# My diy buck boiler



## Skipetex (Jan 31, 2012)

wheres the other half of his horns?


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## chadnicoletti (Jun 29, 2012)

well, the night I killed him while driving home I totalled my truck. I came up over a steep hill and there were 2 cars at a dead stop. I smashed into the car in front of me. 40mph direct impact. I dont know how I wasnt hurt. Thank God noone was hurt. The first of the vehicles in line was a truck that had broken down at the worst possible place on the entire road. The impact tossed the deer in the bed of my truck and the left antler came completely off. Talk about an awesome and terrible day.

here he is









i propped the left antler up on the bucket








My third deer of my first full whitetail season. All 3 taken with compound bow. I'm pretty pleased!


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## Skipetex (Jan 31, 2012)

Good deer. terrible drive back home. Glad no one was hurt. Cool idea with the bucket, will be making one soon for the buck heads and hog heads i have in the freezer.


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## ycastane (Jul 21, 2011)

Off topic a bit but what do you use this for??? What is the purpose?


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## chadnicoletti (Jun 29, 2012)

the purpose of boiling the skull is to get the remaining flesh off of the skull to use the skull for a european mount.

the end result looks like this :


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## ycastane (Jul 21, 2011)

Ahhhhhhh. Coool. Very nice head on that photo!!!


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## chadnicoletti (Jun 29, 2012)

Allright so here are the before and after pics for the euro mount. The boiler I made worked extremely well. 

Before:









During:









After: semi-finished product (i still have to mount it to a plaque)









My advice to anyone who wants to do this: do it! It's easy and you don't have to have a ton of experience to do it. 
Buy some of these at Harbor Freight 

















the picks and brushes were key to getting all of the flesh/tissue out of the crevices in the back of the skull. Some advise to drill a hole in the back of the skull to allow the brains to drain out. I boiled this one 3 times and the 3rd time they almost all dumped out. The rest I got out with the picks.
I'm pleased with it!


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## slowen (Jun 27, 2006)

Very nice!


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## chadnicoletti (Jun 29, 2012)

Allright here is the finished product!

I have a pictorial timeline of the boiling process

pre-boiling









mid-boiling









boiling done









came out pretty good. The ovular wooden plaque was bought at Pat Catans for $3.00

on the wall finished product


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## chadnicoletti (Jun 29, 2012)

ttt


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## Pittstate23 (Dec 27, 2010)

Heck of a little device, does the plastic hold up to boiling water temperatures


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## argray90 (Nov 4, 2012)

Crazy story but looks good so far!


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## chadnicoletti (Jun 29, 2012)

the plastic holds up really well! no issues i am currently doing one for a friend


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## ycastane (Jul 21, 2011)

Based on what you did here im trying my first head ever and doing it this way. Hopefully it comes out as yours LOL.


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## mnormand (Sep 9, 2008)

When mounting just the scull cap and antlers, a taxidermist I know takes the after-boiled heads to the carwash for easy deep down cleaning once all the tissues are soft.... has anyone tried that? Would that be too powerful on the fragile entire head?


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## deerjitsu (Apr 3, 2013)

Did you use anything besides water to boil it. Did it cause much of a smell. I live in the wild suburbia of Northern Virginia. The predators here (HOA) are insane. My backyard is completely fenced off but didn't pick up my dogs poop for two days and they wanted to fine me and have me evicted. I wonder how they would feel about me boiling a skull in the backyard.


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## psexcess (Sep 21, 2012)

Saved.....


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## rand_98201 (Sep 24, 2008)

hmmmmm interesting idea I will have to try this out.


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## WildmanWilson (Jul 30, 2009)

Looks like a death trap to me. The exposed wires on the heating element could get you killed. You need to find a way to insulate the thing before its used again. Cool idea otherwise.


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## Gatr13 (Sep 21, 2013)

You could mount the heating element into a bell box or PVC j-box with 1" threads, that way you could put a cover on it and all wiring would be concealed from water exposure.


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## ycastane (Jul 21, 2011)

I dont mean anything by it but why is it that there is always someone who comes out to talk about safety? As he mentioned he wanted to take the photo so people would do the same and he was aware of the dangers, im sure by now he has already fixed it, if not he is a grown person capable of making his own decision.

Sorry to hijack the thread but it bothers me when people do this!!!


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## chadnicoletti (Jun 29, 2012)

Wow! I was just doing my normal daily browsing of the new threads in the DIY section and I see my thread up near the top. Ha ha. 
In response to the questions, I put about 1/4 box of borax into the water as well as mean green degreaser. 

The car wash idea sounded dangerous to me for the main reason that the nose bones and some other parts of the skull are extremely brittle and high pressure like a car wash sprayer would destroy those pieces. I'm really glad others are able to use my experience that is what this forum is all about! The process I used for the pictured euro mount was really simple and almost a year later the mount hasn't faded or turned tan or anything. If you try it post your results!


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## b0w_bender (Apr 30, 2006)

chadnicoletti said:


> Wow! If you try it post your results!


I just might do that. I love the idea! I would get a whole lot less grief from the wife if it wasn't boiling away in the kitchen.


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## Reloader7RM (Jan 25, 2006)

I pressure wash all of my heads after I boil them with a high psi gas powered pw. It's the only way to go when doing large batches and gets them very clean. 





