The work begins
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twilliams Your thread title is appropriate.
The one time I did a European mount, I skinned the skull and then boiled the head for several hours to soften up the meaty parts.
Even after that, it took a lot of picking and scraping to get the skull clean. I think the final step was soaking the skull in bleach solutions to get the right color.
It is a fair amount of work and I decided I won’t do another one any time soon.processhead I’m even going beyond just doing the skull, I’m gonna be making a background to put the skull on
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Boiling day, for the water I am looking at 185*-190* constant temp. If you get into the boiling range of 213* and above the skull will start to split and separate. I will check water temp and water level every half hour. This could take upwards of 6 hours to do.
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twilliams Awesome, thanks for recording this progress. Looks like it is going well and I am shocked we don’t have a comment from Austin on this thread talking about how “Rams are the best trucks” or jut complimenting yours, he must not have seen this yet?
Get more help with your processing questions and learn more about processing meat by subscribing to our waltonsinc.com youtube page at https://wltns.link/waltonstv I am a Gorilla, love yourself
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Jonathon well I surely wouldn’t disagree with Austin but I’m sure any brand new shiny truck would be great compared to my 2002 GMC Sierra with 300,000 miles on it. We will see in time how it goes. I have done everything possible to preserve the frame and body from rust. And getting a delivery of AMSOIL for the motor vs the Pennzoil that the factory uses. This needs to last me 20 years before I buy the next one right before I retire, (if there is even such a thing by that time). I will say I am absolutely in love with this truck, a few things I would have done differently now compared to when I ordered not knowing what I was doing or needed…lol. I just got the PPF, 2 layer ceramic coating, windshield and windows tinted, and interior protection done. I undercoated every nook, crack, crevice, channel and blind spot possible that I could think of with the new Blaster Surface Shield lanolin undercoating. Next is getting another set of factory rims black chromed and bedliner sprayed as well as tonneau cover then I will be done making it my own.
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Jonathon well I surely wouldn’t disagree with Austin but I’m sure any brand new shiny truck would be great compared to my 2002 GMC Sierra with 300,000 miles on it. We will see in time how it goes. I have done everything possible to preserve the frame and body from rust. And getting a delivery of AMSOIL for the motor vs the Pennzoil that the factory uses. This needs to last me 20 years before I buy the next one right before I retire, (if there is even such a thing by that time). I will say I am absolutely in love with this truck, a few things I would have done differently now compared to when I ordered not knowing what I was doing or needed…lol. I just got the PPF, 2 layer ceramic coating, windshield and windows tinted, and interior protection done. I undercoated every nook, crack, crevice, channel and blind spot possible that I could think of with the new Blaster Surface Shield lanolin undercoating. Next is getting another set of factory rims black chromed and bedliner sprayed as well as tonneau cover then I will be done making it my own.
twilliams wow! I was gonna post that the skull mount was a lot of work, then I read your truck post and decided it was waaay more work
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Boiling day, for the water I am looking at 185*-190* constant temp. If you get into the boiling range of 213* and above the skull will start to split and separate. I will check water temp and water level every half hour. This could take upwards of 6 hours to do.
twilliams You are spot on for the temperature, to keep the cartilage in place. A pressure washer a time saver for cleaning them up. I use 36% hydrogen peroxide for the whitening at a 50/50 mix with water, for about 5 days. There are other products available to whiten them, although I get out dated peroxide from my brother and the free price is right.
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twilliams Keeping a vehicle for that long is actually one of the best things you can do for the environment and your wallet! Good job planning that far ahead! I told my wife what I said on the livestream about my truck keeping me “grounded” she called me “stupid”
PS my source for that is Top Gear so dont take me too seriously!
Get more help with your processing questions and learn more about processing meat by subscribing to our waltonsinc.com youtube page at https://wltns.link/waltonstv I am a Gorilla, love yourself
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twilliams Keeping a vehicle for that long is actually one of the best things you can do for the environment and your wallet! Good job planning that far ahead! I told my wife what I said on the livestream about my truck keeping me “grounded” she called me “stupid”
PS my source for that is Top Gear so dont take me too seriously!
