grease leaking from horns?

[bowhunter2012]

just made a degreasing set up using an old freezer and a bucket heater. All heads are in seperate buckets and all horns are out of the water.  The lid is closed on the freezer.  Why do the horns look like they are leaking sap or something?  What is the best way to clean this? 

[boarhunter67]

Are you talking about deer antlers or antelope, sheep, or bison horns?  If it's the former, I would guess condensation is collecting and dripping.  If it's the latter, it's probably meat and tissue rotting.  Either way, I don't think it will hurt them.

[Alpinist]

Do you mean horns or antlers? If horns, did you remove the sheaths from the horn cores? If so then the skulls and cores need to be completely submerged in the buckets. If you didn't remove the sheaths then the skin between the cores and sheaths is rotting and that's what's leaking out. Pull off the sheaths and submerge the cores in the buckets so they degrease along with the skulls. Save the sheaths separately and dry them to be reattached later. If you meant antlers, then you don't want to degrease those skulls in a freezer with the lid closed because they're likely to get very moldy.

[bowhunter2012]

Sorry I did mean deer antlers. the stuff is like pine sap it is making the horns dark

[Alpinist]

It could be from mold. You may need to whiten the antlers when they are done to remove the dark stains from the mold. You can then re-stain them to return them to a natural look. I would only degrease non-antlered skulls in a closed freezer.

[Sea Wolf]

The closed lid is allowing the humidity to build encouraging mold to grow. You might want to try cutting holes in the lid in such a way that it will fit around the antler bases. That will expose the antlers to keep them dry and you can lay some insulation on top to hold in the heat. For nice antlers I coat them with latex from under the burr up to help prevent this. Several have advised a product called "Seal n Peel" which I have not tried yet. What you may also be seeing is colored material dripping from the bark and sap bits caught in the grooves of the lower antlers. If it is really packed in there, the humidity might be reconstituting some of the sap and gunk from off the trees.

[bowhunter2012]

if I whiten the anterlers do I use the same whitening that you would use to bleach the skull

[boarhunter67]

Before you try whitening them, try cleaning them first.  You might be able to scrub them clean and still leave some color without whitening them and starting from scratch.

[bowhunter2012]

hanks borehunter.I tried cleaning and scrubbing with Boiling hot water and dawn no results I also tried Acetone with no change. any suggestions to clean with

[Alpinist]

If it's sticky like pine sap you may need to use lacquer thinner to get it off. If the antlers are still discolored after cleaning you can whiten them with peroxide, just like bone. Then stain with potassium permanganate, or some folks use wood stain. Search the archives for antler staining for more ideas.

[boarhunter67]

If nothing else works I would try the lacquer thinner and steel wool or a stiff wire brush.