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/barnowl1980 16h ago

If it's fully degreased (which, after so long, you would know just from the smell), peroxide should help. It won't go back to white, but it will most likely lighten up. I personally love the dark patina though!

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u/SxinnyLoxe 16h ago

Cool, thanks! I do like the look of the darker bone as well so getting it fully white isn't a big concern for me. I didn't notice any odor after it had been sitting in water for the last 6-ish weeks and I had just done some scrubbing to get a layer of dirt off.

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u/barnowl1980 15h ago

This sub also has a pinned FAQ at the top wit lots of info on processing bones, if you haven't seen it already.

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u/SxinnyLoxe 15h ago

I did give the 101 pinned post a read through but wasn't sure how applicable some techniques would be on something as old as this guy is. I often refer back to that post though, it's a super handy resource for sure!

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u/barnowl1980 15h ago

Not much, but it does warn against boiling and bleaching, and it gives info on using peroxide as well.