Jonathon well the payment of this truck is definitely keeping me “grounded” since I can not afford anything else or go anywhere fun….lol. Then on top of todays living costs, well let’s not even start on that subject.
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Going slower than anticipated, 6 hours in and first power wash. Gonna do another 2 hours and hopefully all meat will be loose. Only about 5% meat left.
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Going slower than anticipated, 6 hours in and first power wash. Gonna do another 2 hours and hopefully all meat will be loose. Only about 5% meat left.
twilliams Looks like good progress.
Did you flush out the brains with the power washer yet? That’s always the fun part.
Paul
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twilliams Looks like good progress.
Did you flush out the brains with the power washer yet? That’s always the fun part.processhead yep a lovely white cream with added chunks….lol
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After having to work a couple Saturdays in a row I am back to the skull today. Today is just merely a heated soak in a degreasing detergent. I am using an absolute clear Palmolive dishwashing detergent. I am gonna stay around 160* to not heat it back up too bad. Maybe keep it in for two hours. I watched videos on where they say they put the degreasing in at time of boiling to get flesh off and others say to soak it for three weeks in the detergent after the boiling and meat removal. The end results I seen from the videos gets it to the same point. The one video I am following mostly is using a 40% by volume cream peroxide developer by lightly brushing the peroxide on to whiten. Others are using regular peroxide and putting it in the original boiling water then soaking skull for 10-15 minutes. Not sure which is better, one step that is added by doing that method is it will bleach some of the antler so you need to stain it to match the antler color, maybe I will try the second skull the other way. I’m happy with results this far in the process.
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I think you know this. Whichever whitener you use, be sure it doesn’t get on the antlers unless you want to get rid of their natural color. One time when i was practicing on a nothing special skull I had some bleach in the boil kettle and it got on the bases of the antlers.
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The inevitable happened, the main upper snout bones separated, don’t be alarmed I took off the lower snout bones. Glad I did, there was a lot of cartilage and meat between where they sit. It’s just a simple super glue to reinstall. I will also try to super glue where the upper snout separated to get them back together. Out sun drying right now and hopefully will get the peroxide applied before bedtime.
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The inevitable happened, the main upper snout bones separated, don’t be alarmed I took off the lower snout bones. Glad I did, there was a lot of cartilage and meat between where they sit. It’s just a simple super glue to reinstall. I will also try to super glue where the upper snout separated to get them back together. Out sun drying right now and hopefully will get the peroxide applied before bedtime.
twilliams It is coming along nicely.
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The hardest part behind you now.
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The inevitable happened, the main upper snout bones separated, don’t be alarmed I took off the lower snout bones. Glad I did, there was a lot of cartilage and meat between where they sit. It’s just a simple super glue to reinstall. I will also try to super glue where the upper snout separated to get them back together. Out sun drying right now and hopefully will get the peroxide applied before bedtime.
twilliams I use the 40 volume clear liquid. That way it also bleaches inside the brain and nasal cavities.
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twilliams I use the 40 volume clear liquid. That way it also bleaches inside the brain and nasal cavities.
cdavis ya I just seen that on another video I watched after I bought the cream….ugh
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twilliams the cream still does a good job. You’ll do fine and it will turn out great
. I know how much attention you pay to detail . You’ve got it looking good so far. Can’t wait to see the end product. Nice buck by the way. Congrats. -
The two lower nose bones went back on nicely. Now taped the upper nose bones that split and super gluing inside to see if they will stay closed, if not that is ok as they did not split as wide as others I have seen, they did come back together a bit from the last photo I posted. The whitening is pretty decent, it’s not a super bright white that you would have with a soak bleaching and has some darker spots on it. I’m kinda digging it as it makes it look realistic in my opinion, I also left the teeth alone and did not bleach them a second time like the skull to remain it’s life like tarter line.
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