Bird Skulls and Bleach

[redarrow]

Can I safely soak a sandhill crane skull in bleach to clean it up ? Its kinda fragile. I found it while looking for sheds. Thought maybe I would clean it up and spray it with clear lacquer.

[Deputy 14]

Go to a hair salon and get some peroxide hair bleach. Works better than liquid bleach and it won't eat the bone away. I would soak the bones in acetone for a couple weeks before I bleached them though. It'll pull any grease or fat out of the bone and keep them from turning yellow.

[redarrow]

Not any real meat left on it just some dirt,mud and such and its a bit discolored.

[Deputy 14]

You may be able to get away with just the hair bleach and not using acetone. The problem with liquid bleach is that it will never really stop eating the bone away. I've done deer skulls with it before and the always have a powder on them from the bleach degrading them.

[redarrow]

I will have to try that. Do I soak it a few days ?

[Wingbone]

I've done turkey skulls with peroxide and bleach. I liked peroxide the best. After I let them soak an hour or so, I use a soft bristle dremel brush to finish them up, just like I do spurs.

[Deputy 14]

An hour or so on thin bone like that should be plenty to get it nice and shiny.

[captpete]

You want the 40% peroxide that they use in hair salons. Don't use bleach....it will eat the bone. Soak the skull in the peoxide for a couple of hours, rinse it off real good and lay it in the sun to dry. The heat from the sun will help to whiten it. Once it is dry, then spray it with the clear coat if you want. You may want to soak it in regular ammonia for about a week to remove any remaining grease or oils left on the skull prior to the peroxide soak. If you remove them, it help to keep it from yellowing later on.