Mummy Project

[sampotter]

Here's a project Wooly will enjoy. I was staying in Connecticut with a family friend while shed hunting and he showed me a nice buck he'd shot while hunting with my Dad at my family's place in the Adirondacks. Nice buck for sure except it has been hanging in the rafters of his barn for the last 22+ years with skin and all still on it! I offered to clean it up so he could maybe hang it in his house so here are some before pictures.

Bases wrapped to keep the scuzz off...

Just add some veggies...

[ants]

thats a damn nice buck! What r you soaking it in??

[sampotter]

That is a Buck Boiler. You add Cascade granular dish detergent and on a fresh skull it will be clean in 5-6 hours.

[wooly]

You have my attention!

[ants]

That is a Buck Boiler. You add Cascade granular dish detergent and on a fresh skull it will be clean in 5-6 hours.

So what?? It takes off the hide, flesh, brains and everything??

[sampotter]

Yes, although on a fresh one I usually skin it, remove the eyeballs and brains. Just makes it go quicker.

[ants]

Cool . I didn't know it was that easy,

[sampotter]

Well, I'm not sure it is either. I've never done one this old and dried out.

Here is one I did last week. It was a deadhead I found this year and I just threw it in as is.

It does need to be whitened but it cleaned it uo in about 6 hours.

[sampotter]

I also need to glue the nose bones back on.

[wooly]

I also need to glue the nose bones back on.

That's why you need to save them old skulls for parts,lol

I'm curious how the mummy will turn out. I'm guessing there will be some bone seperation given it's age..

[sampotter]

Don't worry Wooly, I kept the bones. We use this special epoxy to glue wooden blocks on the bottom of cow's hooves so they bear their weight on the unaffected claw. It also works well for fixing radiators and especially well for glueing nose bones back on.

[sampotter]

Update already- I put this in the bucket at 2pm and pulled it out around 6:30. I did cut the now super-soft skin off, took me about 10 minutes. It still needs an hour or so, but is coming along nicely.

[phade]

Nice!

I have several small bucks in the freezer from my early hunting days that need to be done and never got around to it.

[tughillhunter]

Whoa! A mummy buck, thats cool. Looks good so far!

[josephmrtn]

Don't worry Wooly, I kept the bones. We use this special epoxy to glue wooden blocks on the bottom of cow's hooves so they bear their weight on the unaffected claw. It also works well for fixing radiators and especially well for glueing nose bones back on.

you trim hooves?

[sampotter]

Not often. Lameness stuff. I mostly make babies for a living.

[josephmrtn]

Genex?

[Pav2704]

Very cool project Sam... I can only imagine the smell that comes out of the boiler! When I boil the skull plate in the kitchen my wife flips out. No big deal for the once a year smell. Lol

[sampotter]

No Joe, repro specialist i suppose. Embryo transfer and IVF is my game.

Pav- i do the heads at the farm. Not usually the worst smell around.

[nyantler]

Wow.. great info and pics... I'll be using this process from now on.

[Geno C]

I have to get me one of those buck boilers, I did my 3 the perimative way. Lol out door fire pit filled with water and wood burning under it. Pain in the but to kep the wood goin but it works!

[sampotter]

Ok, finally finished. It took about 6 hours to clean in the Buck Boiler. After it dried I put ladies' hair bleach on the skull to whiten it more. I then stained the antlers with potassium permanganate. Once that dried I lightly sanded the high spots on the antlers to lighten them up and add depth to the color. The finishing touch was a light coat of Minwax polyurethane (satin finish).

 

After skull whitening, before staining the antlers:

 

Halfway done with the staining:

 

Staining finished, pre-sanding:

 

Final product:

 

What it used to look like:

 

Detail shot of bladed brow tine:

 

Close up of the skull- these are the most intricate skull sutures I have ever seen...

 

 

 

 

[growalot]

Wow you did a fantastic job with that...really ...very very nice!

[sampotter]

Thanks Grow- this isn't the first one I've tried, but it is the 1st one that I followed the "instructions" and am actually pretty proud of. Here is a pic of it on the wall:

 

[BizCT]

Cool stuff!! My Dad and I save all our antlers & skull plates.  We have the local butcher give us the skull plate/antlers back with as little guts/hair as possible. Then my Dad boils them in a big pot and scrapes off anything remaining.  I might look into this "Buck Boiler" as a father's day present.