Treating bone with kerosine?

[MT Borg]

I thought I read here quite a while ago that someone mentioned that they would take bone and soak it in kerosine for X amount of time. It would, as I remember, make it a bit translucent and maybe a bit of green tint.

I tried searching but nothing came up for me. Anyone have an idea on this and maybe how do you treat bone? Do you take it, make a handle out of it and use it as is? How do you make the bone better looking?

Thank you

 

[Frank Niro]

Well, I have never heard of that. The approach I know off is to perhaps jig the boneand perhaps dying. Frank

 

[fast14riot]

The only reasoning I can see is that kerosene is mildly hygroscopic and if one needed to speed up the curing of raw or freshly harvested bone it might help, but I doubt very much effect would be noticeable. Usually people just boil, or bury the bones to dry and let nature clean them. Maybe do it in your neighbors yard so dogs don't dig up yours!


-Xander

 

[fast14riot]

Well shoot, 3 minutes of googling I dug this up. It is used in osteological preparations of bones, specifically defattening the bones making bleaching easier. So, yes, it is used in preparing raw or fresh bones, but no mention of making it clear.

http://www.ispub.com/journal/the-internet-journal-of-biological-anthropology/volume-4-number-2/kerosene-a-substitute-for-acetone-in-bone-preparations.html


-Xander

 

[MT Borg]

Thanks Fast1 very interesting. But I was hopping that it made the bone translucent too...

 

[Stacy E. Apelt - Bladesmith]

Xander hit it.

Kerosene, gasoline, mineral spirits, etc. are used to de-fat the bone and make it easier to bleach and finish cleaning. After dissolving the soluble fats, the bone is again boiled ( water and dish soap) to remove any organics, as well as the solvent. Some folks will soak the clean and dried bone in warm baby oil for a few days to impregnate it with new oil. They say that it is more translucent, and does not dry out and split as easily.

Greenish??? I don't know, but green is used to describe a pale look that is not really about the color - "Green with envy", or, "He was getting sea sick and turned green." In grayer tones we tend to see the middle of the spectrum more than the ends. Yellow, green, and blue are those colors. Thus whitish things that don't reflect light well ( grayish) seem to be in these shades, and are often described as yellowish, greenish, bluish.

 

[Rick Marchand]

Yup, Kerosene is used for cleaning and prep. My wife is an anthropologist and I remember her having to deflesh, clean, bleach and reassemble roadkill for classes.:thumbup: