Post deleted by Claude

[fatboy]

I used med brown leather dye on a short starter I made wich turned out well nice dk color and you can always take it down with 4/0 steel wool if its to dark .

 

[buckhornknife]

I have been making knifes for more then 25 yrs and have never used anything but leather dye.

 

[sneakon]

highlight the "scrimshaw lines"?
Old Salt

I've been trying to do this with mule deer and white-tail antler. I'm satisfied with the overall appearance of the antler, but getting the engraving to stand out without coloring the whole antler piece has been a challenge. Liquid dyes result in having to do allot of sanding because they penetrate the antler too much. The "look" I like best comes from using a wood burning tool to highlight the engraved lines, but it really takes a long time to get the antler hot enough to scorch with the wood burning tool (must be a better way? any suggestions?). What I have gotten OK results with is to use acrylic paint. You can get a bunch of different colors at an art supply department and even mix colors to get what you want. I have spread the thick paint over the engraved lines, cleaned off most of the excess with a damp cloth, then sanded the rest when the paint is dry. Like scrimshaw, the paint in the engraved lines remains and the design stand out. They tell me that once dry, the acrylic will be permanent. Still want to find a way to do the burning though.