cleaning and stabilizing old antler?

[Runs With Scissors]

I'm not positive, but I think I may finally have a question that I can't figure out for myself by checking the FAQ's stickied up top...

A friend of the family recently bought a house from a Fish & Wildlife Biologist. The man had his yard totally decorated in fossils, petrified wood, and antlers that animals had shed. I'd wanted a piece of antler for a project, and she agreed that I could load my truck up with all I wanted if I agreed to make her a knife.

To make a long story short, by the time she was through picking out all of the premium stuff she wanted to keep I had a trunkload of pretty old antler from moose and caribou. Some of it porcupine chewed, some has moss growing on it, and all of it pretty weathered. I think I can get several good pieces out of it. But all of it needs cleaned, and the caribou antler is pretty porous, and I've been told by a few people that it's a good idea to stabilize it.

For cleaning I'm halfway considering using deck cleaner first, and then maybe some a mild mixture of bleach and water.

For stabilizing...I got no idea.

Any suggestions would be appreciated!

 

[Michael J. Spangler]

try knifeandgun.com
they do a pretty damn good job on stabilizing... but for the really porous stuff it might not fill up in the middle from what i've heard. you can always mix up some fiberglass resin, and use that to fill the inside

 

[Steve Hayden]

Mostly I use fresh dropped elk antler, but I have experimented with old weathered stuff. I was able to get some pretty good results by soaking old porous antler in Gorilla Glue. The outside got foamy looking when dry and I ground it off. The antler scales ended up smooth and hard. They still look weathered, but came out better than expected and are solid and absolutely weather-proof.