How to save fish jaws for display

Not rocket surgery - I aren't the sharpest crayon in the tool shed-
But a couple guys were interested in a way to save jaws from their trophies so I put together a way I found and use.

Wow, pretty cool idea. The finished product looks awesome !

Back in college, a friend of mine was in a fisheries program and had to do that, but with an entire fish skeleton though. The catch .. the instructor gave them no instructions at all so they had to figure out how to get the meat off and reassemble it correctly. So, he caught a nice black rockfish, cleaned it, wrapped it in a garbage bag, and buried it behind the dorms for a few weeks. Nature did its thing, but holy hell did it stink up the place !

Very cool vid G.
Going to give it a shot next ling I get.

I placed some halibut jaws near an Argentine ant nest (after baking as shown), and the ants did a great job of cleaning all the tissue off, even from inside the hollow parts of the bones.

Wow this is cool!

very cool

Looking forward to spearing a Sheephead someday. Going to try this

I should have did that with my wolf eel.  Next time.  Thanks for sharing. 

Looking forward to spearing a Sheephead someday. Going to try this

Ive boiled a sheepshead to remove the jaws. Comes out nice and clean but stinks up the house. Need to boil it outside next time. Talk about a gnarly set of chompers could pass for chupacabra jaws.

next ling I get.

 While fishing right?

Dude, that's pretty sweet.  I'm going to have to try it

Have you ever tried to do a whole skull with this method?

Aaron

The finished jaws look fearsome!  What do you do with them?

Have I ever done a whole skull? No. A lot of tissue areas would have to be filled with something I imagine. Even the jaws aren't perfect because they're glued bone on bone.

I have a bunch of displays filled with ocean treasures.  Ab shells, moon snail, crab carapaces, fish jaws, urchin shells, limpet, clams... I like being surrounded by what I love.

that is cool.
Having done the skin drying thing, this looks like a fun & similar project. I hope to try this on my next big ling.

thanks for sharing the vid!

that is cool.
Having done the skin drying thing, this looks like a fun & similar project. I hope to try this on my next big ling.

thanks for sharing the vid!

Interest in the skin. I've gotten flat plywood like skin. Any way to keep it softer and use it for something?