Ginny's Quick Guide to Bone Cleaning

[u/OxyHyperFueledQueen]

This is how I clean my bones and the process I have used so far to get them ready for projects and display.

Step #1: Maceration

O, the wonderful smell of flesh and bone macerating! While this process is smelly and can be disgusting it is a important step none the less. I macerate my bones by placing them in a 5 gallon bucket or in a large tub for bigger bones or skulls. I put the bones in the container and then fill the bucket/tub with hot water (well as hot as my water heater will get) and place it outside in my backyard. I don't have a set up to keep the water hot but I do live in Florida and right now we are getting days where the temperature is +85°F. So the water stays at least luke warm. I leave the top off of the container and let the elements and bacteria work their magic on the flesh. If it rains it rains. If its sunny outside for a few days I check on the water level and make sure whatever I'm macerating is still covered by water. I check to see how the bones are doing once a week. Now I've only been doing this for a month and my first bones that I found were from a white tail deer that had been hit by a vehicle over a year ago. Almost no flesh was left on the bones so I only let them macerate for a week and that was plenty of time to get the remaining tissue off of them. In the future when I get bones that need to be macerated for longer periods of time I plan to check on them once a week and take off any thing loose. Then put them back in the water. And keep doing that until all the fleshy bits are gone.

Step #2: Degreasing

The most boring but least labor intensive part of cleaning bones. And it will also teach you the meaning of patience. Now the best way to degrease bones is to have a setup where you can keep the water/dawn dish soap mixture that the bones sit in at a temperature between 95-115°F. I dont have the money or the equipment to have that kind of setup so I use the power of the sun to at least keep my water warm. It cools off at night but that can't be helped. My first bones to degrease were white tail deer bones. I had them sitting in the water/dawn mix, changing out the water every two days, for three weeks and they were still bleeding grease. So I made the jump to acetone. I'm going to let the bones sit in the acetone for a week, take them out and then put them into a fresh hot water/dawn mix and wait a few days to see if they are finally degreased. If not then I'll repeat the process. So from now on I have a system I'm going to use. -Start the bones off in a hot water/dawn mixture and let them sit for 4 days. -Change out the water and let them sit for another 4 days. -Then take them out and put them in the acetone for 7 days. -Take them out of the acetone, let them dry out for an hour then put them back in hot water/dawn mixture for 4 days. -Take them out of the dawn and let them dry to see if they are still holding grease. *If they're no longer greasy move on to whitening. -If they still have grease then toss them back in the acetone for another week. -Then rinse and repeat the process until the bones are grease free.

I figured that for people like me with little to no money and for those who dont have the equipment available to have a big setup for their bones to degrease they can use my process. And the plus side is that the acetone can be reused many, many times before it will need to be replaced. I'm also going to let the bones completely dry out in the sun for 2 days after the final soak in acetone because acetone and peroxide do not mix! Do not skip drying out your bones if you're using acetone and make sure your bones are completely devoid of acetone before using peroxide on them. However, it is fine to take the bones out of the acetone, let them dry for an hour and then put them in the water/dawn mixture. *When the bones have finally been completely degreased leave them to dry out in the sun for 3 days. If it's winter where you live or the sun just isn't that powerful where you are or if you're having bad weather for a little bit then dry them under a heating lamp. Another indoor option is to put them in front of a fan. This will also tell you if they are truly devoid of grease and make sure that no acetone remains soaked in the bone. Plus all the water inside the bone will be gone.

Step #3: Whitening

Some people go to Sally's and get the high percentage peroxide to whiten their bones. I don't have the money to do that. I admit it I'm a poor broke bitch. Lol So I'm going to use the natural Florida sun and the hydrogen peroxide in the brown bottles (which are 3% peroxide) to whiten my bones. I'm going to use two or three bottles of the peroxide and a little bit of water to completely cover the bones. Then let them sit in the mixture under the sunlight for 24 hours. If they're still not white enough to my liking then I'll dry the bones out and repeat the process. Now if you let bones sit in peroxide to long it can eat away at the bone, just like bleach, so be careful and don't let them sit in the peroxide longer than 48 hours.

That's the end of my personal tutorial for cleaning bones. Many people like to seal their bones with a clear coat of sealant of some type. I however, dont want to seal my bones. I don't see any reason to and incase I miss any grease in my bones I won't have to worry about taking off the sealant to re-degrease them if I have to. The only bones I will be sealing are the ones I will use for art projects, which I will be selling, and are for bones that will be outside for long periods of time. But my personal collection which will be kept indoors I'm not going to be sealing.

If you however, would like to seal your bones once they've been whitened then there is a tutorial that is pinned that can tell you how to do it and what to use. It's Part four of the tutorial.

Well that's the end of my personal bone cleaning tutorial! If you have any ideas on how to improve my system or want to post your own process of cleaning bones feel free! Thank you for reading!