p><p></p><p>2. Using your knife, skin the head paying particular attention at the base of the antlers to get as much of the skin off them. Be careful not to scratch the head with the knife blade where it can be seen.</p><p></p><p>3. Remove the lower jaw and discard</p><p></p><p>4. Fill your pan with water and a good handful of soda crystals and bring to the boil. If you use an aluminium pan the soda crystals will react with it and turn your trophy BLACK, you will ruin it and have to go get yourself another trophy!!</p><p></p><p>5. Submerge the head up to the bottom of the antlers. As the water is boiling it is difficult to do this but with practice you'll get the hang of it. Do not worry to much if the water turns the area round the pedicles slightly lighter than the antlers you can buy touch up stuff from taxidermists or use Potassium permanganate to darken.</p><p></p><p>6. Boil the head until the meat not removed by skinning and the eyes looked cooked, as a test it should pull off easily. As a rough guide small heads e.g. Roe take about 30 - 40 mins Red take about an hour.</p><p></p><p>7. When you think 6 above is completed remove head and rinse with water.</p><p></p><p>8. Place your still warm head on the ground and pressure wash it inside and out. It might be a good idea to do this in old clothes as you will probably get brains all over you. Also do not pressure wash the antlers. AND DO IT AWAY FROM THE HOUSE.</p><p></p><p>9. With the knife, scrap away any skin/grissle/fur from under the antlers if any is left at this stage.</p><p></p><p>10. When you are happy with the cleanliness leave to dry.</p><p></p><p>11. Place the head in a plastic container and put your rubber gloves on(Hydrogen Peroxide is reputed to be carciogenic and will turn unprotected skin white); then soaking the cotton wool with Hydrogen peroxide cover the now clean BONE ONLY not the antlers with the cotton wool pressing gently so it follows the contours of the skull and gets in all the crevises and under the antlers. The stronger the Hydrogen peroxide the less time you leave it soaking but as a rough rule of thumb 35% Hydrogen peroxide solution I would leave for at least four hours preferably overnight.</p><p></p><p>12. Remove cotton wool and squeeze out the Hydro - perox and rebottle it can be used time and again.</p><p></p><p>13. Finally leave to dry preferably in the sunlight.</p><p></p><p>14. Go to fridge get yourself a beer and congratulate yourself on a job well done.</p><p></p><p>To mount on a shield, position your skull over the hole in the shield and using a cordless drill; drill a 1/8 hole in the underside of the skull from the rear through the shield. Don't go mad and drill a hole all the way through for obvious reasons. Get a screw best are the self tapping type as the threads have bigger spaces between them just long enough to go through the hole in the shield and into the skull to a) hold it in place firmly and b) to take the weight of it. If you have a bigger skull then use a bigger drill and screw that is comensurate with what your doing.</p><p></p><p>CUT HEADS</p><p></p><p>After step 2 above put your head in a cutting jig and cut and go to step 4 and carry on.</p><p></p><p>Roy you can do it by sight, my mate does it all the time, but I don't have the confidence and so use a jig that I bought, I dont want to ruin it after I gone to the effort of getting it that far <img src="data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAAAAAP///yH5BAEAAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAIBRAA7" class="smilie smilie--sprite smilie--sprite1" alt=":)" title="Smile :)" loading="lazy" data-shortname=":)" /></p><p></p><p></p><p>THINGS THAT CHALLENGE US:</p><p></p><p>1. I have no sense of smell but I am told by my numerous ex wives that boiling the heads STINK like crazy so dont do it in your kitchen with your honey in the next room, and you using her best pots and pans you aint gonna be popular!</p><p></p><p>2. Some of the skull bone plates are held together by cartalidge especially round the nose area. If these come off in the boiling process retrieve them from the water used for boiling AFTER ITS GONE COLD and reposition using superglue it is clear and if used sparingly it wont be seen.</p><p></p><p>3. If teeth drop out secure them back into the sockets using a dab of CLEAR silcon sealer.</p><p></p><p>4. You can become quite anal about it (according to another of my ex wives) but I thought it a nice touch to boil out my mates son's first rabbit skull (cotton tail) he shot. He's got it on his bedroom wall. I was not popular when I suggested that!</p><p></p><p>5. After a little practice you will get better at using the pressure washer but expect to get you and everything within a 20ft radius covered in brains etc the first couple of times, you do this all over your honey's clean windows and your on honey do's FOR LIFE!!!</p><p></p><p>Good luck if you have any questions let me know.