Staining bone scales

[1oldthro]

I just bought a Bark River knife with their “antique antler” bone scales, as soon as I got the knife in the mail I had buyers remorse, they make the knife look like the cheap ones I’d buy at the hardware store when I was a kid.
I’d read about staining shed antlers with Potassium Permanganate so I figured that was my best bet in redeeming this knife.
It turns out it’s not easy to stain bone, after using q-tips and small paint brushes, it became apparent that to get a realistic dark stain I had to immerse the handle into boiling water to open up the bone to absorb the dye, not knowing the outcome it was nerve-racking but the outcome was successful.
Here some before and after pictures along with comparisons with red stag and white tail antlers.

 

[Khromo]

Looks good, to me. The after looks a lot more natural than the before.

I've had good results using alcohol based dye on bone. That stuff penetrates and you can get it in brilliant colors or mix it to whatever amber shade you like. Shellac can work well on bone, too. Anything works better if you can remove any finish the factory may have put on the finished handles.

 

[cudgee]

Much Better. You did a really good job.