Thread: How to Preserve shed antlers

Just wondering what to use to bring a couple of racks back to life also giving them a bit of protection
I am sure i read on here some body giving there antlers a coat of oil with a rag.
Reading on the net people say not to use linseed oil us it tends to go yellow after a while (sure when i got a head mounted the guy gave it a coat of linseed/turps)
And others say use mineral base oil or a food grade oil
Antlers are out of the weather and not in direct sun light.
Has any given this a go and what did they use with what results?

If you have some you don't care a lot about you can always spray some clear coat on it and see what happens

If they are out of the sun they are fine ,l have some in the shed that decades old ,how ever if you still want to do it ,while l was guiding l was invited to visit many huge private "trophy"rooms easily bigger than the average Kiwi house . Most of these had annual home visits by their Taxidermist for "maintenance "on their collections ,but what a lot used & l was given a tub of l am guessing around 35yrs ago now & is what l have used since .

The product is called Renaissance Wax ,that was developed in the British Museum preservation laboratory after the war, after finding a lot of their mounts/full skeleton displays etc had been through a hard time in their emergency storage away from the bombings, to treat their huge collections , on my old tin actually lists ivory among its recommended uses (can you imagine the SJW if they saw that in a shop now).The stuff is still used by museums , antique dealers & commonly used in historic restoration work to this day as it does not discolor or change,while providing a high level of protection etc .

I had a dedicated trophy room while l was guiding that included stuff like Lion , Crocodile,tortoiseshells ,odd skulls etc as well as a collection of both full & European mounts from around the world, before selling them off & l used Renaissance Wax on them all .They went for a ,"offer l could not refuse", as the stuff had kept them in such good nick, even though some had been in the worst conditions for them ie tropical humidity & heat for extended time while we lived in various countries around the world.

Use Condies Chrystals (potassium permanganate) to give them a natural colour, the guy that showed me that had tried plenty of other stuff and CC was the best.

@Finnwolf i have one head CC was used and come up ok. The antlers all still have colour some look a little faded.
Also one raining day am going to get some tea tree and put the small branches in a drill see how that natural stain works

hope this works
this is one I put clear coat (spray can) on and it still looks great

At the end of the day the antler colour and how well it lasts comes down to what gave it that colour in the first place.

Resin heavy bark and acidic peat stain heavily whereas lighter timber and soil don't stain as deeply.

Personally not a fan of peroxide/potassium permagnate on skull and polishing+staining antlers but each to their own!