</p><p></p><p>HP</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="HeskethPritchard, post: 165108, member: 6757"] Ok guys here goes, 1st of all your kit list: Burco boiler or camping stove Knife (for skinning) Metal pan large enough to take your head submerged up to the bottom of the antlers (NOT ALUMINIUM) if you don't use the burco Soda Crystals Pressure washer (not completely necessary but it makes the job easier) Plastic container that your head will fit in Cotton wool Hydrogen peroxide as STRONG as you can get it (if you know any dentists ask them) Rubber gloves OK the process (FULL HEAD MINUS LOWER JAW) 1. Remove the trophy head you want from the rest of the beast. 2. Using your knife, skin the head paying particular attention at the base of the antlers to get as much of the skin off them. Be careful not to scratch the head with the knife blade where it can be seen. 3. Remove the lower jaw and discard 4. Fill your pan with water and a good handful of soda crystals and bring to the boil. If you use an aluminium pan the soda crystals will react with it and turn your trophy BLACK, you will ruin it and have to go get yourself another trophy!! 5. Submerge the head up to the bottom of the antlers. As the water is boiling it is difficult to do this but with practice you'll get the hang of it. Do not worry to much if the water turns the area round the pedicles slightly lighter than the antlers you can buy touch up stuff from taxidermists or use Potassium permanganate to darken. 6. Boil the head until the meat not removed by skinning and the eyes looked cooked, as a test it should pull off easily. As a rough guide small heads e.g. Roe take about 30 - 40 mins Red take about an hour. 7. When you think 6 above is completed remove head and rinse with water. 8. Place your still warm head on the ground and pressure wash it inside and out. It might be a good idea to do this in old clothes as you will probably get brains all over you. Also do not pressure wash the antlers. AND DO IT AWAY FROM THE HOUSE. 9. With the knife, scrap away any skin/grissle/fur from under the antlers if any is left at this stage. 10. When you are happy with the cleanliness leave to dry. 11. Place the head in a plastic container and put your rubber gloves on(Hydrogen Peroxide is reputed to be carciogenic and will turn unprotected skin white); then soaking the cotton wool with Hydrogen peroxide cover the now clean BONE ONLY not the antlers with the cotton wool pressing gently so it follows the contours of the skull and gets in all the crevises and under the antlers. The stronger the Hydrogen peroxide the less time you leave it soaking but as a rough rule of thumb 35% Hydrogen peroxide solution I would leave for at least four hours preferably overnight. 12. Remove cotton wool and squeeze out the Hydro - perox and rebottle it can be used time and again. 13. Finally leave to dry preferably in the sunlight. 14. Go to fridge get yourself a beer and congratulate yourself on a job well done. To mount on a shield, position your skull over the hole in the shield and using a cordless drill; drill a 1/8 hole in the underside of the skull from the rear through the shield. Don't go mad and drill a hole all the way through for obvious reasons. Get a screw best are the self tapping type as the threads have bigger spaces between them just long enough to go through the hole in the shield and into the skull to a) hold it in place firmly and b) to take the weight of it. If you have a bigger skull then use a bigger drill and screw that is comensurate with what your doing. CUT HEADS After step 2 above put your head in a cutting jig and cut and go to step 4 and carry on. Roy you can do it by sight, my mate does it all the time, but I don't have the confidence and so use a jig that I bought, I dont want to ruin it after I gone to the effort of getting it that far :-) THINGS THAT CHALLENGE US: 1. I have no sense of smell but I am told by my numerous ex wives that boiling the heads STINK like crazy so dont do it in your kitchen with your honey in the next room, and you using her best pots and pans you aint gonna be popular! 2. Some of the skull bone plates are held together by cartalidge especially round the nose area. If these come off in the boiling process retrieve them from the water used for boiling AFTER ITS GONE COLD and reposition using superglue it is clear and if used sparingly it wont be seen. 3. If teeth drop out secure them back into the sockets using a dab of CLEAR silcon sealer. 4. You can become quite anal about it (according to another of my ex wives) but I thought it a nice touch to boil out my mates son's first rabbit skull (cotton tail) he shot. He's got it on his bedroom wall. I was not popular when I suggested that! 5. After a little practice you will get better at using the pressure washer but expect to get you and everything within a 20ft radius covered in brains etc the first couple of times, you do this all over your honey's clean windows and your on honey do's FOR LIFE!!! Good luck if you have any questions let me know. HP [/QUOTE]
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