Another Hobby...restoring antlers

[Shovelbuck]

I've been an avid antler collector since the early 80's and it seemed to be a natural progression to get into the restoration end of it.
Here's a few before and afters of some work....................

Before....

After.....



Before....

After...



Before....

After...


Thought some of you may enjoy these.

[Greywolf]

That is awesome !!
I've seen some restored antlers before, but never knew what they looked like before.

[Archenemy]

Wow! Those are awesome. Care to share your technique with us? I have a few sets that need some work.

[Shovelbuck]

There's a lot of variables when making the restorations. If just small repairs such as chews or small pieces of tines missing, I make the repairs with a product called Apoxie sculpt. Then color accordingly. Large repairs like the bottom shed photo require making a latex mold of a tine that will resemble the missing parts. Then pour a new tine or tines from Urethane, attach the new tine with redi rod and apoxie sculpt, then color. The main focus needs to be on blending and texturing the repair to match the original.

[Greywolf]

Yeah... We need a build along..........ok not a build along.... just a Let's see how you do your magic along.

[Shovelbuck]

Ok guys, here's a link to a build along I did a couple years back on another site. Please be sure to read the warnings at the end of the thread!
It bears repeating here...............Do Not Use RTV rubber !!!!! The formula has changed and it will not come off the antler !!!!
Basic latex works as well but is just slower to apply.

http://iowawhitetail.com/forum/showthread.php?t=25376

[Archenemy]

Thanks for the link. Very good build-a-long!