What is the best way to clean blood stains off caribou antlers where the velvet has been removed? I have socked the antlers is salt water to draw as much blood out as possible. However, the process left blood stains. I have tried brushing, washing, degreasing - no luck. How do I remove them in order to stain the antlers?
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It's in there, but just because I think it's you, I'll break my rule and tell you: throw them in a pond.
That's it. Nothing else works better. Tie a rope on them and heave them out as far as you can. Let them set there for about a month and MOST of the blood will leech out. You'll still have to let them dry in the sun for a week or two, steel wool them, stain them, and then paste wax them to get them to look "normal".
caribou horns "after the velvet is removed " the antlers get stained
the same as a deer or moose or elk. So why would you want them to be white. Stain them antler colour.
Stripped caribou antlers are putrid for months if you don't get the blood out of them. The Inuits always do this on site and that's what I do when I'm on the migration route. And it may come as a shock to you, but the antlers come out of the pond pink. They will turn a teastain color but the act of stripping the velvet off always leaves little bristles that need to be cleaned off. SOME of them have under developed tips that will turn black and are rather chalky when touched. WHITE IS THE NATURAL COLOR of the big guys above the Arctic Circle where there are no trees and only alder thickets to work over.
If you have gotten most the blood out with the salt water bath, try adding some hydrogen peroxide...cleans up blood like nothing else! Or even bleach? Kills bacteria and sterilizes the antler too... so no smell.
Skullman
Wasn't me...........just some other dumb guy this time with the same shop name.