My lovely bones...

I like bones.  I collect skulls.  I've got a pretty good collection going, here's part of it:




Here, I've got five coyotes, two foxes, a raccoon, an opossum, a muskrat, a skunk, a pocket gopher, an ermine, and a pine marten.  Not pictured, I have another fox, a bobcat, two coyotes, and a badger.  I've got another box of them somewhere, but I don't remember what's in that box. In any case, now that I am dog-less, I've been getting my skulls back out to display proudly. 

Unfortunately, the five coyotes pictured here smelled TERRIBLE when I opened their box.  I decided to take them down to my workshop and wash them off, since I could still see prominent bits of flesh and dried meat on them.  Heck, one of them even had large, waxy yellow chunks that I had to cut apart to get out of the braincase.

This isn't really for the squeamish, as meat is involved, and it does get a bit grody.  Also, if you plan on using this as a tutorial for cleaning your own skulls, a few warnings: I'm cleaning these for me, and I'm doing it in the way that gives the result most pleasing to me.  I am in no way, shape, or form responsible for what you do to your own skulls, and if they get damaged.  Washing bones makes them soft and fragile, do it at your own risk. 

( So if you're up to the task, click here for more.... )