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ok Let me go into more detail about bone cleaning now. The method that you have been using is called Maceration here is a link to a tutorial on it. http://www.taxidermy.net/...ex.php/topic,48226.0.html

Warning there are lot of pictures and we are talking about rotting the flesh off the bones so do not say I did not tell you lol.
Now as for the boiling. When you boil bones several things start to happen one is that you start the break down of the bone and it will get a little softer and more flexible. One way of working Horn or bone is to put it into Hot SIMMERING water to softer it then bend and clap it this is how horn spoons and stuff is made, this also works with bone but you can not bend it as much as I remember ( It has been a long time since I played with it much) The problem with this is that when the bone cools if it got too hot it will be weakened, try it a cooked boon is weaker than a raw bone and they break differently. Secondly if you are going to whiten the bone you need to get as much of the grease out of it as you can Boiling drives the grease in deeper and kind of "sets" it sometimes. This is not as big a problem with small bones that you are going to cut apart but if you have a thick bone it can be a big problem to get all the grease out if it has been boiled now please note that a bare simmer does not cause as much of a problem it is a matter of heat and time.
One of the Best ways to Degrease bone is to soak it in Dawn disk soap and warm water fro a couple days you want the water to be around 90 to 100 degrees but if you do not have a way to heat the water and keep it warm you can do it at room temp it just takes longer. You will want to check the water every day or so and change it when it gets greasy. Now once you think the bone is fully degreased take it out of teh bucked and let it dry if you see any areas that look kind of yellow and greasy put it back in the bucked for some more time. One the bone is fully degreased you need to decide on whether to white it or not. Some people want the bone to be very white some people want a more natural look. If you decide to whiten the bone put it in a plastic bucket with peroxide from the locial dug store and let it set for several days then pull the bone out rinse off and let dry. DO NOT soak the bone in Beach!! Beach will cause the bone to get chalky crumble over a very short time and it will ruin the bone for any type of bone work that I know of.
Now This is the Modern way of cleaning bone. I am sure that this is not the Palo way of doing it but I have never found any records of how people in Palo times cleaned and worked with bone, does any one know of any books that cover palo bone working techniques. I have allways woundered if in Palo time they just used the raw bone. you know scrape it and then shape it. I have a feeling that the raw bone with the grease in it might be stronger and better for some tasks.

Thank you
Jeff