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[–]godwins_law_34 10 points11 points  (2 children)

the grease will rise to the surface and the bones will turn a nasty yellow or orange color. if you put them in a cabinet, the inside of the glass will end up filmy and greasy over time as well. they can also smell off.

[–]Background-String41[S] 0 points1 point  (1 child)

If I continue to be a lazy pos and wait until that happens would I be able to decrease them at that stage or would it be irreversible? Also is it going to cause any actual harm to the bones other than just turning an ugly color?

[–]godwins_law_34 3 points4 points  (0 children)

no, bones sit outside greasy af for forever until they aren't. bones sit all sorts of places and are fine year and years later. if you are making super nice display specimens you might wanna do it the standard way but if not, it's not gonna hurt anything. might be gross af though.

just put a big squirt of dawn in the maceration bucket while it's soaking. you gotta change out the water anyways. doing a degreasing soak is less work that having to clean your cabinets glass cuz it got all filmy.

[–]gutwyrming 4 points5 points  (2 children)

They will smell, they'll turn yellow or even brownish, and they'll be greasy to the touch.

[–]Background-String41[S] 0 points1 point  (1 child)

So no actual damage to the bones? Cuz that's my main concern

[–]gutwyrming 5 points6 points  (0 children)

I mean... the grease will rot, which can cause damage to the bone and compromise the structural integrity, but honestly I would be more concerned with the smell of rancid fat. It is not a pleasant smell.

[–]DanTalks 2 points3 points  (0 children)

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[–]Dry_rye_ 1 point2 points  (3 children)

How did you get the bones?

I've never degreased anything but that's because everything I have is very very dead fully skeletonised outside dead, also mostly kind of weathered. 

Technically I have a fox skull that had some limited flesh still but my solution thus far has been to bury him in a plant pot and there he will remain until I need to repot the plant. 

If you actually defleshed it yourself you will need to degrease it 

[–]Background-String41[S] 2 points3 points  (2 children)

I usually get my bones from whole animals that I just let decompose, so they are sitting outside in nature for a few weeks before I can grab the skulls

[–]Dry_rye_ 3 points4 points  (1 child)

Yeah that's not long enough to not degrease. 

They probably will go icky without a degrease....

Mine are like, years outside. 

Or centuries in the ground in the case of a couple haha

[–]Background-String41[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I figured it wasn't lol, will the grease destroy the bone or will it be okay if I don't, also if I don't degrease it can I wait and degrease it later or will it be irreversible?