Should I use maggots to eat the flesh and meat then use hydrogen peroxide?
And now, for something completely different. Over the past month I have been cleaning a skull from a gar that I caught at my great grandma’s house, and I thought that I would share the process here.
1. First, I cleaned the skull of any meat, scales, skin, etc. that I could. I was just after the easy bits, since the skull was full of delicate structures.
2. I Placed the skull in a jar large enough to fully encase it and poured in hydrogen peroxide to cover it. Then I put on the lid and sealed it tightly.
3. Next, I waited. Then I waited some more. Then I kept waiting. I left my skull in the jar for a full month before I opened it. From time to time, I would gently swirl it to dislodge the meat and skin.
4. Once the month was up, I took the whole jar, still sealed, out to a storm drain and poured out the liquid. It is pretty fowl, so I would not suggest doing this in your sink! When I pulled it out, the skull was pretty clean. What meat was left was soft and easily removed.
5. Since it had been soaking for so long, the thin skull had become quite pliable. So, to harden it for display, I positioned it with mouth agape and left it in the sun all day to dry. Once the ligaments had contracted and the bones stiffened, the skull was quite tough and held its shape well.
6. I cleaned the skull a few times with soap and water, allowing it to dry in the sun each time.
7. Then, I dipped it in shellac to protect it. The shellac seemed to make the skull yellowish, so a different sealant might be preferable.
8. Once the shellac dried, I was done. It still kind of smells, but only if you really get your nose up in it. This process would probably work with other fish, but I don’t know. If anyone else tries it, let me know how it works out.
http://blueegg.wordpress.com/2010/07...-a-fish-skull/
How to prepare a fish head and plaque
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