I have a nice set of whitetail antlers attached to the skull plate. I was going to boil the skull plate in water with Sal Soda taking as much care as possible to only have the skull plate submerged in the boiling solution. I filled a pot with water to test this and when the water completely covers the skull plate, it also covers portions of the antlers burrs. If I do this, the water/Sal Soda solution is going to come in contact with some part of the antler burrs while boiling the skull plate. Will the Sal Soda bleach or discolor the antler burrs? Does anyone have any other suggestions for cleaning the skull plate with minimal disturbance to the antler burrs?
Bryan,
Yes, the Sal Soda will bleach the burrs on the antlers also. I have in the past put aluminum foil over the antler burrs, but it didn't work very well. You will still get some discoloration on the antlers. However they are very easily stained back the original color by using any of the staining products sold in almost any taxidermy catalog. Or, you can go to your local hardware store and get some Walnut Stain. It seems to work just about as well, depending on the color you're trying to achieve.
Hope this has helped! Good Luck
Jerry
It will not bleach it white. It will look alittle chalky. Just let it dry and put some brown shoe polish on a tooth brush and color it back. I use brown shoe polish to recolor repaired brow tines and you cant even tell.