lye for euro mount?

Has anybody cooked a deer skull in lye for a European mount? and if so, how’d it turn out?

I have, I used bleach/water and boiled it. Don’t inhale the fumes It turned out really nice. The only problem I ran into was finding a pot big enough to put the whole skull in. Also you will have to have a coat hanger to pull out brain tissue as it srinks up.

the first one I did this year, I used water and dawn dish soap. I simmered it for about 4 hours and got 90% of the meat off. I quit because the nasal bones started to fall apart. I’ve talked to guys who have used bleach and was told its really harsh on the skull. The reason I asked about lye was because a friend of mine uses it to dissolve rats at work. He said it dissolves all the hair and flesh leaving you with a perfectly clean (and white) skeletal system.

Dawn dish soap is the way to go. If you are talking about the bone matter way into the nasal chamber…..get it out. It is cartilage and will discolor in due time. Check out other European mounts and you will see the nasal passage is clean.

Bleach softens and makes the skull porous. I have done deer, elk, and bear with the dawn dish soap and I have some awesome looking skulls. If the skull does not turn out as white as you want, purchase some basic white from your local hair salon and paint the paste onto the skull, let sit then rinse it off.

The teeth will also fall out but they are easy to put back in, they only go in one way.

An air compressor might be messy but is a great tool for clean flesh on the bones and holes. Wear glasses and old cloths when using an air compressor.

Keep the horns out of the solution and wrap them in aluminum foil. It will keep the antlers original.

Just on a side note… What kind of job requires someone to dissolve rats???

Maybe he just hates them REALLY, REALLY bad!

I wonder if this would work on cats?

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Just on a side note… What kind of job requires someone to dissolve rats???

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Sounds like it could be a fun job to me.

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Just on a side note… What kind of job requires someone to dissolve rats???

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we both work for a large clinical research organization testing pharmaceuticals.

and it sounds like I just need to cook the head longer.

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we both work for a large clinical research organization testing pharmaceuticals.

and it sounds like I just need to cook the head longer.

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Yep Not boil but a good simmer.

thanks for the tips! I’ll finish him off this weekend and post pics when I am done