How To Mount/Dry Shark Jaws

[TROP]

Anyone know how to put up/mount/dry shark jaws.

[Mokarran]

You will probably get a lot of opinions on this but mine will be the first!
Clean them by hand with knives. WEAR A FILLET GLOVE! I like to use a standard fillet knife and a short blunt tipped knife, sort of like a pocket knife that doesnt fold. It is very tedious but has yielded the best results for me. If you want to remove the gums in order to expose the rows of reserve teeth, use the blunt knife (that is very sharp) and cut a line horizontally through the gums, with the jaws facing away from you, being very, very careful not to cut out and through the front of the jaws(which is why you don't use a sharply pointed knife). Then, using a pair of needle-nose pliers grab the gums and carefully start pulling them out while making minor cuts on the parts still attached and resisting your pull.
When you have cleaned all the meat from the jaws to your satisfaction completely immerse them in hydrogen peroxide for AT LEAST three days on sharks to 6' and four to five days on sharks 6-12'. A five gallon bucket with a sealing lid works great for this. Label it and be sure to close the lid completely. This will give you some beautifully white and oderless jaws. If you don't leave them in long enough though you will have yellow grease spots start to show up within the first year.
When you pull them out of the peroxide lay them out on some scrap corrugated cardboard and set them in the pose you want them in using other scraps of cardboard and strap them to the cardboard at the corner of the jaws using zip-ties, bread bag ties or something to keep them in place. I like to dry mine so that they will stand up on their own. This doesn't always work b/c every jaw seems to deform or curl differently while drying. I have a set of spinner shark jaws that stands up but leans to the side. Without crazy azz bracing I don't know how to prevent any funky warpage. Put the jaws somewhere where no animals can get to them!! and don't handle them too much. Don't take them off the cardboard for at least a week. Even though they will seem dry and stiff, they actuall don't dry fully for over a month. You don't want to thaw them and re-freeze them either as this will result in lots of cracked cartileage after drying(trust me).

PRACTICE on a set of ho-hum jaws before you attempt any trophy sets!!!

I have my jaws displayed on top of an upper kitchen cabinet and my wife has never complained once about any smell and believe me she would.

Hope this helps Trop!

PS- no ants or boiling water!!!

[TROP]

Thanks Mok !! You guys been out yet. We went out yesterday. Got beat up, but got three blue sharks. Two at 8ft and one at 6ft.
TROP