Stabilizing Deer Antler

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BigguyZ

BigguyZ

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Joined
Aug 8, 2007
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Location
Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA.
I tried it. I like it. I'll continue to do it.

I looked for previous posts about this, and all I could find was someone saying it discolored the antler. So I decided to try on some small pieces to see how it worked, and I have to say it worked really well!

I didn't notice any discoloration at all- that is, except for the pieces I had submerged in a dyed solution.

The marrow was much more solid that it usually is. I was able to get clean cuts on the marrow without any chip out. I tried both a scraper and a skew, and both worked on the material well.

Then, I just polished the antler, and was able to get a high gloss shine. The outer layer remained gray in color, and got the best shine because it's the less porous of the two parts. But the marrow also took a shine, even if it's obviously more textured due to it's porosity. The marrow can also still stain, and you can see in the picture where not using a super clean rag while wet sanding with MS dirtied the antler. Though I don't mind the look, personally.

Anyways, I was impressed with the level of shine it took, and I'm thinking that I'll be using this method for all pieces going forward. I got good penetration all the way through, with only the hole drilled in the center of the antler section. I used cycles of vacuum and pressure, only going up to 50-60 PSI with the HF pressure pot.

The camera these are taken with is my phone camera, but alas it's better than my full-size camera.
 

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I used an acetone/ plexi solution. 2-3 cycles of vacuum and no pressure, then vacuum to pressure for about 30 minutes, then vacuum for 24 hours, pressure for 24, then let them dry out.
 
Dear Bigguyz:

I am interested in what you did, however, if your phone camera takes better shots than your full-size camera, then you need to do a little shopping.
With the best intentions:
John
 
Jgrden said:
Dear Bigguyz:

I am interested in what you did, however, if your phone camera takes better shots than your full-size camera, then you need to do a little shopping.
With the best intentions:
John
Click to expand...

Don't I know it! Yeah, my 4 year old Fuji always stunk. But when it comes to Macro shots (something I didn't even know about back then), it's the worst! So for Christmas, I'm asking for a decent camera for Macro shots. That and maybe a collet chuck. :)

I already laid out the basics of what I did, so if anyone has any additional questions, let me know.

Given the success of my test piece, I decided to cutup the rest of the anlter and stabilize it. So now it's all drying after a 4 day cycle of Vacuum, Pressure, Vacuum, Pressure. Anyways, I have a LOT inf progress now, so (bad) pics to follow soon (if a housing project doesn't get in the way too much!).

Thanks!
Travis
 
You'll likely have a problem with that routine very soon.. the acetone fumes will
eat the seal in your vacuum pump.. :eek:

What's wrong with the Fuji? Mine is about that age and takes great macro shots.
 
NewLondon88 said:
You'll likely have a problem with that routine very soon.. the acetone fumes will
eat the seal in your vacuum pump.. :eek:

What's wrong with the Fuji? Mine is about that age and takes great macro shots.
Click to expand...

I've tried everything with my Fuji, and for the life of me I can't get it to focus up close. And pics of things far away are always blurry if I don't use the flash. Maybe I have the settings bungled up, but either way I'd like a better camera to get some nice pictures going.

As far as the pump goes, I've already seen that it doesn't pull as good a vacuum. It used to get at least 25"Hg, but now it's more like 20"Hg. But Like I noted, GAST kits are readily available and not too expensive. Another thought for the future would be to invest in a better compressor, and use a Venturi vacuum pump that only works on airflow (as far as I'm aware. I'm pretty sure that it's just a chunk of Alu drilled to specific specs). So no danger in damaging that type of pump with Plexitone.

Or, I can just pull a smaller vacuum.

Either way, I'll continue to use the pump since I bought it for stabilization in the first place. I'll eventually get into vacuum pressing when I save up enough for the speakers I want to build. But for now it's only duty is for pens. So why not use it for the reason I got it?
 
Venturi should do what you need.. seems to me that someone was saying recently
that they were on sale at Harbor Freight for around $10 with a coupon (might be
wrong, but it was close to that..) That way you could still have the pump to stabilize
with other materials, too.

Speakers? Another speaker nut? I've been in the middle of building a set of Epicure
mini towers for a couple of years now. I seem to be drawn to every pair of old
speakers at yard sales to see what gems are buried in the pile. I swap out a few
capacitors, spray some cleaner, replace some veneer and then I MEAN to put them
up for sale on CraigsList.. but somehow they end up replacing an important piece of
furniture in my living room, office or bedroom. Or they get added to the ever building
stack in the shop. It's a disease, I tell you..
 
NewLondon88 said:
Venturi should do what you need.. seems to me that someone was saying recently
that they were on sale at Harbor Freight for around $10 with a coupon (might be
wrong, but it was close to that..) That way you could still have the pump to stabilize
with other materials, too.

Speakers? Another speaker nut? I've been in the middle of building a set of Epicure
mini towers for a couple of years now. I seem to be drawn to every pair of old
speakers at yard sales to see what gems are buried in the pile. I swap out a few
capacitors, spray some cleaner, replace some veneer and then I MEAN to put them
up for sale on CraigsList.. but somehow they end up replacing an important piece of
furniture in my living room, office or bedroom. Or they get added to the ever building
stack in the shop. It's a disease, I tell you..
Click to expand...

Yeah, but the thing is, you need a larger compressor for a venturi, and I only have my rediculously loud PC pancake compressor. Definitely a future upgrade.


Yeah, I actually got into woodworking after building some speakers a long time ago. Thought I had most of the tools I needed to get into the hobby (boy was I WRONG!). I have a small apartment (Half of the duplex I own), so until I move up into a single family home all for myself, it's only one pair of large speakers at a time.
 
Rifleman1776 said:
24 HOURS???? Not sure if I will try this if that much time is required.
Did the marrow fill with plexi or did it remain porous?
Click to expand...

Well, I want to make sure I get plenty of penetration, and I'm not in a hurry. (and again, I did one large batch with a bunch of antler).

But yes, the solution does get into the marrow, but it's too thin to actually fully fill the marrow. The picture doesn't show it, but the marrow will take a high gloss shine, but it'll be textured.

I may try to fill the small gaps with thin CA and sand down like you do with a money/ bucks blank, but i haven't turned any other pieces recently.
 
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