Advice on bringing a set of antlers back to life?

Potshot21

Potshot21

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Moose Country, Ontario
A few years ago, my Uncle moved to one of the big cities. I've always been the hunting fanatic of the family, so much so that my passion for it was approaching the same level of enthusiasm as my grandfather had for the sport. Not being much of a hunter himself, he gave me my grandfather's rifle. What came along with it was an old mount of a very nice whitetail my grandfather shot back in the 60's. I put together an idea of building a display case for the rifle that I would put together with the mount and some photos to showcase some of the family heritage and connectivness to the outdoors and hunting.

I went ahead and found a local taxidermist who was willing to remount the old shabby set of antlers. I got lucky and he had a spare cape and was able to do a shoulder mount to really breathe some life into the old antlers. The shoulder mount turned out great! Looks really life like, and to my surprise, looks pretty damn close to the same deer my grandfather shot way back when when compared to photos.

My only issue with it is the antlers, being so damn old and neglected, are rather dull and grey looking. I'd like to find something to colour them back up closer to the real deal. I think I've heard of some types of varnish you can get but don't know much about it. As this is a prized piece of family history, I'm looking for pointers on how to do this correctly the first time.

Any help is appreciated!
 
A Taxidermy shop I used to frequent often used Potassium Permanganate (think it available at hair salon suppliers) to re-color sun bleached horns .I would find an old set of horns with no family history to practice on tho first before touching granddads buck. I do remember that when first applied, Per.Perm. turned the bone purple for a bit but would change to a perfect "willow rubbed" horn color after a bit.
 
As mentioned, potassium permanganate will give them their colour back. You dilute it with water and it will look purple, but will give the antlers a pretty nice brown stain. I have gotten it from compounding pharmacies.
 
i have seen a few videos that utilize used coffee grounds to restain antlers , followed by some light wood stain.

I have a large moose rack I want to restore and finally have mounted and it is very faded out now so have been cruising youtube and taxidermy sites for ideas.
 
I use Lee Valley aniline dye, colour "russet amber". Mix with water to the desired shade and wipe it on. Practice on something else first of course.

The result is quite durable, at least in my experience, and can be applied to look very natural.

I would not ever use varnish on antlers, it eventually peels and flakes and is almost impossible to remove from the textures.
 
Thanks for the tips! There seems to be a few different ways to skin this cat, as such, I'm thinking of doing a test on an old moose shed antler. Can't remember of I brought i home with me, or if I left it up North at my Dad's place. Once I get it put together, I'll post up some pictures.

Still open for more tips! Should be able to try out a few different techniques on a big moose antler.
 
I'd avoid the Potassium Permanganate, it's rather nasty stuff. Common usage is in water filtration systems as a filter flush to remove iron/manganese from sand filters. It's also rather difficult to buy, as it's apparently also used "commonly" in certain amateur chemistry experiments; better known as meth labs.
 
Gunsmiths use potassium permanganate to dye bone white antlers that were in velvet. Potassium permanganate is water soluble and will soak into the pores of the antlers. As mentioned above the initial purple colour will slowly turn brown as it gets reduced to manganese dioxide. The antlers cannot be dyed with manganese dioxide as it is water insoluble. The fact that the manganese is in the pores when it changes to the water insoluble manganese dioxide makes it a very permanent stable colour.
 
After you die the antlers with potassium permanganate come back after its dry with some very fine sandpaper. Carefully go over it with a light touch to lighten or whiten the rough spots and highlight them. You can do the same tips. You aren't trying to remove bone, just a little colour here and there.

Knifemakers trick. :)
 
A dull dreary day outside this morning kinda threw the lighting off so I had to use the flash on my camera to show the antlers true colours. Aplogies for the delays, last set of night shifts had me all messed up!

It is interesting to note, back when my grandfather was young growing up on the north shore of Lake Superior in North-West Ontario, there was virtually no moose around. Most families had to grow and hunt/fish for their suppers back then, and deer meat kept much of the area's populace fed. The story goes, when he shot his first moose, they had no idea what it was! Wasn't long after that the moose had pushed the deer out and they became far more scarce. This deer was one of the biggest he had shot when the deer population was on the low end, and he had the extra cash to spend on a mount.

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For comparison, this set of antlers is about 15ish years ago.
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And a bonus picture since I had my camera out! I got there two mounts from my uncle as well, although these were made about 12 years ago.
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that deer in odd, how old do you rekon it is? it reminds me of my mounts haha,

those antlers , well , look fairly normal, there is the permegranite stuff, that is what most who shoot strippers (stripping velvet) once they pull the velvet the antler are literally bone white, they rub on that stuff as mentioned above..

is the timber light coloured in thaat area? or not many trees to rub but more shrubs?
 
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