Moose antlers

[Bearmetal]

Have a old set of moose antlers that
have turned white from the sun.
Just wondering what kind of stain to
use to turn them dark again?

[Torkdiesel]

Use a product called potassium permanganate. You can buy at at water filtration equipment stores.

*Wear gloves !!!!

[albertadeer]

Are they still waxy and sealed? Or are they chalky white?


Tork's method works well, I just use wood stains, practice on a old antler first and figure out what colours look good. It fun bringing life back to old antlers

[Bearmetal]

They are chalky white.

[Bearmetal]

Thanks I'll try and find some of that stuff on weekend.

[antlerguy]

If they are chalky white I would recommend sealing them first so that they don't suck in to much stain or whatever you are going to use.

[Bearmetal]

Will do thanks!

[AlphaRaptor35]

As Tork stated, potassium permanganate does work very well.

If you don't have any luck finding it, try coffee. It works really well in my opinion as you can easily very the color across the thick and thin portions of the antler. I usually grind the coffee and mix it with hot water until it is a wet paste like consistency. I then smear it over the antlers and let it dry. Once dried brush it off and your good to go. If you want the antlers darker, simple reapply and let dry again. Each application should get the antlers darker. You can also try tea in the same fashion, and it will give you different colors depending on the tea mix you use.

Once the antlers are stained, if they are chalky white, then hit them with a polyurethane coat or something else to seal them. Staining after the polyurethane coat will darken the antlers as well, but the stain will be on the poly and can fade/lighten much quick this way.

[Andrew_Arsenault]

I use burnt umber oil paint. It works great and you have a ton of control on the darkness. Just have to take your time with it. This was a bone white velvet buck I stained last week.

[300magman]

Originally Posted by Andrew_Arsenault

I use burnt umber oil paint. It works great and you have a ton of control on the darkness. Just have to take your time with it. This was a bone white velvet buck I stained last week.

That looks really good!

[Andrew_Arsenault]

Thanks. After I'm done all the staining to get the colour, I use a fine sand paper to highlight the high spots and the areas where they rub and polish.

[Andrew_Arsenault]

Here is another

[Andrew_Arsenault]

This is what the last one started as

[pilotguy89]

I use Potassium P but I have also used undercoat vehicle sealant in the can that you can buy from canadian tire. It smells like crap but it surprisingly worked well.

[Bearmetal]

Thanks looks Awesome

[Black Feather]

I use a basic MinWax wood stain. Works very, very well and is fool proof to apply.

Cheers.

[skinny d]

lots of guys use tea on stuff like powder horns i imagine that would work on antlers aswell

[cowboy20]

Looks great

[Grizzly Adams]

Originally Posted by Torkdiesel

Use a product called potassium permanganate. You can buy at at water filtration equipment stores.

*Wear gloves !!!!

Very potent dye, wouldn't want that to come off on your clothes.

Grizz

[Grizzly Adams]

Originally Posted by Frog Catcher

I use a basic MinWax wood stain. Works very, very well and is fool proof to apply.

Cheers.

My thought and a wide variety of colors, all moose antlers aren't the same, depends on where they lived.
Grizz

[the pilot cock]

When I whiten skulls, you almost never get away without lightening the bases and I use minwax. They have one called provincial which is almost an exact match to every set of antlers I've done. I always apply it with a Q-tip which takes forever but I'm only doing the bases. A cotton swab allows you to barely stain the spots where it should be lighter but get darker in the other spots and blend the two areas together.