anyone have a good way to seal cracks in some weathered mule deer shed horns, then be able to stain them to look good? they are cracked pretty bad!
jm
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Try one of the nutral colored epoxy putties. They are very strong and stain the same at the antlers.
Hi John,
I posted the same question several months ago and got bombarded with the usual ìcheck the archiveî, or ìhey sonny, see that orange button on the left,Öî etc. I spent several hours in the archive and the following is a compilation of all the data in there.
1. Get some wood putty. I use the type that comes in a plastic tube, made by Elmers. I tried to get a neutral color, but I doubt it matters. Put on latex gloves and go to work smearing the putty into the cracks. I use my fingers primarily, but use tools as necessary. Really work the putty into the cracks and smooth it out with your fingers until the cracks are full. Let them dry a day or so.
2. Get some steel wool. I got a pack that comes with fine, med & coarse. Start with coarse and work the antlers over to remove the excess putty. Switch to the med or fine if necessary. You Are looking for very smooth surface, like an antler should be. When done, inspect for cracks you missed and re-apply the putty. Repeat the ìputty - steel wool -- dryî routine until you have smooth antlers that are free of visual cracks.
3. Here is where I"ll probably lose you. It was hard for me to actually do this step. I couldn"t believe this would work. BUT IT DOES. Get some latex paint, I used white. It would be better to get some bone colored from the store, but I didn"t have any (take a look at some good antlers you may have and notice color of the tips. This is the color you should try and match). I mixed dry tempura powder into the white to make a bone colored paint, then I thinned it down with water. You MUST thin the pain down to half way between water and regular paint. Paint the antlers from tip to burr with the thinned paint mixture And let them dry. You"ll see that the paint actually fills in the smaller cracks that you missed. After they dry, hit them with the fine steel wool and go over them again with another coat of paint. Repeat as necessary. You obviously don"t want to go with so many coats that the details of the antlers are gone, but the tips and high spots should be coated several times. Use a stiff wire brush to clean out the crags and knobs and wipe them down.
4. I messed around with several types of wood stains, but never got the look I was after. Potassium Permanganate worked best for me. You can buy this from Research Mannikins (http://www.rmi-online.com/). It comes in a small bottle. WEAR GLOVES. This stuff is powerful and will stain EVERYTHING. I wore some on my hands for several days! Get a jar with a screw on lid. Fill with about 1 cup of water. Mix in ½ teaspoon of the P.P. and mix very well. Don"t be alarmed that your concoction looks like grape juice. Brush the solution on sparingly (over newspaper). Work it up under the burrs, and all the way out to the tips. Work fairly quickly and let the antlers dry. Repeat this procedure, taking extra measures to get the bases a little darker than the tips. As you have no doubt read a gazillion times on here, have some reference material handy (another rack, etc). I like to paint at right angles to the antler beam, as well as streaking heavier in places up and down along the beams out to the tips. Go easy on the tip areas, as they are always polished to a near white color on a deer. (we"ll hit the tips with the steel wool later to brighten them up). ANYWAYÖ trial and error is your best friend now. If you get them looking too dark, buff them down with the steel wool and start over. If your concoction isn"t producing a dark enough color for you, add a little P.P. into the mix.
5. You"ll notice the antlers now look fairly good, except for that uniform color appearance. Work the tips over to achieve the white look and blend the transition to the darker part. Hit the high points on the bases, and anywhere else the deer would have polished while rubbing his antlers. AGAIN, REFERENCE MATERIAL!
6. One thing I should have mentioned earlier, I mount my antlers on a 2 ft by 2 ft board that I have attached to my head mounting stand. Then I screw the antler skull plate down to the board so they are sitting upright. The board makes a nice ìtableî for your tools and stuff while you are working them over.
Hope this helps. Feel free to contact me if you need a translation on any of this.
Steve
***Disclaimer***
The author of this "Antler Repair and Staining Tips" document is in no way is trying to insinuate that this is the only way to achieve the desired results. The author also wishes to thank anyone who has contributed (directly or indirectly) to the content of this information. For further information, push the orange button.
Thank you for the response. I've had the same question and researched the archives until blood started pouring from my eye sockets...but nowhere is it as clearly written and easy to follow. Thank you.
--AW