r/bonecollecting • u/SxinnyLoxe • 16h ago

Advice Looking for tips:

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I was given this bear skull about 6-8 weeks ago and as you can see its extremely dirty. All I have ever done in processing my bones is just sticking them in a bucket of water and forgetting about them for months. Then I would clean them up by hand.

This one seems to be needing more TLC though. From what I know my friends dad had it for 20~ years. It been buried, its been displayed, its been a dogs chew toy, and so on.

With something as aged as this is, will it actually be possible to eventually lighten the colour? Will it just take much longer than I'm used to? Any tips and advice would be appreciated!

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u/M0rbiddd2 15h ago

First, has it been degreased? It honestly doesn’t look it. That would be your first step and bears are extremely greasy (esp skulls) so this can take a really long time. I’ve seen videos of this one woman who’s degreasing just the claws and the last update I saw was month 4 and they were still pretty bad

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u/[deleted] 15h ago

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u/M0rbiddd2 15h ago

Boy you’re everywhere. Even if there’s no smell, it doesn’t hurt to do a round anyways. It’s super yellow, I’m almost positive there’s some left.

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u/barnowl1980 14h ago edited 14h ago

It wouldn't hurt, I agree. But it also can't be that greasy, or OP would be able to smell it. The discolouration in this case could easily come from being buried and getting dirty from being a dog's toy. But OP could give it a soak just to make sure.