Bone Stuff

[uniface]

http://www.boneroom.com/faqs/bones.html

I found a bone, how do I clean it?

First of all, don't boil or bleach bone! Boiling causes fat to soak into the bone, resulting in a greasy, yellowish specimen. Superficial grease can be removed with ammonia and certain industrial solvents, but this is an unpleasant process and cannot remove deep grease which will eventually migrate to the bone surface. Chlorine based bleach irreparably damages the bone itself, resulting in chalky, weak, extremely porous specimens that will turn to bone meal with age.

So, how do you really clean bone?
Maceration - Using bacterial action to clean bone

This is the simplest method of cleaning bone.

1. Remove any remaining tissue or hide from the bone
2. Immerse the bone in a container of water.
3. Leave the container in a warm location where you won't mind the smell.
4. Periodically pour the greasy, smelly water out (gardens love it!) and replace with fresh water.
5. When the water runs clear, the bacteria have run their course.
6. Soak the bone in regular drugstore strength hydrogen peroxide until it reaches the whiteness you prefer. This also sterilizes the bone.
7. You're done!

Like other natural products, bone is best stored in a cool and dry place. But don’t worry about particular temperatures. What is most important is that the temperature stays constant or only changes very slowly. Rapidly fluctuating temperature or humidity makes bone swell and shrink repeatedly, eventually causing it to crumble.

Do not store wet bone. Allow bone to air dry before putting it away. Do not wrap bone in plastic for long-term storage. Storing wet bone in plastic creates a humid micro climate that promotes the growth of discoloring molds. Let your bones breath!

Ultraviolet radiation is destructive to the proteins that make up bone. Do not leave bone outdoors or in direct sunlight for long periods of time, as they will become brittle and eventually fall apart.

Because bone is porous, it stains easily and absorbs oils from our skin. To prevent staining, bone should always be handled with clean hands.

Keeping your specimen in a display case or other covered environment will help prevent dust or environmental pollutants from building up.

If your specimen picks up dirt, clean it with warm soapy water using a gentle bristle brush. A soft toothbrush works great. Only wet the surface of the bone, as soaking bone all the way through will hasten decomposition or cause the bone to crack upon drying.

 

[Tnmountains]

Yes that works on fresh bones. We do european mounts on some deer skulls and put them in a bucket of water and let nature do its job and the back corner of the property, Stinky. If you use hydrogen peroxide to bleach you need the industrial stength used at the beauty supplies.
If its old bone out of water they use a solution of like duco cement and something else I forget but they do it all the time in the fossil section on here to preserve. I need to do some cave bear teeth.
Bone like Larsons is just ready for display.
Intersting read again Uni \Thanks

 

[uniface]

River bones :

http://wbreckinridge.com/skullPreserving.html

 

[tomclark]

fossilized/silicified bone material (smaller stuff than a bison skull) can be soaked in a solution of duco cement and acetone. Does a magnificent, professional job.

Always treat bone artifacts this way.

Got this treatment tip from "Dr. Gomer", a professional restorer of artifacts.

We use Duco glue and Acetone for all our sealing needs both personally and for customers in the majority of situations. I am sending our sealing recipe for dried artifacts. The mixing can be changed if one prefer's different finishes. The finish we prefer is basically obtained by mixing one tube of glue per a pint of Acetone. One gallon of Acetone plus 8 tubes of glue should give you enough solution to dip this artifact in. You leave the artifact in the soultion untill it quits fizzing or bubbling. When you take it out it will dry very quickly and can even be held while it dries. If one has any whitening to appear from moisture still trapped inside one can lightly wipe the areas with Acetone to get rid of. This sealing will not change the looks of the artifact. So however it looks now that is how it will look when done. Only if it is dipped more than once will the outside finish change. Hope this helps. If it ends up being more than you bargained for we can do it for you.....Gomer

The Duco glue is sold at Wal-Marts, etc. It is in a green and yellow colored tube and costs about $1.29 a tube. This gives pretty much exactly the same results as Butvar and Acetone that Universities use." Butvar leaves a nasty shiney look to everything you use it on! Use the duco acetone mix!

try the duco/acetone recipe on your shells. It has saved
many a collection from deterioration, especially old or artifact shell. It
works on shell, bone, porous pottery, fossils (smaller ones, see info below)
and many other items with similar porosity and in need of
solidification/preservation. On new shell it will preserve color longer
than without and seal the surface.
When you use one tube per pint of acetone, put item in only when it is
COMPLETELY DRY. Drying some artifacts is an art and science unto itself.
More important with bone items since they are more porous. The mixture
permeates, doesn't just coat the outside. The item will "fizz", when that
stops just take it out and it dries instantly. Some harder items like new
shell may not fizz much at all. Doesn't hurt to leave it in the fluid for 15
min. if it doesn't fizz or after it's stopped fizzing.

