"Clean up along" nasty antlers found in creek

[Dave Bulla]

Just thought I'd try to document my latest project.  I'll be trying to clean up a set of antlers I found submerged in a creek yesterday that are pretty nasty.  Green and black mildew splotched all over with some parts overly whitened and others stained dark brown.  Seems like the parts under the mud are stained and the parts that were in the water have the green and black crud.

I started a post yesterday about this little day trip called "Look what we found, a family walk in the woods."  Here is a link if you care to check it out.   http://tradgang.com/noncgi/ultimatebb.php?ubb=get_topic;f=1;t=070403

There are lots of pictures of our day trip in the above link but I'll repeat as needed here.

Anyway, here's a pic of the rack as it appeared still in the creek right where I found it.

 

And fresh out of the creek.

 

You can see it's pretty nasty and has been in the creek for a couple years but here's a better shot showing the rack today after I'd wet it down with the garden hose again just before beginning the cleaning process.

 

Gonna have some work ahead to get this thing looking fit for the den wall.

[Dave Bulla]

Now, I've never done a job like this but I think I can figure out a couple ways to get it where I want it.

My first thought was good ol' clorox bleach.  Turns out we were completely out though except for some 50-50 mix bleach water we use for spraying down the showers.  Actually, I think the last bottle I mixed is more like 25% bleach instead of 50%.  Anyway, I sprayed it down real good to see what would happen.

 

Came back about 15 minutes later to check and couldn't see any bleaching effect.  Went back in the house to see what else we had under the sink and in the bathroom that might work.

Came back with this selection.  Clorox bleach toilet bowl cleaner gel and Zud cleanser.  Mixed the two together on a sponge with a scrubby side to it and went after the right side of the rack.

 

[VTer]

Looks like some of them "wall treatments" they show on the DIY network. Good luck!

[Dave Bulla]

Took off the heavy crud pretty quick but didn't do much to the stained tips of the main beam and the G3.  Still, the right side looks better than it did.  Now to tackle the really nasty left side.

Since the left side had a lot more black build up and green staining, I elected to use the scrub brush with a bunch of the clorox gel and zud powder together in a sort of paste.  I didn't take a pic using the scrub brush but here is the left side fairly well scrubbed with both brush and scrubby sponge.

 

And here I'm just letting it sit with a bunch of cleaner all over the whole thing.

 

Lastly, for today anyway, here it is rinsed off.  Not as clean as I want it but I'm gonna play around with some peroxide and straight bleach in the next few days to see how much I can whiten it.  I might use sandpaper on the really bad places and then I'll try to even it out with some sort of stain because a normal rack is dark down near the skull and lightens up towards the tips but this one is whitened down near the bases and dark on some of the tips.  Gonna try to "harmonize" the color a bit to make it look more natural.

 

[gregg dudley]

Dude, you went and messed em up!    

I would have never cleaned them up.  They looked way too cool the way they were!  :  

Different strokes for different folks...  

[FEIK77]

Lot better than it was:), hopefully the straight bleach will get alot of the other stains out.

[rastaman]

Wonder what kind of story he would tell if that were possible. . .

[ishiwannabe]

Just be careful mixing chemicals....my Aunt almost offed herself that way cleaning a bathroom.
I have a very similar skull...so Im watching.

[fireball31]

WARNING!!! If you used regular houshold bleach make sure you rinse it extremely well. otherwise it will continue to eat at the bone.  The best product for bleaching is the hair bleaching treatments.

[Plumber]

PUT THEM ON THE ROOF OF YOUR GRAGE OR HOUSE LET THE SUN HIT THEM FOR A FEW DAYS THAT WILL WHITEN THEM UP .

[owlbait]

I second the warning on mixing... had to be put on oxygen one time when the stuff I mixed made a toxic gas! (No beans were involved)! Try not to get your stain too dark, it won't look as natural.

[ozy clint]

use the peroxide hair bleach. rinse well. to stain you can use potassium permanganate (condys cystals) available at pharmacies. mix the potassium permanganate in water. it will turn purple, don't be afraid it dries natural brown. start with a weak solution and work up to what your happy with. when dry use steel wool to polish the points and blend the colour.

[Steve Nuckels]

I would leave some of the "crud" color to remember the story and situation of it's discovery!

I would say go easy with the bleach to avoid the chaulky look!

Cool find!!!

[Gaff]

my buddy found one similar, except it was bleached white. so he used some light colored wood stain and you cant even tell its not "natural.
so if ya go to far with the bleaching, you can always get it back.

gaff

[unclewhit]

I'm with Plumber on this one, throw them puppies up on the roof and let the sun take care of em.

[Wannabe1]

Good rattl'n horns if ya ask me!

[akdd]

You can get the 40% peroxide for bleaching hair at a beauty salon or a supply store. The only thing is I think that you have to be a licensed beautician to purchase it from a supply store. I have used it for bleaching bear skulls. It will turn them white so you would have to stain then if you want them to be colored.

[LKH]

Since you already went and used Chlorine bleach, give them a rinse with baking soda water when you're done.  

I threw two heads in the creek and forgot about them.  When I found them they kind of looked like yours.  I just wiped them off and threw them under a spruce in the yard.

The sun turned them white, but they are chalky.

[Deadbolt]

You could clean it up and boil everything in peroxide antlers and all...then just stain the antlers what ever color you want. Seal it with clear coat and you will be set.

Clorox will destroy the skull/antlers even after sealed it will still breack down over the years.

[Cottonmouth]

NEVER mix ammonia cleaners and bleach, makes a toxic gas...   :(