# Swordfish Bill Preservation



## Capt. Myles Colley (Mar 12, 2008)

We are attempting to preserve our swordfish bills. Did a little research and decided to soak them in saltwater for awhile. Here is a picture of day one. I'll keep you posted of the progress.


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## Chris V (Oct 18, 2007)

I still haven't found a good way Myles so I'm waiting to see the full results and the time frame. Thanks for posting.


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## marlinchaser33 (Mar 21, 2012)

We use a 5 foot long piece of 4" PVC, permanently capped at the bottom. We pour some borax on the bottom, add bill, large end down and fill the tube with more borax. We usually leave a pretty good sized bill base so it takes a while to dry out. The borax really does a good job of soaking up the oil out of the bill. After a few months, it’s ready to clear-coat or epoxy or whatever.


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## fishn4fun (May 11, 2008)

Looking forward to hearing the outcome. My buddy and I were just talking about trying to figure out how


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## marlinchaser33 (Mar 21, 2012)

We have done several of them in the borax tube and they dried out very well.


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## Capt. Myles Colley (Mar 12, 2008)

Check the bills today. They still stink bad but are starting to turn white. Still some oil coming out of them.


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## marlinchaser33 (Mar 21, 2012)

When I have dried them quickly they never seemed to last that long. They would always start splitting. Please keep me posted on how yours turn out. Are you going to clear coat them?


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## FISHART66 (Nov 3, 2019)

marlinchaser33 said:


> We use a 5 foot long piece of 4" PVC, permanently capped at the bottom. We pour some borax on the bottom, add bill, large end down and fill the tube with more borax. We usually leave a pretty good sized bill base so it takes a while to dry out. The borax really does a good job of soaking up the oil out of the bill. After a few months, it’s ready to clear-coat or epoxy or whatever.


May be a dumb question but I was just wondering if your putting the Borax in the tube mixed with water or dry? I have 10 bills that are fairly dry but have mold on them. Thanks, Mark Ray


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## aquaholic (Oct 31, 2007)

I have done several, just left them in the water, tied off my dock for 4 weeks, take them out, brush them down with bleach, rinse, leave out in the sun for 2 weeks,flip them over occasionally, smell is gone, paint em up


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