I have gotten almost all of the membranes and such off of my first attempt at a euro mount. I read that it needs to be degreased next, but there's a lot of mixed info. I'm considering the borax soak. I am trying to stay out of the pocketbook much for materials. I don't know if I want to whiten it. I like the look of the offwhite bone now. I don't want it to turn yellow for sure.

Borax - Will it degrease like it's supposed to? Would it discolor the horns if they are submerged in the solution for a while? Is there a better way?

Here's what I've got now.

Did you boil it to get it to that point?

yessir

Boiling may have caused the grease to set into the skull making degreasing more difficult. I'll start out by saying Im no professional but have degreased quite a few with a combination of dawn, ammonia and patience. Heating the water will help but may not be an option for you. Some of the professionals will hopefully chime in also. Good luck.

Thanks.

Followed the diy you tube section, the only thing they all had in common was to boil the head first and remove as much as possible.

It'll be a learning experience. I think I would do this again. So far it hasn't been too bad.

I have completed numerous euro mounts for customers. After you have removed all the meat (which I do by boiling) I make a strong mixture of dawn and water and boil it again for a half an hour or so. I then wash it good and put it in a bucket of heavy dawn mixture again with a fish aquarium heater in the water for a week. Then rise it and let dry prior to bleaching. Try to keep the antlers out of the water as much as possible. If an area does lighten up then I used shoe polish to darken back.

Put oxi clean in your water when boiling. I us the liquid after you have removed most if not all meat and stuff change water and repeat will remove almost all grease and then boil in 1 to 3 mixture of peroxide/water for no more than 10 min to whiten!

I have had great luck degreasing with commercial degreaser.

I get a gallon of the stuff in the purple bottle at walmart or the hardware store, put it in a small trash can, and top us as needed with water to cover the skull.

usually ends up being about 90% degreaser and 10% water. Leave it to soak in the garage with no heating for about four or five days, and they come out nice.

I had several come out with a lot of yellow still in them when I was using dawn before I switched to the degreaser, but I didnt use any heat with the dawn, so that might make a difference.

Anyway, I am quite happy with the degreaser, and have had good luck on even greasier skulls like coyotes and hogs with it too.

Thank you guys

I do to many heads to wait a week on one that's why I use the oxi clean

I do well over 200 euro's a year for customers. Personally, I do not recommend any hard cleaners on a skull. I use dermestid beetles and maceration as my cleaning processes. Once the skull is clean, I alternate back and forth between dawn/heated water and 50% peroxide. Once all of the grease/fat is out, you will be able to tell when that happens, I use another process for the final whitening.

Good luck.

X2 on the oxiclean. I got that tip from Eastman's hunting, worked great.