Searched the archives and found very little useful info on the subject. However, I mixed up a batch of George's antler & horn mix, which is 1/2 turpentine, and 1/2 linseed oil, and WOW, how aromatic. I applied this to a set of dried blackbuck horns, liberally, maybe too liberally, the oil penetrated the horns and, instantly, no stinky horn smell. I suppose with a little time the aroma of the mix will tone down, but it sure smells better than stinky horns. BTW, could not find old fasioned turpentine, only "turpatine", which is obviously a petroleum derivitive. I guess the old "turpentine still" has gone the way of the 5 cent soda pop.
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And real turpentine is still available at Lowe's, Home Depot, and Wal-Mart in the paint sections. I'm not sure about the petroleum derivative but you could try setting them out in the sun for awhile to see if that helps.
What will this do to skulls? I noticed on an earlier post you said it was not a good idea to seal antlers/horns with a sealer. Will this mixture yellow on skulls over time. I currently do nothing to the skull part on Europeans. After the peroxide, they are a nice flat white, or neutral bone color. This mixture does provide a mild gloss effect when applied to the bleached skull (I tried it on one of my own).
After they're all bleached and cleaned, I paint the bone with Elmer's glue to seal it. THEN and only then do I paint the antlers or horns with the 50/50. It's oil and oil will leave a grease stain, especially on bare bones like that.
but on horns I fill with borax and haven't had an odor problem. I use olive oil which is very subtle but want to try George's mix. Antlers I just wipe with acetone to clean and put nothing else on them after cleaning.