Cow Bone

J

Jim L.

Joined
Mar 2, 2006
Messages
281
I'm not really sure which forum to pose this question, so to the Moderater, please feel free to move where necessary. I just recieved several cow's femurs from a guy I work with (these animals were from a dairy farm and were natural deaths, not kills).

They are fairly old (maybe a year) but still have quite a bit of, shall we say, "extra biological material" on/within. Any one out there know how to speed the clean up/drying out of these bones?

Thanks,

Jim L.
 
if you set them on an ant den with a tub over them they will probably have them striped in a week or so, or soak them in peroxide or bleach and water
 
Couple of days in a Crock pot with sodium carbonate (PH UP) for swimming pools
should do it.
Ken.
 
Thanks, Guys. I'd thought of the ant hill but thought I might be off my crock or something.

Jim L.
 
Hello:

I run though a couple of hundred pounds of this stuff a year. If they are complete bones you will need to open them up to allow removal of the marrow..I just cut off the "knuckle" off of one end, remove the "pithy bone" and expose the marrow.

Then I boil them in a pot with some TSP (I do this outside cause it is "fragrant") to get into the bone and de-grease it..Now you will get some surface deterioration but not much..It just sands off really quick

You can after an hour or three easily remove what ever marrow is left...what ever other stuff on the olutside usually just falls away..It looks pretty scummy while you are doing this but it works...

Air dry but not in direct sunlight or they will crack badly... Any small checks that do develoup can be sealed right after the bones dry...I let mine air dry for two or three days..then I either just put them away for later or it's off to the dye vats..

Cracks are sealed and the bone can be easily stablized using cyanoacrylate under a vacuum....

Hope this helps...

NVHammerHead
 
the ant bed will work if some dogs don't carry it off, soak it in water for about a week and boil it for 30 min and hit it with some peroxide while its still hot oh and of course cut off an end to get to the marrow
 
Jim L. said:
Great site, Rody. How did you know I had a crazy thought about making a stringed instrument lurking in the back of my mind!?
Click to expand...

Well, I'm a bassplayer so thoughts about making stringed instruments lurking in the back of my mind is kind of my default state of mind....I tend to project it onto other people:D

Cheers Rody
 
NVHammerHead said:
Hello:
<snip>
Then I boil them in a pot with some TSP (I do this outside cause it is "fragrant") to get into the bone and de-grease it..Now you will get some surface deterioration but not much..It just sands off really quick

You can after an hour or three easily remove what ever marrow is left...what ever other stuff on the olutside usually just falls away..It looks pretty scummy while you are doing this but it works...
<snip>
NVHammerHead
Click to expand...

How much TSP do you add to the mix?

Jim L.
 
Hello:

All depends upon how much bone I am processing...Usually I get this in by the 100 weight so I have a big 20 gallon stock pot that I fill up half the way with water..put in the bones and then dump a whole box in and let it boil away...

I use a lot of bone..I would say a good 1/4 of what I make has bone grips on it one way or another.... Fun material to work with... If I knew how to post pics I would post a few but I cannot add attachments

NVHammerHead
 
Well guys, here's an update on the cleaning process. I cut the ends off and scooped out the insides.

Supposedly they were out in the corner of a field for about a year before my friend got them for me. The funny thing was there was quite abit of "wet" yellow stuff still inside. I guess that was fatty tissue aswell as other rather grisly material. The aroma was quite interesting. I'll never look the same way at a bag of dry dog food.

I then put them in some hot water with some "oxyclean" (hoping this will work like peroxide) and soap to let them soak overnight.

My first impression this morning was "stew." A lot of the fatty stuff was "boiled" out and sitting on top. Eeww. :eek::barf: Another short soak in fresh "oxyclean" produced much the same effect. Eew.

I brought them inside and scrubbed them in and out with soap, then into a boil of THP for about an hour. The smell wasn't quite as interesting this time.

A good rinse and soapy scrub, then repeat. They are currently cooking away on the second TSP treatment.

I'll keep you guys updated.

Jim L.
 
You are on the right track. I have boiled fresh bones in a kettle of Washing Soda/Sodium Carbonate/Soda. This will take all the grease out. You used to be able to buy small boxes of "washing soda" in the grocery stores but no more. You can buy alkalai in bulk from the ceramics suppliers for cheap.
Jim Hrisolous (sp) in LV has done wonderful work with "Bovine Ivory" including dyeing it .
 
Fox Creek said:
You are on the right track. I have boiled fresh bones in a kettle of Washing Soda/Sodium Carbonate/Soda. This will take all the grease out. You used to be able to buy small boxes of "washing soda" in the grocery stores but no more. You can buy alkalai in bulk from the ceramics suppliers for cheap.
Jim Hrisolous (sp) in LV has done wonderful work with "Bovine Ivory" including dyeing it .
Click to expand...

Thanks Fox.

OK. It's time for dumb questions. How do you know when the bones have been fully degreased? They've been boiled with water changes and scrubbed between for about six hours and they are still a little translucent.

Jim L.
 
I've done some turquoise mosaics on cow skulls and sometimes you get a stinky one, seems like the smell never goes away. I don't get to pick them myself and I have a couple outside right now that might never be OK.

The thinnest super glue you can get will stabilize it. I have dropped a couple of skulls with no damage, before stabilization they would have shattered.
 
NVHammerHead said:
Hello:

I run though a couple of hundred pounds of this stuff a year. If they are complete bones you will need to open them up to allow removal of the marrow..I just cut off the "knuckle" off of one end, remove the "pithy bone" and expose the marrow.

Then I boil them in a pot with some TSP (I do this outside cause it is "fragrant") to get into the bone and de-grease it..Now you will get some surface deterioration but not much..It just sands off really quick

You can after an hour or three easily remove what ever marrow is left...what ever other stuff on the olutside usually just falls away..It looks pretty scummy while you are doing this but it works...

Air dry but not in direct sunlight or they will crack badly... Any small checks that do develoup can be sealed right after the bones dry...I let mine air dry for two or three days..then I either just put them away for later or it's off to the dye vats..

Cracks are sealed and the bone can be easily stablized using cyanoacrylate under a vacuum....

Hope this helps...

NVHammerHead
Click to expand...

I liked the term you coined Jim, "bivory" or bovine ivory :D
 
Jim... ( NVHammerHead ) seeing how you use so much of this stuff, could you please post some pix of your cow bone hafted knives!!?? :D

I love bone and it seems some people are precieving that it should be "dry" (bone dry? :rolleyes: ) to work. I''m thinking some translucency is a good thing from wince to start. Yes?

I would love to see what your doing with it!

regards, m
 
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