Tip: Where a slicker suit and good pair of rubber gloves.


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## budalcorn45 (Feb 20, 2008)

I have decided that if I get a buck this year, I am doing one of these. I will post pics after it is done if I am successful getting a buck.


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## WildmanWilson (Jul 30, 2009)

ycastane said:


> I dont mean anything by it but why is it that there is always someone who comes out to talk about safety? As he mentioned he wanted to take the photo so people would do the same and he was aware of the dangers, im sure by now he has already fixed it, if not he is a grown person capable of making his own decision.
> 
> Sorry to hijack the thread but it bothers me when people do this!!!


So whats wrong with pointing out something that could get you killed. Maybe a 15 year old sees this and doesn't understand the dangers involved. Smart people get killed doing stupid things all the time. Its not only the OP that we have to worry about. Its other people repeating it and not understanding. Shame on me for looking out for someone else.


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## DapperDan (Jul 31, 2011)

Pretty nice. Same idea we home brewers use with our brew kettles. Last year, I just turned the exhaust fan on and boiled my deer skull on the stove top, no wife to complain about it!:smile:


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## chadnicoletti (Jun 29, 2012)

wildman while I appreciate your concern for safety I did clearly state that I was aware that the wiring wasnt correctly buttoned up and i posted only to provide others my results. Maybe you just didnt read through my post anyways this forum isnt about arguing its about helping each other and i know wildman is just trying to help so DONT LEAVE WIRES EXPOSED TO WATER. lets move on with other peoples experiences


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## chadnicoletti (Jun 29, 2012)

DapperDan said:


> Pretty nice. Same idea we home brewers use with our brew kettles. Last year, I just turned the exhaust fan on and boiled my deer skull on the stove top, no wife to complain about it!:smile:


awesome!


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## archeryhunterME (Feb 12, 2006)

subscribed! I like this idea more than doing it in the pot we deep fry our turkeys in


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## nick060200 (Jul 5, 2010)

I'd like to point out s something that I did that worked well too 

I actually buried my head for 6months and all the flesh was gone. You can still boil it after to get it completely clean. But you don't have to skin the head if you do it this way. The only down side is that I'm now finishing my buck from last year.


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## DoubleLung22 (Jun 23, 2013)

I like this !!! How did you hook up the electric ? Did you use a extension cord or something ?


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## dustoffer (Jan 24, 2009)

I slice the antlers off the major part of the skull, starting behind the bulge on the rear of the skull, slicing down through the lower 1/3 of the eyeballs all the way to the end of the nose. Then I dump the brain, skin it, and boil it on my propane powered fish cooker. Usually takes about 1.5 hours and I add dishwashing detergent to the water to help de-grease After it is "cooked" I use the hose with a nozzle to blow out as much of the tissue inside the nasal cavity as I can, and use a screwdriver to dig out the rest. I coat the skull with peroxide from the beauty shop supply house and sit it in the sun. Every 15 minutes or so I put another dose of peroxide on it until it is white enough. Then I either put is on the garage wall, or on a piece of weathered board.

How hot does the water get? Does it come to a rolling boil?


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## cjjeepman (Oct 28, 2011)

Cool idea ,how about this .i am a hvac guy who is surrounded by a bunch of plumbers who are constantly bringing old water heaters in ,I thought about taking one apart and cutting it to the size I want ,and hook it up .just a tought .and they are red for me .Simple little system and your done .the best part is you can do a bunch at 1 time .


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## archeryhunterME (Feb 12, 2006)

I actually am doing a head in the one I just made for the first time, it doesnt come to a boil as I think enough heat escapes from the bucket to prevent that but it gets hot!


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## archeryhunterME (Feb 12, 2006)

actually mine does come to a boil, now that its warmer outside it boiled. Im using a 120v 1500 watt element.


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## archeryhunterME (Feb 12, 2006)

Here is a picture of the head boiling and what it looked like after I got done with it for the day.


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## siowabowhunter (Feb 22, 2012)

looks good, I just use a old canning pot i picked up on a garage sale for 25 cents and a turkey fryer for my heat


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## rkersh409 (Dec 14, 2007)

My Home Depot only had a 2000W 120V, do you think that will be too much?


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## cwcamographics (Jul 13, 2012)

use a power washer and skip all the picking. wear rain suit!!!


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## dogrunner (Jul 14, 2010)

i made one it worked good but it to slow for me i do around 30to 40 heads a year with propane i can do a head in an hour or so it took 3 to4 hrs i also use a pressure washer.to go through the bucket i used a pvc schduule 40 1 1/4x1 bushing and 1 1/4 pvc threaded pipe adapter and some silicone.


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## SteadyPin (Sep 10, 2013)

I just used a turkey fryer burner and a big pot we had laying around


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## smithte426 (Feb 20, 2012)

tag


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## slime (Jul 15, 2009)

how do you keep from getting the burrs on the antlers from turning white? do you protect them with something?


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## Sideways (Feb 13, 2006)

great thread, I'm gonna try it on my next buck


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## Maxtor (Jan 7, 2007)

Because of where I live (in Ontario where everything is over priced  ) Be cheaper for me to buy a turkey fryer, that way I could use it for multiple things. $20 just for the 120v element here


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