Bone collecting?

1760400682

i used to disappear into the mountains and come back hands full with deer skulls and femurs.

you should soak them in warm soapy water to degrease and loosen any remaining flesh, you can then scrub gently or peel the flesh. you can also rely on open air de-fleshing, letting it rot in the elements will attract flies and insects to do the work for you, advisory to cage it for protection from scavengers.
how white or clean you want them is up to you, this is mostly cosmetic though it does aid in sanitation, soaking in 3% hydrogen peroxide generally won't require dilution, any stronger you should mix it with water. this may also make the bones more brittle, so do it at your discretion.

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1759684490

bones are generally safe to handle, even if they still have some flesh and fur on 'em. just wash your hands after.

how you clean them depends on several factors, including (but not limited to):
how dirty are they?
how fragile are they?
how hands-on are you willing to get?
how do you want the final product to look (bleached vs natural, for example)?

with my whitetail deer skull, there was still a little bit of skin clinging to the bone, so i peeled it off by hand. it came off easy. most of the fleshy bits on the inside of the skull were gone by that point, scavenged and decomposed, but there was still some gunk especially in the nasal cavity. i ran the hose thru it to get some of it out but it didn't really make much of a difference.

so i took it to the wash basin in the basement and ran hot water thru it, which worked a lot better. rinsed it off real good until the water ran mostly clear out of it. then i soaked it in warm water for about 12 hours. drained the water. ran hot water thru again. after that this time i squirted a decent amount of dawn dish soap into and on it, filled the tub with hot water, and put the skull in to soak for another 12 hours. rinse (literally) and repeat until it's as clean as you want it to be, then let air dry thoroughly. this won't get the skull perfect white, but it keeps a natural look which i prefer.

carrion beetles, namely dermestids, are another option. i want a colony, myself. not just for cleaning bones. i think they're cute and fascinating. but they do get the job done, and they're pretty easy to care for.

hydrogen peroxide cleans and whitens (to an extent) but it also makes bone more fragile.

you can boil the bones in a pot of water.

that's about all the advice i can give. i'm a beginner, myself.

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1759681689

Haha, bone collecting must be good.making your own skeleton and burying it, and whoever in the future found it would be surprised haha.

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