Had a fellow tell me that "in the old days" they used a paste made of borax and wood alcohol (plaster it onto the moose rack in velvet) to preserve them...any of you fellows ever hear of this? If so, is there much shrinkage or splitting? Would you recommend it? Checked the archives, but no mention of this recipe...
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The bone tissue is soft.
the bone tissue has blood contained inside the velvet and down in the bone.
So do you put a topical treatment on it and hope for the best?
Or would you inject a bacteria killer and desicant(SP) under the velvet? to remove water and kill the bacteria?
I choose the later due to having lost several sets doing them the way explained in the J.W.Elwood books.
Formaldahyde is dangerous but so are many women pmsing that own handguns.
but hey...some 'old fellows' have some really good ideas...thought that one was crazy enough to maybe be one of them...LOL.
...used the alcohol and borax to preserve velvet antlers, but not in the way you described. It will work with velvet antlers taken this time of year(late Aug.) but I don't think I would use it with early or even mid summer racks unless they were to be freeze dried, too. Like JOhn said they are too soft. It did this because the freeze dried antlers that I had previously had done eventually attracted bugs.
I alternately soaked the antlers in alcohol and then a borax solution. Start with the ALCOHOL for a day or two and then in the borax solution of a day, alternate the solutions every other day. The idea was to dehydrate the antlers with the alcohol and then rehydrate with the borax so that the antlers would take on the borax. finishing with a alcohol soak and then the freeze dry, again you might not have to have them freeze dried if they are late summer. You would have to judge that for yourself. If the velvet has that "slept in" look I think you would be ok. If the velvet is real smooth then the freeze drying may be in order.
I have several sets that were done this way and the bugs have not found(eight years now). All the previous sets, freeze dried only, have some bug damage.
My bug lady, "Remains To Be Seen", tells me that her bugs do not like anything that has been near borax. It sure seems to be true.