How to Clean Bone?

medusaoblongata

medusaoblongata

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May 1, 2000
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What's a good way to get bone clean? In the next few weeks I'll be getting some excess animal parts from a slaughterhouse (I think) and they will still have meat, maybe skin/fur, and who knows what else on them. I plan on using them for various art projects (I just finished making a lamp from a cow pelvis). I'm pretty sure that some of what I'll be getting will be skulls (cow, pig, & sheep) with eyeballs & brains still in them. So I'll need to clean them. Any suggestions? I've heard that bleach works, is there anything better? Oh, and I'll probably be doing this in my apartment, so no backyard or garage.

TIA
 
hang the bones from a treelimb, and let the birds and flying bugs nibble at them. they should be cleaned in abou 2weeks.;)
 
Medusa,
I had a great book on preparing sceletons in my childhood that is no longer with me (plain bio interest, no psycho stuff). So there are books on it.
However, few things:
-The medical school where I worked had a friendly mortician who loved to show his macerator tub to people interested. Little bugs were working/living in it and happily devouring any flash from bones and cartilidge. That might be the simplest way for you if you get hold on a friendly mortician at the local med sch.
-Cooking is a quick and simple way of sterile removal of flesh AND cartilidge. Excessive cooking might make the bone more fragile and will certainly remove the cartilidge so it might not be OK for all applications. At least that is what I remember...
-I do not think that any chemical treatment is as quick as cooking given the complex chemical composition of a tissue. Might be good for a second step but not for initial IMO.
-I believe that bugs are darn good and in that regard Bigtarget's idea sounds feasible too.

Hoodoo ( http://www.knifeforums.com/cgi-bin/ultimatebb.cgi?ubb=forum&f=42 ) might be a great person to ask.

I hope it was somewhat helpful.

HM
 
Ant mounds are terrific bone cleaners, especially if you have fire ants like we do in the south. We use ants to clean the jaws of Piranhas in South America so we can bring them back as souvenirs.

Jeff
 
No anthills, backyard with trees, or place to find and keep bugs in my apartment in San Francisco. By cooking, do I just boil it in a pot of water? Will that get the brain out of a skull? Keep 'em comin'.
 
A good friend of mine does quite a bit of work (carving, etc.) in bone. First he cuts away as much flesh as possible. He ties his bones to a piling and throws them in a nearby harbor and various aquatic animals eat all remaining chunks of flesh off, he then soaks the bone in white gas (Coleman fuel) to remove any oils. Being as your in San Francisco, maybe you could find a place on the bay where you could put the bones in? His results are awesome, so this is the way I'd go. I remember seeing a show on TV about skeletal displays in museums, they used beetles to eat the bones clean.
 
Didn't the Incas used to suck the brains out by sticking a straw up the nasal passage? :barf:
 
My dad does what is called a Western Mount with his deer heads. First he skins them and removes as much flesh as possible by hand, then he boils the rest off in a big metal pot over a propane burner in the backyard. After the flesh is all cooked off he soaks it in bleach for a while. The result is a nice clean white skull with contrasting brown antlers.
 
Try some google searches on rendering. My grandfather used to render hogs. I believe the process was to throw the critter (minus the edible meat) into a large pot, boil for around 6 hours, and skim the surface. That would get the majority of hide,organs, etc., then the rest was slow cooked for a while (days?) to reduce to bones. The bones were then ground into meal for other hogs. I wish I could be more specific, but it was before my time.

I've smelled rendering plants, however, and I don't think I would try it in your apartment! :barf:
 
I would go with Sesoku's suggestion: boiling to facilitate tissue removal, bleaching (probably shortly in diluted bleach) for whitening the bones. Also, try to remove as much skin and flesh as possible beforehand. Eyeballs are easy to remove from sockets before boiling. I am not exactly sure about the brain but I would probably boil it with the skull and remove it when cooked using a wire coat hanger shaped into a hook. You can get access to the brain through the openings (nasal, ear?, eye socket?, base of skull) and try to mush it and rinse out. Last, you might improvise a wire frame to hang the skull into the boiling water.

HM
 
I've made western mounts. Boiling works, get as much flesh off as possible prior to boiling. The brains come out the base of the skull where the spine ends at the head. No, there is no access to the cranial cavity from the eye sockets or nasal passageway. Your reply certainly tells me that you have never undertaken such a task. If the skull is not fresh, be prepared for some gruesome odors. Cooking will certainly intensify these odors. Your neighbors will hate you, don't tell anyone what you are doing, it's better if they don't know who to blame. A mild bleach solution will help whiten the bones. Overcooking will make the teeth come loose and also will remove the cartilage. The bent coathanger will help fragment the brain tissue, but, again be forewarned of the foul odor. I don't know why, but cooking up a skull will in no way smell like dinner. The bug method is absolutely the best no-work method. But, all the while the bugs are munching, there is the awful stench of death to contend with. The bug method is only feasible if you don't have neighbors. The bird method is ok, but, it will take a year or more ,the skull will be weathered and gray and you will still end up with even worse hand labor to clean 'cause now the gore will be dried on and you will need vise-grips to try and pull it off. Good luck, I can think of lots of better hobbies, are you related to Jeffery Dahmer?
 
If you are near the seashore, crabs will clean off the flesh. Then soak in vinegar; that will sterilize and bleach the bone.

Walter
 
I'm no hunter so I've never handled a deer skull but I am surprised there are no holes from the eye sockets to the inner skull. In humans there are tiny holes (the optic foramena) for the optic nerves to pass to the brain.
So how do the optic nerves get to the brain or spine?


Perplexed,
Allen.
 
Originally posted by allenC
I'm no hunter so I've never handled a deer skull but I am surprised there are no holes from the eye sockets to the inner skull. In humans there are tiny holes (the optic foramena) for the optic nerves to pass to the brain.
So how do the optic nerves get to the brain or spine?


Perplexed,
Allen.
Click to expand...
I have cow and coyote skulls here (which were clean when I got them) and both have a very small hole connecting the eye sockets to the brain cavity, but very small. The hole at the base of the skull is also way too small for the brain to fit through. I'm thinking of just burying whatever I get near a local lake and coming back two weeks later to see how it looks. If I'm going to do this, should I still clean it as much as I can with a knife first? Or will the critters take care of that as well?

Thanks for all the helpful replies.
 
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