Neautralizing and waxing at the same time?

L

Lok8ayote

New member
I talked to a guy today that hasn't trapped for some time now, but did it a lot when he was younger. He asked if I dyed and waxed my traps yet and I told him I dyed them about 3 weeks ago and am going to wax them this weekend. So he told me method that he used.

He started by puting a bunch of sage brush twigs and leaves in a bucket of very hot water to neautralize the smell on the traps. I have also read this on this site. But here's the kicker. He then would put wax in the water as well. The wax will melt like a stick of butter and stay floating on the top. He would then pull the trap out slowly allowing the wax to stick to the trap.

Sounds pretty neat. Neutralize, and wax at the same time. Has anyone else done this?
 
Yes I have tried it and it did not work for me. Very poor job of coating the trap with wax. There is water on the trap as you pull it through the wax on top and because wax and water do not mix, it results in a poor job.

I use candle wax and melt it in a bucket. I lower a small bundle of traps into the wax and wait until the traps are the same temperature. Then I pull them out,shake a little, and let dry.

Randy
 
For the past 30 yrs I have boiled my traps in a 55 gal barrel with log wood dye. I also have a 3 gal bucket full of wax heating ( not boiling ) I take the traps out of the boiling log wood dye and shake the water off then put them in the wax while their hot the wax boils the water off the traps and in a min the traps hung up to dry. works for me. bg
 
IF you want to dye and wax your traps at the same time, mix your trap dye acording to the directions. Then shave a pound or two (depending on the amount of water) of trap wax in the mixture. Bring it to a roiling boil and add a few traps. Don`t put so many traps in that the water stops boiling. Let boil for 5 or 10 minutes. Pull traps out, shake them off and hang in a tree. They will have an even fine coat of wax on the outside and they will also absorb some wax into the pores of the metal. They will not rust and they will throw smooth as can be. The key is to bring the mixture to a boil and keep it there. I would not boil the traps longer than 10 minutes (5 is probably enough) or you may posibly weaken the springs. There are those who will tell you this won`t work, but it has for me for 25 years. I still have the original traps that I started with and they have not rusted yet. Good luck. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/tongue.gif Make sure the traps are clean before dyeing and waxing or the dirt will make a mess.
 
OK, you finally pulled me into this one with my way of doing it. First, I boil some irrigation water with sagebrush clippings in it. I fish out most of the sage and bring the water to a boil again adding the wax. When the wax melts, I add the clean trap for about 20 seconds and slowly lift it out. It is then hung in a shed that is exposed to the sun all summer. That "hot" shed remelts the wax and gets rid on any water trapped next to the metal. I also spread sage clippings on the floor of the shed so every time I set foot in there this native plant gives off some of its scent. Works for me! PC
 
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