antler recoloring

[CouesRanger]

My friend let me hold on to this bull for him when he moved out of state and now he is coming home so I want to make his first and only bull look great before giving it back. He had it in the sun before I got it and I want to get the color back for him any ideas?? Thanks

[azslim]

mix up some mud and rub it in, darker the dirt for the mud the darker the horns will be

[Kaffer62]

You can use used coffee grounds as well.

[Critter]

Massage wet black mud into the antlers... leave the tips a little white/mud free if you prefer whiter tips. Use a hard wire brush after a day or so and wire brush all the mud off. Then repeat any lighter spots massage more wet black mud again, let dry for another day or two. Then brush all the mud and dirt off. At this point they should have a dull dark look. What I like to do is use a wet rag and run the damp somewhat wet rag over the entire antler spreading the mud/color a bit. Let that dry for a bit. Then last I dab an old soft cloth with tung oil and rub this tung oil into the antlers all over. This brings out the color and gives it a real nice finish and natural look.

 

I attached some pics: the first match set as it lay... you can see very bleached white. And the 2nd pic after using the mud (on the wall with fake mountain mikes skull). Looks better in person and i maybe couldve used more oil in some of the still dull spots. The shed set match to the far left was also white and used mud.

 

Hope that helps. Maybe ask your buddy first also.... unless your confident he'll appreciate it. I've had taxidermists boil out skulls for me then stain the antlers which I did not want and some looked like crap using stain.

[CouesFanatic]

Leave it alone. I'd rather have a white rack then one that looks like its been recolored. Unless you do a really good job on it, its very easy to tell its been colored.

[joeeden]

I don't know, I think I'd take Critter's advice. Those antlers look great!

[bonecollector777]

I have used mud and it has turned out great every time. I found a dead bull that scored about 370" and caked the antlers in mud like described above. Waited a couple days. Scraped it off and then used a light coating of linseed oil to seal it and it looks great! That was a really chalky bull too so any antler that is still in good shape will look even better. Once they are up on the wall it's very hard to tell anything was done to it.

[Critter]

Sorry to bring up an old topic but just sharing some before & after pics using mud and tung oil I just completed for a neighbor. These two bucks were just taken in Oct. and the velvet was ruined so the hunter stripped the velvet off completely. I was asked to fix it with some color to make them look as natural as possible. Keep in mind the flash of the camera sort of highlights some areas and makes them look shinier than they really are. There is a bit of gloss but as I told the owner of the bucks... it is very easy to knock down or reduce the shine by running a fine steel wool over it a few times to your liking. These hard solid whites were harder to color than your avg. semi white shed you might find. Lot's of difficult spots that just won't take on color. Still beats using stain In my opinion as it gives more character.

 

First 4 pics should be before pics and the rest are after mud and oil process.

[Critter]

more pics

[Becker]

Those look pretty nice!!! One tip is you or the neighbor should have boiled the skull caps clean. Looks like stuff sried and left there. If not sorry. They will be a magnet for bugs/beetles if he plans on keeping them in the house. They can then spread to other mounts in the house. Just a tip to keep things nice and tidy:)

[wildwoody]

i us old english , it works great. 1) sand lightly to clean of dry whiteness, 2) aply coat of old english you select darkness. whipe of reaply to get prefered darkness. 3) sand tips 4) apply coat of furniture polish. looks great down many many this way