staining antlers

[firemechanic]

What is the best way to stain faded antlers?

[Michelle_Nelson]

Depends on where they are from.  Different parts of the country produce differnent colored racks.  Also depends on if they are completely bleached white. 

[singleshot12]

Shoe polish-red,brown,or tan.You can mix them to create the desired color.

[PolarBear]

Yep, depends on where they are from and what color you want.  I use antler stain from Van Dykes Taxidermy and mix it with dirt, paint it on let it sit for a while, hose it off, let dry and spray on a matte finish clear coat.  For elk I add a little red oak wood stain to the mix.  I re-color almost all of my antlers because I strip all of the dirt, bark and junk off and take it down to bare bone.  I like em clean looking.

[firemechanic]

They are pretty white. Skull of a 4x4 Whitetail from the northeast corner of the state. I also heard to wet a tea bag wipe it on the antlers? Anyone heard of that? Thanks again.

[Coasthunterjay]

Yes! you can do that but that usually only works on horns that are littly faded and still have most the outside soft enamel cover on it. For more severely bleached horns that are cracked or have the deep open poors( sort of feels like sand paper), try to use a mixture of Shoe polishes and dirt( fills in the cracks). You can get a little shoe kit at the 99 cent store sometimes has different colors. dont be afraid to mix colors. play with it. Then when you like it. do what polarbear said. Spray it with a little clear coat. But yes a teabag does work. It does an OK job...................

[firemechanic]

Thanks for the info. guys. This fricken website rocks!