Euros after time

[Davetats51]

How’s everyone’s diy or professionally done euro mounts holding up? I’d love to see some pictures of ones that are 3-5-10 years old from all methods. I’ve done boil(simmer) and maceration, both seem to be holding up well as far as grease and color goes.

 

[shannerdrake]

My boiled skulls stay whiter longer. The beetle skulls seem to yellow out more over time. I’m guessing the boil strips the oils better.

However, boiled skulls are more fragile for me at least.

Maceration has been the worst of both for me. They stink for years, yellow out, and fall apart.

I’ll try to post some photos. I have a 12yo maceration euro that is more super glue than bone. It also still has a slight stink if you sniff it.

 

[Arcola]

I can’t tell if I keep getting better at it every year, or if the whiteness is fading at a progressive rate as they age. Pretty sure I know the answer but I’ve made a point to step up my degreasing process since my early attempts. I’ve simmered or used sous vide on all of mine. Simmered skulls are a bit brittle. With sous vide I let it do its thing for several weeks and none are smelly or brittle.

 

[Deleted member 28227]

The key is the grease as mentioned above. Any method you used to clean it you need to degrease the skulls.

Best method I’ve found is acetone, but it’s a bit of a PITA as it melts some plastic and needs to be airtight. Great for bears or pigs.

Ungulates don’t have as much grease, dawn and getting them to a high enough temperature will get the grease out.

I’ve found that no matter what route you go a dawn bath at 140-150 really helps keep it white.

 

[LuketheDog]

I have all of mine are beetle-cleaned, some have yellowed a little bit and some haven't. It probably depends on how many the guy is trying to process through at the time, he's been slammed the last few years.

 

[Beignet]

Have you considered sealing then with Paraloid B72? From what I understand it should lock the color down. Seems to be the go-to for museums on all manner of items, not just skulls and bones.

I found a stash online but it’s been scarce stuff. Was told that the manufacturer is back up and running though.

 

[Straight Arrow]

Mine get purtier with each season.

 

[375H&H]

I have some that have been boiled in garages, others beetle cleaned by pros, and at least one done by who I would consider the absolute best in the Rocky Mountain region (my opinion of course).

A couple things that set that skull apart (bear skull):

The inside of the nasal cavity back where it connects to the brain is completely white. No other skull I have actually got that completely cleaned, unless the nasal cavity back to the brain is removed which is a shortcut that most don’t desire (myself included). Even the elk euros that were beetled if you shine a light you can see some faint dark matter in that area.

He drilled holes into the bottom of the jaw bone and back of skull to release more of the grease. Never seen a bear with as little grease as this one.

However, every skull I have has discolored in some areas over time (some more than others) and they will all dry out and slightly separate some of the bone connections. You can get around some of these issues by some sort of sealant or white glue, but neither is important enough to me to bother with that.

In short, a skull will change over time regardless of the method but does it even matter?

 

[JohnBud]

Have you considered sealing then with Paraloid B72? From what I understand it should lock the color down. Seems to be the go-to for museums on all manner of items, not just skulls and bones.

I found a stash online but it’s been scarce stuff. Was told that the manufacturer is back up and running though.

I like the Paraloid as well because it both seals and strengthens the bone. Good stuff if you can get it.

 

[Nick87]

The ones I payed someone to do have yellowed a lot more than the ones I did myself. Pretty disappointing along with another one that the taxidermist spray painted white. If you want something done right you have to do it yourself, within your limitations of course.

 

[Hunting Wife]

We do our own. All of mine have been simmered. A few from different vintages:

This one is from 2014.


2015


I don’t remember… at least 15 years ago on both of these



I don’t notice much yellowing at all. Guess I’ve been happy with how they’ve aged so far.

 

[OntarioHunter]

Most of the ones on my wall are messes I cleaned up from African taxidermists. Awful shit. The first shipment in 2019 were ALL painted white ... to cover up the rotting meat and lots of grease stains. I stripped the paint, simmered in Dawn and soda ash, and bleached with a paste of 40 peroxide and Clairol Whitener.

In process of stripping impala

Similarly, a local fella in Montana cleaned and painted this mule deer in 2016. So I had some experience dealing with stripping and bleaching when the African stuff showed up.

View attachment 267041

 

[bullbugle307]

I haven’t had any yellowing on the euros I used peroxide on years later. The ones before peroxide have yellowed a bit. I’ve thought about sprucing those up a bit to match though.