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Rebuilding tines/antler staining

meyeri

meyeri

PMA Member
Hey all,

I thought I'd show you what I was up to during the off season.

I found this rack in a creek bed about 15 years ago and I had been thinking about fixing it up for years but never got around to it. It was pitted, cracked, discolored, chewed up and stained pretty bad so I figured I couldn't make it any worse than it was as is. As a 155" 8 I thought it deserved to be fixed up so I finally did some research and gave it a try.

I scrubbed it down, drilled holes for wire, glued the wire in place, rebuilt the tines with bondo, spray painted it white and then stained it.
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I think if I ever rebuild tines again I will use something besides bondo because it set extremely fast so I had to sand it down to get the shape I wanted and it added a ton more work. After I got the antlers about how I wanted them I painted them white with a couple coats of spray paint and then stained it with minwax. I should have used a flat white paint though, because it was way too shiny and the stain took numerous coats to get good color. I think I'm gonna find a flat polyurethane to coat it with so maybe that will get rid of the glossy look. Still not 100% happy with it, but it looks a lot better than it did. After the season is over I might sand it down and start over with a flat white paint depending on how the polyurethane looks.

Any advice or tips?

Thanks
 
Thanks Shovelbuck. Wish I would have read your post before I started! I'll probably strip it down and start over after seeing how yours turned. I'm not quite satisfied with the main beam anyway, so I will probably grind more off of it before I paint again.
 
Good stuff man! Takes some talent to do what you did. Def a project not made out for everyone
 
Meyeri, I would actually recommend "Fixit" over apoxe sculpt. I've used both and the fixit actually dries to a better base antler color. If your epoxy is too shiny use some baby powder or talcum powder while mixing equal parts, it will dull the shine. You can also use diluted potassium permanganate (e-bay) to stain just don't get it near glycerine or you'll have combustion issues. I like to use lacquer based paints diluted with denatured alcohol to do washes over the tines.

I would highly recommend hitting up taxidermy.net and doing some searching on there if you want to get some more information. One guy used to have a thread in the tutorial section on rebuilding a horn. It will shave off a lot of trial and error which you have already started to experience. Good luck.
 
Good job! I agree with Ted on the Fixit. You really can make perfect tines with this stuff because its somewhat like a stiff putty while your working with it. I like to use about a half dozen artists oil paints thinned down as well. I have found those old, cracked, porous antlers are the hardest ones to get the color right because they tend to "soak in" the color to the point where you cannot wipe it away easily.

X2 on taxidermy.net
You will find a ton of info there on several different methods.

If you got a bunch of chewed up sheds, they are perfect practice pieces!
 
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