eisman
Gold Member
- Joined
- Sep 9, 2009
- Messages
- 6,920
I think Stag (or antler) scales look best with a brown or amber tint to them. In my experience dyes, or stains, can be problematic in attempting to change their color. Likewise I had always assumed that "burned" stag was the result of actual flame. That's not correct, and I've put this little thread together to show how you can change the color of stag scales with just a little effort.
The knife I'm using in this a an inexpensive one from Pakistan. I pick up a lot of knives and this one seemed perfect to "experiment" with as there's no real cost involved and no one will miss it when it's gone. The other items I'll use in this demo are a small glass bowl, Q-Tips, paper towel, steel wool (actually a Brillo pad), and a toothbrush, lots of water, and the active ingredient, Potassium Permanganate (which I bought on Amazon for a couple bucks) and which I'll refer to as PP from here out.
As you can see these scales are not exceptionally attractive, but they are stag, and will work. I originally cleaned them with soap and water to remove any oils that may have been in the scales since that may have affected the uniformity of the color change.
Next I mixed up a small solution of PP in the glass bowl. I used about 1/2 teaspoon and 3-4 on of water.
Note this solution is purple. It WILL dye your skin if you do not wear gloves.
I used the Q-Tip to apply the solution to the scales. It goes on purple, but if you wait it turns brown. this is the chemical reaction "burning" the antler.
After the first application I used the steel wool to rub the scale. This removed a fair amount of the dark color, but not all of it. If you compare this pic with the first one you can see where the color took best.
I put some more solution on and this time waited a bit longer (maybe 15 minutes) until it was completely dry to the touch. The scales then looked like this:
This time they had more color when cleaned. (I was cleaning them in plain water, mainly to stop the chemical reaction.) This is the other side, but the effect was the same on both.
A third application looked like this, and I cleaned it a bit less aggressively as this is an acceptable change and proved to me what i was attempting to do would work.
I cleaned the entire knife, and when dry used a bit of wax furniture polish to put a little luster on the darker scales.
I hope you find this interesting and informative. It's a very inexpensive modification, and simple enough to do.
The knife I'm using in this a an inexpensive one from Pakistan. I pick up a lot of knives and this one seemed perfect to "experiment" with as there's no real cost involved and no one will miss it when it's gone. The other items I'll use in this demo are a small glass bowl, Q-Tips, paper towel, steel wool (actually a Brillo pad), and a toothbrush, lots of water, and the active ingredient, Potassium Permanganate (which I bought on Amazon for a couple bucks) and which I'll refer to as PP from here out.
As you can see these scales are not exceptionally attractive, but they are stag, and will work. I originally cleaned them with soap and water to remove any oils that may have been in the scales since that may have affected the uniformity of the color change.
Next I mixed up a small solution of PP in the glass bowl. I used about 1/2 teaspoon and 3-4 on of water.
Note this solution is purple. It WILL dye your skin if you do not wear gloves.
I used the Q-Tip to apply the solution to the scales. It goes on purple, but if you wait it turns brown. this is the chemical reaction "burning" the antler.
After the first application I used the steel wool to rub the scale. This removed a fair amount of the dark color, but not all of it. If you compare this pic with the first one you can see where the color took best.
I put some more solution on and this time waited a bit longer (maybe 15 minutes) until it was completely dry to the touch. The scales then looked like this:
This time they had more color when cleaned. (I was cleaning them in plain water, mainly to stop the chemical reaction.) This is the other side, but the effect was the same on both.
A third application looked like this, and I cleaned it a bit less aggressively as this is an acceptable change and proved to me what i was attempting to do would work.
I cleaned the entire knife, and when dry used a bit of wax furniture polish to put a little luster on the darker scales.
I hope you find this interesting and informative. It's a very inexpensive modification, and simple enough to do.
