Marlin Points

[Jose]

i want to know how to properly sand or buff the point of a marllin. im currently letting dry in the sun and i have it covered in salt.

[Warren_Brantley]

Preserving Marlin Bills (5 Ideas):

The old guys at Orange Beach nailed them to the side of the boat house and they would dry out nicely, the fat and grease would drip out and........... they would turn into spindles of bone (like turkey bones) and fall apart in time.

Here are some ideas I found online.

(1) The BEST way is to make a replica of it.

(2) If, however, you insist, you MUST remove every vestige of flesh from the bill almost to the point of having only the "beak" left. Then rebuild the "base" area with epoxy clay and paint. The bill fish are notoriously oily and unless you clean every scrap of meat and fat from it, it will eventually leak and smell like cod liver oil.

(3) In Florida, some folks boil the base of the bill , until they leave it without any flesh, then they are hanged to dry upside down,tip upwards, never rebuild with a green bill. wait 2 weeks, wash with denature alcohol, use a good degreaser such as airplane gasoline, then rebuild with bondo to the original natural size, you can use a wrasp and coarse sandpaper to resculpture it back to shape, spray a thick coat of Kilz and then an automobile gray primer, then paint to the natural colors.

(4) Remove fat, flesh and cartilage from the base, submerge in white gas (Coleman fuel) or a similar degreaser for one week, place into plaster of paris (dry) or cat litter for one week, place back into the degreaser for a week, and repeat the process until there is no odor. Some folks mix Borax with the plaster. Then rebuild with bondo, wrasp and shape, sand, spray with primer and then paint natural colors.

(5) And my personal idea is this one. Iron and aluminum casting shops can be found in the Yellow Pages. They can make a replica for about $35 (or less) and you do not have the muss and fuss.
Regards, WGB