I have not experimented with antler.......yet. But when I do I will be using the wood dyes that K & G sells. The brown dye that they sell is a little light the red and blue seems a bit dark. I used some myrtle that I got for free and then some denser wood, birds eye maple that seems to have dyed clear through a half inch of wood after 3 weeks. I was going to use a strong vacuum to help the dye penetrate, but was missing 1 small part. So, I improvised and just boiled the dye and wood in a quart mason jar and used the small amount vacuum that canning creates and it seems to have worked well. I will stabilize the wood and have a large supply of material for dark blue, red, and black spacers for use on hidden tang knives.
NOW FOR ANTLERS:
Many folks do use leather dyes to color antler. Pretty common in fact. Of course I just have to try something different.
I don't know what colors of leather dye they use, but I've even heard of shoe polish being used, let stain for a few days and buff off so no color will get on your hands after handling it.
The dye from K & G is mixed at a rate of 1 oz (29.5 cc per oz) per gallon, so I have been using 7.5cc to a quart, with good results on wood.
I am going to try to dye antler using these same dyes, the brown seems a bit light so I may add .5 to 1cc of Red dye to the brown dye to get a better color.
I came across some bleached Camel bone that I will experiment on first and although somewhat different the experience with wood and bone should be helpful with antler. I will be working to get the same color all the way through when I work with the bone and antler.
So, I'm just experimenting, but taking a somewhat different track than most.
Good luck, I will let you know if the experiments area success or not.
Hopefully by then I will have a system that can pull 28 inches of merury into a cannister set up using my compressor. That is strong enough for refrigeration work.
