How to dye antler?

[carloscinco0219]

I saw some dyed antler advertised in the latest Blade and I was impressed with it's appearance. Anybody have some tips on how to dye antler to give it that nice golden look?

 

[Raymond Richard]

Varrious leather dies will work but something to experiment with. I've never tried it but it can also be put into a smoker and colored. I saw the thing in Blade but not sure how there are doing it.

 

[TJ Smith]

I use minwax wood hardener for most of my wood handles.
It has turned quite dark from use. I put in some elk horn and it turned out real nice.Can't post here but if you want a pic I could email you 1.

.
looked pretty close to the ones in the mag.
Take care
TJ

 

[R.Coon-Knives]

Do not use Feibings Mahogany colored dye. It comes out an unnatural red rather than brown.

 

[bennett]

If you want to dye antler or stag various shades of brown, use potassium permanganate. You can get it at Wal-Mart, Home Depot, Ace, Lowe's, etc... You mix it at various concentrations, with water. You can use tap water, but distilled is probably better. I talked to a guy who sells antler and stag, and that's what he uses. I wrote the mix ratio down and left it at work. I'll get it on Tuesday and follow up here with another post. I plan on trying this myself on some cheap antler I got from Moscow Hide and Fur.

 

[J. Neilson]

I started out using shoe polish and leather dye. I switched to PP since it was quicker and gave a deeper, more natural color (in my opinion). I've read things about PP turning antle green over time but, I've never actually seen this or a picture of a knife this has happened to. ???

 

[Bruce Bump]

I used to swear by Kiwi shoe polish put on hot but they must have changed their formula recently because the brown is really unnatural on deer antler. I am going to find the old stuff somewhere.

 

[Raymond Richard]

I stopped using potassium permanganate because it will fade. I'll stick with the leather dye.