Minwa Wood Hardener and Antler

[tryppyr]

Today, while looking through my supply drawer, I noticed a lot of pieces of antler that were not stabilized (i.e. not really usable). I then glanced at my can of Minwax Wood Hardener.

I started dipping the antler pieces into the stuff... seems to be doing a good job of filling the voids in the spongy center part of the antler. Sometimes it darkens that sections, sometimes not. In either case, though, it makes it a lot more solid.

When you drop a piece of antler in, bubbles come flowing out of any exposed ends. Move the container around until the bubbles stop, then remove the piece. Let it dry, then do it again... and again... until dipping it generates no bubbles.

I figure the one can gave me a couple dozen usable pieces.

And there's still some left over in the dipping cup.

- Greg

 

[Ed Caffrey]

Good idea, but with the wrong product...Minwax wood hardener is not waterproof. I learned the hard way a few years ago when I got the idea to try it in my home stabilizing setup.....after I ran about a 1/2 dozen blocks of wood through, I set them on a picnic table outside to dry....and forgot about them overnight. Next morning, with a heavy dew on the ground, I saw them as I walked to the shop....NUTS! They all had a "milky" appearance. I tried to let them dry inside for about a week, but the milky color never went away....and it went all the way through the wood.
Once cured, any moisture allowed to sit ton the material will result in that milky color.

 

[lonepine]

Is Minwax wood hardener waterproof AFTER it dries?

LonePine
AKA Paul Meske, Wisconsin

 

[Shaughnessy]

Not in my experience. I applied it on some window frames in the summer, and it dried for several months and the moisture in the winter turned it white. Larry

 

[tryppyr]

Waterproof is irrelevant when it comes to the INSIDE of a piece of antler. The outside (the only part that will ever be exposed to moisture) is all bone.

 

[Bill DeShivs]

Antler is not bone, and it has been used unstabilized for centuries. It is also porous.

 

[Ed Caffrey]

As Bill said, antler is porous. Your not going to get the wood hardener on the inside, without it leeching through to the exterior. I was merely trying to help you avoid the issue I experienced, and that will occur with the product.

 

[birdog4]

I've fooled around with Minwax wood hardener a little bit and haven't had the results described.(shrug)
Here's a shot of a piece of spalted white oak soaked in the stuff. YMMV

 

[Raymond Richard]

You ever read the label on the wood hardener? Causes cancer in the lab rats down in California. There's a couple other things that I use that have been around for a several hundred of years. For several years now I have used a 50/50 mix of linseed oil and turpentine with a little leather dye thrown in. I've just started trying shellac with about a 75% dose of denatured alcohol and a dash of leather dye. I let this piece of unknown stag soak in it over night in below freezing temps and this is what the stag looked like this morning. Big plus with the shellac mix is it will dry out even in cold temps. This piece of stag was very white when it started out. The stag was sanded down to just 120 in the photo.

 

[tryppyr]

If we stopped using everything that kills rats in California we'd never get anything done.

Bill, I apologize if my previous reply was terse.

- Greg

 

[birdog4]

I would tend to think the milky apearance is moisture trapped beneath the surface of the hardened material.