Pressure washer on a fresh scull plate

[wolc123]

I finally got to try the pressure washer I garbage-picked this summer on a scull plate. It took a little longer than I was expecting but did a pretty decent job. A few tips I picked up during the process: 1.) Do it on a concrete pad, not on the grass. 2.) Cut off most of the raw hide with a sharp knife prior. 3.) Wear rubber boots and rubber bibs. 4.) Wear goggles or safety glasses.

With a 3100 psi washer and a pencil nozzle, it took about 20 minutes to blast off all the brains and hide, leaving a clean skull plate, on a buck killed 2 days prior. I would imagine that a full European mount would take about an hour. It is still a messy job, but much faster and less smelly than the usual, boil and scrape method.

The last time a neighbor kid did an older buck for me, using the conventional "boil" method, it turned out pretty good, but his own 1-1/2 year buck, that he did in the same pots, got cracked up a bit. The scull plate I did today with the pressure washer was also from a 1-1/2 year old buck, and the pressure washer did not do any damage to the skull at all, even to the thin areas around the sinus passages. It removed all the brains, skin and other soft tissue.

[Paula]

Sounds like it was messy

[Chris B]

how did you protect the horns? Or were they not affected

[chas0218]

I usually boil first then pressure wash, it comes off very easy using the pressure washer. I also pay the $2 in quarters to to use the car wash one. I had a few funny looks but I don't need all the brain matter in my driveway to get tracked into my house or garage. Not to mention my dogs like to roll in stinky stuff.

 

Antlers aren't effected by the pressure washer or boiler unless you add peroxide or bleach. I would rather use the peroxide paste to whiten the skull versus sitting in bleach water or peroxide. The Peroxide paste is the same stuff hair salons use to bleach hair. The peroxide also doesn't continue to break down the tissue after it is washed away unlike bleach.

[wolc123]

The 3100 psi pressure washer did not harm the horns, but I did not direct the stream on them. I have heard that some folks wrap the lower part of the horns with duct-tape. The mess was not that bad from just the scull plate, but I imagine a whole head would be worse. I have a big concrete pad out in the country by my barn so it was no big deal.

[dbHunterNY]

yea I've seen Mark Kayser use a pressure washer for a European mount.  figured it'd work good for cleaning off jaw bones left at our QDM co-op check stations.  we get around a couple hundred each year.  clean jaw is less of a mess trying to handle it to estimate age of the deer, even if the jaw bone is dried up.

[Deadhunter25]

I saw this post and wanted to share my experience. I shot an eight point pointer A few days ago and decided to give this a try. First I cut off the Fur and as much meat as I could. The next day with my pressure washer I blasted the skull as best as I could making sure all the brain matter was out. It was pretty messy and I recommend using raingear and rubber boots if you have it. It took me about a half an hour to get the skull fully clean but I am pleased with the outcome

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