Submitted by Crystal Riley on 11/30/1998. ( )
I recently boiled 5 deer skulls with the horns still attached in sal soda and salt water. After this, I soaked the skulls for 24 hours in hydrogen peroxide. About an inch near the base of the horns is now colorless, almost white. How can I fix this??? Will horn stain blend well enough to look natural???
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This response submitted by John on 11/30/1998. ( jgill@acronet.net )
Hi Crystal,
Sorry, I don't have an answer to your question, but, I do know this, those are antlers! Just remember, antlers are shed each year, horns are not (except for the Pronghorn Antelope, which sheds it's horns). I'm sure you'll get an answer to your question though, these guys (and gals!) are good.
John
This response submitted by Bill on 11/30/1998. ( yoxtax@aol.com )
first of all, I guess you see why we paint on our bleaching agent! Try using potassium permanganate. We covered alot of this earlier in the forum, you may want to scroll back for details. You can also try the antler stain found on page 126 of the WASCO catolog. If you used too strong of a concentrate of bleach you may have damaged the finish of the antlers(and the skull, for that matter) This will make the antler more porous and it would take the stain more heavily, requiring you to seal it first. Sorry for the blah blah, thats taxidermy for you...sometimes trial and ERROR. Good luck and let us know how you make out, OK? The antler stain info MAY be under the deer head heading, try there first.
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