(Gomer, as he is known in arrowhead circles, real name Thornton Pyles is an
extremely talented and professional restorer of artifacts, pottery, he has a
website for his business. He's responsible originally for the "recipe" and
disseminating it amongst collectors. LOL, he is responsible for many tubes
of Duco to be sold in at least the past 22-23 years, hahahah!!!! True! We
were all using a beeswax, Butvar or no preservation technique for many
years. Wax darkens and butvar is very shiny, horrible, but what museums
use, the duco/acetone is the best. Museums should use it instead of butvar
because of the discoloration, no brainer!)

Here's what I've been sending and posting for years, most if it originally
from "Gomer" to whom I always give credit and reference to : Gomerize,
Gomerization, Gomer's Recipe, etc. LOL.

"We use Duco glue and Acetone for all our sealing needs both personally and
for customers in the majority of situations. I am sending our sealing recipe
for dried artifacts. The mixing can be changed if one prefer's different
finishes. The finish we prefer is basically obtained by mixing one tube of
glue per a pint of Acetone. One gallon of Acetone plus 8 tubes of glue
should give you enough solution to dip this artifact in. You leave the
artifact in the soultion untill it quits fizzing or bubbling. When you take
it out it will dry very quickly and can even be held while it dries. If one
has any whitening to appear from moisture still trapped inside one can
lightly wipe the areas with Acetone to get rid of. This sealing will not
change the looks of the artifact. So however it looks now that is how it
will look when done. Only if it is dipped more than once will the outside
finish change. Hope this helps. If it ends up being more than you bargained
for we can do it for you.....Gomer

The Duco glue is in a green and yellow colored tube and costs about $1.29 a
tube (old recipe and price!). This gives pretty much exactly the same
results as Butvar and Acetone that Universities use." Butvar leaves a nasty
shiney look to everything you use it on! Use the duco acetone mix!

Additional explanations about large bone items, etc.:

In preserving very large bone items using the amount of Acetone it would
take with either Duco or Butvar glue is very dangerous on ones personal
health. The vapors alone from this much open Acetone will rock your socks
off and who knows how many brain cells one looses (I can be an example on
that, lol).

The Duco Acetone is the best way to seal dry small to medium size objects.
There it is much easier to contain harmful vapors. It is cheap and as Joshua
discussed it is very easy to get desired results that suit one person versus
another.
Note: In this crazy mixed up world we live in Duco glue is no longer sold by
Wal-Mart..... One can still buy it on line at the normal $1.29 a tube price
but the normally the S/H charge is 8 to 10 times more costly than a single
tube. Though you will pay double the price for a single tube, normally $2.79
"Ace Hardware does handle it and on display in most stores I have found.
(Will have to add Lowes...)

As bad as I hate to advertise for Elmer's Glue (NOT THE WHITE STUFF, its
useless!!!) they do have two products that do work well with large bone
projects. They are cheap and safer than the large volume of Acetone required
for such projects. They take more practise to use in getting a good natural
finish that does not look like its glued but it can be done. It is their two
brands of outside glue. One is Yellow in color and the other a light tan and
as most of their products can be diluted with water. The advantage of these
two products compared to the AWFUL,GOOD FOR NOTHING EXCEPT A LAST RESORT ON
SAVING SOMETHING "WHITE GLUE" is they resist any humidity change, which the
White glue cannot do.

It takes very little glue compared to the amount of water to get a good mix
and constant application to keep the coating even and thin but one can do a
good job safely on large "DRY" bone items. It will not soak to the center of
a artifact though as Acetone/Duco/Butvar will. In large items as skulls,
large leg bones one has the advantage of a massive piece of bone giving its
ownself strength to a point versus say, a slender fragile bone fish hook
which has no mass.

Again "WET" bone and especially precious Ivory are all together different
ball games and take much more time and different techingue. I am speaking
here only on "DRY" large mass bone items for the Elmer products. There are
many different other chemicals one could use but most are hard to find, not
cheap and just not worth the effort in using for the common man."