I have a skull from 2002 is it too late to get it to turn bright white? Or should I just go get one of the fake skulls and transfer the horns over to it?

no go to hair salon i know it sounds gay but they have bleach there and buy the strongest one. brush it on the skull leave it there and tht skull will be white as paper.

You may want to start by boiling it with a little baking soda in the water to remove any fat residue (if the skull is yellow, that's fat imbedded in the bone), dry it out overnight and then
find a hair salon supply store (Sally's) and get 40% hydrogen peroxide, the stuff in the grocery store is only 3%, warning, this stuff will whiten your skin, so wear gloves. To make it easier to keep the stuff on the skull you can mix it with a product called Basic White (also at Sally's), it is a dry powdered bleach. Mix it with the peroxide to make a thick paste and paint it on the skull, once the whole skull is covered wrap the skull up in saran wrap and place it somewhere warm for a few hours to a day.
Rinse off the residue and you should have a very white skull, be carefull not to get any on the antlers.

Thanks for all the help.

peroxide, never bleach. bleach makes the bones brittle. basic white & the 40% peroxide is that i use for skulls, best results.

I use the 40% peroxide from Sally's and saturate some strips cut from old socks. Wrap around the skull and leave for a day or 2. Definitely wear rubber gloves the stuff will burn like acid. I tried wrapping the socks on the skull and pouring the peroxide on but getting the socks wet first is much better.

I'm gonna try the Peroxide and Powder bleach paste next time. I've done my own with bleach before and it does make the bones brittle.

I have gone over them with White spray paint lightly and that seemed to help even out any trouble spots. Also, I'm hoping that will keep some of the brittle bones from chipping as easily.

I'm not a taxidermist though. My friend is and he uses peroxide also.

Krylon works great.

I did a coyote skull with the first aid stength peroxide. Got an old vase, and soaked it for a couple of days. Got it white enough for my purposes
Be very carefull around the antlers.

peroxide and bleach powder will burn you if your not careful tried when i first started that stuff gets hot

Careful when using the peroxide (30-40%). It hurts!!!

Flat white spray paint works great.

yes when using the salon strength peroxide & whitening powder, use gloves or you will peroxide burn yourself.

For answer: see redundant statements from above

BIL never seems to fail the THF

PM mctaxidermy. He fixed 2 dull skulls for me