I'm making a chandelier out of antlers

[gsganzer]

I've only found a few pairs over the last 2 years so I'm jealous.

If they sit on the ground for any length of time, the squirrels and mice will usually eat them up for the minerals.

 

[billbill1]

Eddie, do you ever sleep? Huntin' hog all night!! Man you've got stamina,

 

[EddieWalker]

Rob,

The drops are from about a decade of hunting and backpacking all over the West. They are mostly Mule Deer, but some are also Blacktail. I've only found one small Whitetail drop her on my land, and that was barely a forked horn.

The very best ones there are a matched set that I found above Quincy in the Sierra Nevadas. They are a 4x5 with eyeguards that would have had a 27 to 29 inch spread. It all depended on how you held them. Very nice!!!

Some of them have minor nicks out of them from being nibbled on and a few that didn't make it into the chandelier were chewed up too badly to use. I have one 4 point drop from Oregon that has some realy nice chew marks on it that I put into a case with a bobcat I had stuffed. I also have some elk drops that have some damage and a moose drop from Alaska that is really bad, but will make a great project down the road. But that's a different thread one of these days.

Eddie

 

[EddieWalker]

I filled a squirt bottle with some Minwax stain I had. I forget the color, but it's pretty dark. I just kept squirting it until I had it all covered.

Eddie

 

[EddieWalker]

I want the antlers to look fresh. Kind of like they just fell off the deer, which means ivory tips. I first tried hudnred grit sandpaper, but that was too fine and didn't accomplish much. Then I tried 60 grit and had good results.

I'll do a few tips every day until it's done. I might miss a few days too, there's just no rush to get it done.

Eddie

 

[EddieWalker]

I bought 15 lights online that I need to attach to the antlers when I'm done sanding. The trick was to figure out how to do this. I decided to cut a notch with a dremel that will hold the baseplate of the lights. Then I'll glue them in and wire them up.

This picture gives you an idea of how they will look.

Eddie

 

[EddieWalker]

I finally got tired of moving this thing out of my way all the time, so I finished it. Now that it's done, I think it looks pretty nice in my shop.

Eddie

 

[Bird]

Yep, that looks real good.

 

[wushaw]

It does go with the decore

 

[3RRL]

Pretty impressive Eddie,
Great job man. Heck, even Bird likes it.