Restoring old antlers

[EZM]

Have an old set of antlers from one of my first whitetails - it's been out in the back yard (my parents place) for 20+ years in the sun.

It's kind of sentimental - so I'm thinking of restoring it and making a Euro Mount maybe for over the fireplace. Nothing special about it, except the memories really.

Who might be able to help me out in the Edmonton area? I'm not sure if a decent taxidermist would do something like this would they?

[HoytCRX32]

That’s a great rack....you must be shooting some hogs to put those in the back yard 👍

[Koschenk]

Good lord. Nothing special? That's about a buck of a lifetime as I see it.

[Kurt505]

20yrs and you haven't shot anything special yet????

Well maybe one day you'll find a half decent buck........



Hahaha! Kidding man, I hope you can get those restored because they look pretty special to me!

[Taiga]

Potassium permanganate is what you need. Mix with water, and ‘paint’ it on with a cloth. Don’t do the tips so they stay white, or use your discretion to get the appearance you desire. It mixes in water and turns purple. When wet, it is purple and you wipe this purple liquid on your antlers. But don’t worry, it dries a nice earthy natural brown. Do another coat after it dries to get darker if you want. Can’t remember where we bought the KMnO4, drug store maybe. Anyway, this was advised by a taxidermist, it is what he uses.

[longshot270]

Be careful what you use and how much. The rack appears to be quite dry and may absorb more than you want it to quite quickly. You might then not be able to reverse what you just did. I've tried wood stain with mixed results. Mostly wish I hadn't done anything at all, and left as is. It might be better than being unhappy with the results.

[RiverHawk]

I’m in Edmonton and have done quite a few. Shoot me a message and we can figure out a time to get it done.

[Big Lou]

Here’s a couple I restored. With all the cracking in yours it’d be best to use a wood filler or something first. The cracks really suck in the colour. Sand a bunch of the soft, chalky stuff off too. I’m currently rebuilding and restoring a very old moose rack. Building new tines, filling cracks. It’s pretty fun once you get going.


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[Kurt505]

Originally Posted by Big Lou

Here’s a couple I restored. With all the cracking in yours it’d be best to use a wood filler or something first. The cracks really suck in the colour. Sand a bunch of the soft, chalky stuff off too. I’m currently rebuilding and restoring a very old moose rack. Building new tines, filling cracks. It’s pretty fun once you get going.


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Those look great Lou, what are you using?

[Big Lou]

Originally Posted by Kurt505

Those look great Lou, what are you using?

Thanks Kurt. I’m just using stain. Have been wanting to try the potassium permanganate but haven’t gotten to it. I blend up to three colours or tones until I find something that the antler takes well. Usually start testing at the bases so I can make it darker to hide something I didn’t like. I use a fair bit of acetone on the brush as I’m colouring so I can fade it out as desired. Sometimes they will dry with a bit more shine than I want so in that case, I just scuff with some steel wool. Lightly sand some of the burrs, tips and such to give the polished look in the right spots.

[sevenmil]

Whoa! Before you put any thing on those antlers to colour them you are going to have to deal with the weather checking first. There is a big difference between a set of antlers that have just lost a little colour and a set that has weather checked. When they are that far gone I start with spackle and fill all the cracks. Then wire brush the excess off after dry. I then put a coat of clear primer on. If the antlers have greyed it won’t matter what you put on them, they won’t turn out right unless your base colour is a slightly ivory coloured bone look. Which may mean a coat of paint over the primer. I have had good luck with kitchen and bath enamel tinted to a slight ivory hue as a base tone. Weather checked antlers are very porous and need to be brought to a natural texture and base colour before the additional colours can go on. I use artists oil paint. Burnt umber, raw umber, even grey. It’s a lot of work to get them looking right, but worth it. I find oil paint the most forgiving, as it can be thinned with lacquer thinner and you can work your colours on in layers.

[EZM]

Originally Posted by Kurt505

20yrs and you haven't shot anything special yet????

Well maybe one day you'll find a half decent buck........



Hahaha! Kidding man, I hope you can get those restored because they look pretty special to me!

Originally Posted by Koschenk

Good lord. Nothing special? That's about a buck of a lifetime as I see it.

Originally Posted by HoytCRX32

That’s a great rack....you must be shooting some hogs to put those in the back yard 👍

Thanks for the compliments .....

Years ago the common thing was for us to do up Euro mounts (if anything at all) - but this one got pinned to the fence to dry and stayed there for years. Most recently it was in my mom's flower bed.

My dad started out as one of those "you can't eat the horns" meat hunters and it took him years to begin to appreciate the antlers - and that's how he taught me in my earlier years. I don't think I knew how this compared to the average decent buck for years and years after.

Today I think I appreciate fact that although it's imbalanced and might not score well - it's decent buck that brings back great memories - so If I can restore it, I'd like to hang this up in the house.

30+ years later and this still one the finest I've taken.