The way I get around being impatient is to always have several projects going on at all times in every step of my bone processing.
1) Natural decomposition and/or maceration.
Naturally decomping deer remains, nearly ready for maceration.
Naturally mummified opossum skull ready to macerate.
Filling up a maceration tub of deer and wild boar bones with water.
Flesh free bones after maceration.
Wild boar and deer bones in different stages of maceration and degreasing.
2) Degreasing.
I honestly don't do a lot of degreasing. I've found that a lot of the oils rise to the surface during maceration. On a rare ocassion I do some extra degreasing though with a dishsoap and water soak. Or super weak ammonia and water soak. Both can take months. Also degreasing is really a personal preference of the bone collector. Some people don't care to degrease at all and some like their bones grease free.
3) Hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) bath.
Wild boar bones and skulls in different stages of peroxide bath sanitizing and whitening.
Right now I have these skulls/bones in their final H2O2 bath. Deer skulls, goat skull & wild boar vertebrae. One deer skull is on the side to further lighten a stain. The goat skull was too big for the container so once the skull lightened it was time to do the same to the horns (minus the horn sheaths).
4) Drying.
Deer and boar bones sun drying.
Finished skull example of a goat.
Want more detailed info on each step? There are extensive blog posts covering each of these steps pictured here. For more info read the rest of my related blog posts.
Maceration Info
Bad Words: BOIL & BLEACH
The Mathematics Of Maceration - A HowTo Guide For The Impatient
BONELUST BONE PROCESSING Q&A: What should the remains look like to begin maceration?
Degreasing Info
BONELUST Q&A: "How will I know if a skull needs degreasing, I'm not sure what it even looks like?"
Whitening Info
Whitening Bone Using Hydrogen Peroxide NOT Chlorine Bleach
Bad Words: BOIL & BLEACH
