rusty traps
- Thread starter WLONG
- Start date
CoyoteJohnWilson
New member
WLONG,
The easiest and fastest way I know of is to boil them in Drano Lye Crystals.
Get a big black enamel corn pot, or a cut off barrel, build a fire under it, when it boils, put in your traps, still boiling, pour in Drano, boil for a minute, remove and rinse with a hose, don't touch with bare hands, hang up to dry and air out for a couple days before dying and dipping in wax.
The Drano will remove the rust and any other contaminants that may be on the trap.
Good Luck
CoyoteJW
The easiest and fastest way I know of is to boil them in Drano Lye Crystals.
Get a big black enamel corn pot, or a cut off barrel, build a fire under it, when it boils, put in your traps, still boiling, pour in Drano, boil for a minute, remove and rinse with a hose, don't touch with bare hands, hang up to dry and air out for a couple days before dying and dipping in wax.
The Drano will remove the rust and any other contaminants that may be on the trap.
Good Luck
CoyoteJW
Jonathan64
New member
Here is a comparative before and after for a very rusty set of coils. I soaked them in straight white vinegar for about four days
nvstickbow
New member
By the time that you rinse them in clean water and then dye and wax them there won't be any scent left.
Bill B.
New member
I'm new to trapping and was fortunate enough to catch a bobcat last December. However, I am not having much luck with my target species: beaver. What is involved with the dye and waxing of traps? I am using connibear 330 body traps and the beaver always seem to be smelling me or something.
puppyhunter
New member
fellow told me of a method few years back on cleaning rust off of traps. he is a collector of old traps and i gave him on old rusted beaver trap of my grandfathers to try. he brought it bake in great shape, but the trap was really beyond service. out at the farm we had alot of used anti freeze out of the equipment and old cars that were junked.but i used the bottom half of a 55 gallon drum put in 48 1.75 and 36 110 covered all with 25 gallons of anti freeze left sit for one week and man did they come out nice. saved all my anti freeze for next year if needed.rinsedall off good before treating. want a good free trap dye and this stuff works. go get 2 plastic shopping bags full of the red sumac heads, 30 gallons of water and boil/simmer for two or three hours or the time it takes you to drink a twelve pack.lol. then wax. but those heads do work. keep pets away they say that sumac boiled that way can be poison to pets people if drank
puppyhunter
New member
Hi ya biil, you should be using your 330 completly under water and as such they can't smell while they are swimming underwater. Probaly trouble with your location more than anything.you should still practice keeping your scent off of the traps as much as possible. are you having trouble with your traps moving?you need a good anchor system. use old dead sticks for supports, by using green wood you can just be throwing a food sorce to them, and definately dont use any white or peeled wood for any of your supports. Dont try to over guess them, trap them in the same way you would a very over sized muskrat, thats really what they are in a way.if you are using cables, drown wires ,or a cable back to the ground treat them as well. hope some of that might help if you are trapping open water, dont be afraid of using scent around area if in open water.
Bill B.
New member
puppyhunter,
I'm trapping on a creek, so the water is moving all the time. I've been staking them down very well, but I'm not trapping in their runs. Mostly at their slides that I feel comforatble other animals are not using. I'll be out this weekend trying to identify some runs in the creek bottom to set. As long as it doesn't rain I should not have a problem doing that.
Thanks for the help.
I'm trapping on a creek, so the water is moving all the time. I've been staking them down very well, but I'm not trapping in their runs. Mostly at their slides that I feel comforatble other animals are not using. I'll be out this weekend trying to identify some runs in the creek bottom to set. As long as it doesn't rain I should not have a problem doing that.
Thanks for the help.
puppyhunter
New member
Bill if you are going out to find some runs and you set up in them make sure you use some trash or dive sticks to get them off the surface and down to your trap level.I dont know Arkansas laws on the use of guide sticks so check your regulations first before taking my advice on the sticks. How fast is the current on your stream? take that into consideration a little bit on the angle of your set. If current is really strong you might want to use a foot hold trap buried up the slide just a bit with a drown wire. reason being if current is to strong when they swim towards bank and slow down there butts will swing downstream along with their body as well to a certain point,thus changing their angle slighty. Consider that ,where might they put a foot in trying to get a grip on the streambank, sink a trap there if you can. On a stream or any where for that matter, dont forget a good castor mound ok.couple stripped stickes works great at those runs as well, show a little fresh white skin.Hope that might help you. Good luck.
ADCcoyote
New member
When you dye traps with logwood you want some surface rust as that is what the dye hangs on to and penitraits the metal with. I don't like to dye shiny traps as it doesn't stick, I want a slite rust on my traps, I use muradic acid and cold tap water at 1 part acid to 10 parts water allow them to soak a day or two rinse off well let them new traps set and then dye them after the metal has been etched, the dye holds much better.
found out that Zep toilet bowl cleaner (for lime, rust and scaling) cleans the rust from traps in about 10-30 minutes. not sure if it will hurt them if you leave them in longer. it's a thick liquid that contains hydrochloric acid so be carefull. i use it full strength. you can find it at home depot.
i just put the traps in a plastic bucket, put in your traps and pour in the cleaner until traps are covered. then, i take them out and rinse them with the garden hose. put on some rubber gloves and the rust and other tarnishes will rinse or easily rub right off.
i also found this stuff removes the chrome finish on anything in about 5 minutes. remember to use it full strength.
i just put the traps in a plastic bucket, put in your traps and pour in the cleaner until traps are covered. then, i take them out and rinse them with the garden hose. put on some rubber gloves and the rust and other tarnishes will rinse or easily rub right off.
i also found this stuff removes the chrome finish on anything in about 5 minutes. remember to use it full strength.
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one more thing...
instead of waxing and dying them, here is what i do:
after getting all the rust off and down to the bare metal, i hit 'em with a good coat of rustoleum. i use natural, flat brown. after painting them i'll hang them in the sun for a couple months until they "gas-out" and that spray paint smell goes away. then, i'll put them in a smaller coleman ice chest on a bed of dirt i collect from the area i trap in. i then toss a couple of fresh-cut pine or cedar boughs and toss them in with the traps and dirt. i shut it up tight and put it in the corner of the garage until trapping season.
now keep in mind i do this in spring so they'll be ready come winter. seems like alot less work than waxing and dying.
we'll see if this method has any success.
oh, i'll treat my coni's i'll use on land the same way. the water ones just get painted and hung.
instead of waxing and dying them, here is what i do:
after getting all the rust off and down to the bare metal, i hit 'em with a good coat of rustoleum. i use natural, flat brown. after painting them i'll hang them in the sun for a couple months until they "gas-out" and that spray paint smell goes away. then, i'll put them in a smaller coleman ice chest on a bed of dirt i collect from the area i trap in. i then toss a couple of fresh-cut pine or cedar boughs and toss them in with the traps and dirt. i shut it up tight and put it in the corner of the garage until trapping season.
now keep in mind i do this in spring so they'll be ready come winter. seems like alot less work than waxing and dying.
we'll see if this method has any success.
oh, i'll treat my coni's i'll use on land the same way. the water ones just get painted and hung.