European Antelope Mount

the horns need to come off! When done boiling the skull I used a gel peroxide I picked up at beauty mart. I covered it with gel and wrapped in plastic, left for 24 hours and rinsed off. I let the horns dry with borax in them and then glued back on with goop! Bingo!! If wanted can be touched up with flat black paint or sealed with canned flat polyurethane. As for plaque do a websearch for taxidermy supplies and you should find one!

I mixed some of that bleeching powder with some Clairoxide 10, and my skull turned black in a couple of spots. I rinsed it off, and am redoing it with regular 3% Hydroden Peroxide. I read the bottle on the Clairoxide, and it says it contains other things like alcohol, water and editonic acid. Do you think that could have made it turn black?

Goat Man

I did a deer skull with 3% and it turned out perfectly.

I had a skull I found in the pasture and bleached it in dilute Hilex! Turned nice and white and was great to look at for all of 4 3/9 minutes, before the entire bone crumbled like chalk! Simply fell apart! So DON"T use any chlorine based bleach unless you are bent on making some chalk!

To hold the horns back on use bondo! To bleach the skull first wash with dawn dish soap and borax to get the grease out then mix peroxide and baby powder into a paste and apply and leave for a couple days! Should bleach nicely!

heres another idea that works and it leaves the skull stronger then boiling
take a metal 5 gal bucket and drill a hole into it so you can turn in a block heater into it seal it up make sure it doesent leak then fill it with water and sal soda and dawn dishsoap and plug it in and wait. it will take longer but its alot better for the skull. then as far as bleaching it i use basic white and 40% hydorgen proxide and make a paist out of that and in 24 hours its beautiful white.you can buy all this stuff at www.vandykestaxidermy.com  and finaly to the plaque go to lowes buy a pine 1 by 12 cut it and burn it slightly is what i do and then just use your imagination and decerate it using sticks or sheds i also mount them so they look like there looking at me instead of flat on the board if you want me to send you a picture to see what i mean just pm me and ill send ya a picture
hope that helps

We use Van Dykes products, solsoda and degreaser when boiling, 40% hygogen peroxide, with magnesium carbonate make a paste, leave on a few days, brush off, apply a non-yellowing clear coat. We do custom oak plaques for $25, wall or pedestal for $25 in the Minot area. check it out....
http://buffalocreekhornmounts.weebly.com/

European Trophy Mounts by Gene Wensel OUTDOOR LIFE :                                Bleached skulls often called "European mounts" make inexspensive and unique trophies . Since there is little artistic ability required in producing a handsome finished skull , most sportsmen can consider doing the job themselves .                                    Cleaning the skull :      Cleaning can be accomplished through a couple methods . The easiest is to employ a bug box , which is an appropriate sized container of meat eating dermestid beetles . Many university zoological departments keep a supply of these carnivorous beetles for cleaning bone specimens . These ravenous insects will clean every srap of tissue from an average skull in just a few days .                                   The next common method of cleaning a skull  , however is to boil away the tissue . Find a pot large enough to keep the entire skull - on skulls with antlers keep the water level below the base of the antlers . Fill the pot with enough water to cover the skull and add a handful of washing soda to help cut the grease . Bring this solution to a roiling boil before putting in the skull . Immediately turn down the heat and simmer solution slowly . DO NOT BOIL . As the water evaporates add hot water not cold . Rapid cooling can cause cracked teeth .  After several hours take out the skull and let it stand until cool enough to to remove the large pieces of meat . Then start over with a fresh pot of water and more washing soda remembering to bring the water to a boil before adding the skull , then lowering the heat to a slow simmer . Drain and let the skull cool slowly . Then use a piece of hanger or a long screwdriver blade to break up the remaining brain tissue via the brain stem opening at the base of the skull . Rinse and drain . Be sure to carefully check for teeth in the bottom of the pot everytime you change water . When the skull is perfectly dry replace any loosened teeth with a dab of glue .                                                                                                                                      Bleaching :  Do not use laundry type bleach . It is too strong and will damage the teeth and cause powdering of the bone . Hydrogen peroxide works much better-but not in the weak solution available at drugstores . Instead go to a beauty salon and buy 40 percent peroxide > Also buy a can of what hairdressers call "whitener" , this is actually dry powdered bleach . Mix the 40 percent peroxide and powdered bleach in a non=metalic bowl using an electric food mixer to yield a mixture the consistency of whipped cream . Now wearing rubber gloves to protect your hands , coat the entire skull in this foam mixture . Put the skull into a clear plastic bag and place it in direct sunlight on top of a white cloth . ALWAYS set your bleaching skull on a white surface . If you put on a dark or colored surface the skull may take on the color of the surface .  The funtion of the plastic bag is to keep the bleah mixture moist . If left exsposed to open air , the bleach will stop working when it dries to a powder again . The trick is to keep it working as a moist mixture. Leave the skull in the direct sunlight for a couple of days . Wash off the remaining moist mixture thoroughly ./ The final step is to neutralize the bleaching process by rinsing the skull with a mild white vinegar solution .    

for starters, DO NOT BOIL THE SKULL!!!!  boiling hurts the bone and sets grease deep into the skull that is really hard to get out and will show up over time.  I run a skull cleaning service in my hometown using beetles but when i get larger heads such as elk and moose, they hit the simmer pot. simmering is way better for the skull than boiling. it keeps the water at a cooler temp that only cooks the meat and not the bone.  it is easier to monitor and grease will not set into the skull as easy.  keep the water hot, but not too hot so that it starts to boil. add a little baking soda to the simmering water to help loosen the meat. to get the horns off pronghorn you need to invert the horns and submerse them in the hot water for about 30 minutes.  the water will cook the connective tissue underneath the horn and they pop right off with a tug.  fill the horn casing with borax and let them dry for about a week.  i re-attach all my antelope cores with silicon caulking but make sure there is at lease a finger-width of space between the bottom of the horn and the top of the eye socket. horns DO NOT lay right on top the eye socket, i've seen them reattached this way and they look pretty stupid.  once your skull is clean a soak in 3% should whiten it within a week or so as long as you don't overcook your skull (once the connective tissue on top the head starts peeling away, it's done).  DON"T USE BLEACH. bleach destroys bone tissue and the bone will start to flake and deteriorate.  if you have any further questions feel free to ask. thanks. EB

I sent you a PM with instructions on how I did mine along with a pic of the finished product...hope that helps

Lots of good ideas above, but just for clarification purposes, the hydrogen peroxide you buy at hair salons is 40 VOLUME, not 40%. The volume part refers to the amount of oxygen that is generated when it decomposes.

Hydrogen peroxide is a very strong oxidizer, that's why the stuff you buy is diluted to 3%. I've worked with 50% hydrogen peroxide at work and when it comes in contact with organics it generates tremendous amounts of heat and is dangerous as hell.