Ok.. used vandykes antler stain.. now too dark

[linspace]

I had a sun bleached pair of antlers.. I mean white as snow.. got some antler stain..when putting it on.. looked good.. but now dried.. it is WAY too dark and not natural looking at all.. any ideas?

[Hammer]

You might have went to dark to began with. Staining antlers uses very little stain and you want to start out very light and work your way from there till desired color is met. May take a few coats if they were bleached plus bleached antlers will soak up stain quick and make them dark.

[Dakota Hills]

Sandpaper and elbow grease.

[linspace]

Sandpaper and elbow grease.  lol.. sounds like a plan to me

[Dawg3458]

220 sandpaper

[Matt]

Sounds like they needed sealed first before you stained them. If they were porous in anyway, sandpaper is not going to cut it. After sealing them, you can base coat them with an ivory white or something light. Then you can come in and color them starting light, you can always darken with another coat.

[kirk33]

They are punky antlers and need to be sealed before staining, now all you can do is paint them.

[John C]

No sand paper, you will loose detail.

[Gameovertaxidermy]

I use minwax aged oak stain, paint on and wipe off til you get the contrast you want. If you don't like it use some lacquer thinner or mineral spirits on a rag wipe it off and start over til you get the hang of it. With repros you should wipe them down with thinner or spirits first to remove anything that may be left over on them that would cause the stain to not work properly.