Sun Faded Antlers.....What to do?

[L_Kilkenny]

I have a decent set of of antlers and skull off of a buck I shot sometime ago. Due to a long story and a lack of attention on my part they are a little sun faded and some of the hide has dried on the skull. Initially I was thinkin about doing a European mount for it but now I'd just be happy to try to restore/polish the rack for a simple wall mount. Any ideas?

BTW, it's pictured here:


LK

[JerryB]

I like the looks of that rack, I would just clean the hide off and mount it on a board. Fine looking firearms to.

[ollogger]

nice pix i like em

I have some horns outside & they take
a beating here with the sun, maybe once a year i put some
linseed oil on them, i think they look good & it dont darken them
to much, the skull you can boil the hide off let dry a day or so, & then
soak the skull in peroxide 3 or 4 hours, or till the right white gets there
dont soak to long cuz ive heard it will soften the bone to much

[Hobie]

I'd take the hide off to satisfy the wife and be done with it. Looks fine to me.

[adirondakjack]

You could (and I would) darken em some with a water-soluble dye like tea or something like walnut dye (somebody got a walnut or butternut tree can send ya a couple nuts still in the hulls) to add some color yet allow the grain and highlights to come through.

[K1500]

Minwax golden oak (or darker if you like). Practice on a shed first.

[Buck Elliott]

Liquid Gold(tm) furniture polish..

[Borregos]

Turpentine and linseed oil mixed 3:1 does a great job

[FWiedner]

Rust-oleum and some steel wool.

[walks with gun]

I've rubbed tru-oil stock finish on some real old white antlers before and had good luck.

[marlinman93]

Just plain old wood stain. Pick a color that's close to what you want and run it on. I like Watco Oil myself.