Jaws

click here for home page

This page will explain to you how to prepare your Jaws

 

Remember the Movie Jaws when  Quint the mad Irish Great White hunter is introduced to the Chief of Amity police, and he is boiling up all those jaws ready to preserve them. Well don't do it as that is total Bullshit, all that happens is that the teeth drop out. Many a good set of jaws have been lost due to this movie. Another total bullshit idea is that you are told to put the jaws on an ants nest, and come back in a few days. Well this also stuffs them up. The best way to do your jaws is as follows, but don't worry if you cant get it right first time , as it will take a couple of goes...

Shark Jaws Gary 2.jpg (16093 bytes) Grant 5 shark.jpg (107101 bytes)

Garry Lee with a couple of jaws cleaned and ready for setting. Also very well cleaned jaws on reels

The first thing you have to do is to remove the jaws from the shark. This should be done with a very sharp knife. It is a good idea to wear some leather gloves, as you most likely cut your hands on their extremely sharp teeth. Try to pull the jaws away from the mouth so that you can get a knife up over the front of the jaw structure and cut away around the jaws, but do not cut into them. As you follow the jaw around you will come across two cartilage knobs that you will have to cut through. You will also have to cut though part of the gill section. When you have done all this and finally removed the jaws from the shark, you will have to clean them meticulously , this will take about 2 hours to clean a decent set. In behind the jaws lies the gums. With your very shark knife you will have to cut this away to expose upto 7 rows of new teeth coming through, this is very important as if you leave the gums in they will start tosmell  as the tissue decomposes. When you have removed all the tissue and the fine membrane which cover the actual jaw structure place them in a bucket of 25% bleach 75% water for about 2 hours to kill any bacteria. It is then time to set them. The best way I have found is to use two sticks and wedge them both horizontally and vertically to keep the jaws fully open as in the above picture. Then leave them out to dry, but not in the sun (and away form the dogs) for a few days. After this the jaws should be ready and set. Then spray the jaws with a clear automotive lacquer, I always keep spraying the jaws several times to ensure a nice lustre look, waiting until each coat is finished drying before applying any furthur coats.

Shark Jaws Grant & Tina.jpg (27807 bytes)Shark Jaws Gary.jpg (33473 bytes)

The next stage is to hang them up on the wall.....Grant and Katrina Lee with a nice set Bronzie and

Mako Jaws. Notice Dads sets of jaws in the background.Garry Lees very large Bull Shark jaws.

Shark teeth-jaws 1.jpg (22553 bytes)      Shark teeth-jaws 2.jpg (18034 bytes)

A set of Shark Jaws prior to donation............Sorry for the ghraphic exposure, but that's what await you if you want to be Dentist. !!!!!!!!  But as you can see they clean up well !!