Hi all, I kind of feel like an idiot for asking this, but I have to ask anyway. I’ve been boiling traps and getting all ready for colder weather lately, and I realized I was putting my clean just boiled traps into buckets that I only cleaned with water. I’ll wax them but have to boil all I have, then wax them. I don’t have any of the nice fire pit/ Turkey fryers etc that some of you guys have to to it outside (: Someday. I let them hang outside as long as I can, but I have a small yard in town and nowhere that’s for sure safe from theft to leave dozens hanging or for long. Here’s the dumb part. Is there anything you guys do to clean your buckets or baskets you use to store and carry traps? I’ll have about a week between starting to boil, finish boiling, then start waxing. So that’s a lot of time for them to soak up a lot of stink. If there is any. Maybe I’m wrong and getting too carried away worrying about smells. But that’s why I’m asking. I do drywall, and just wash out my empty mud buckets with soap and water air them out a couple days and then use for traps. A long post for a dumb question, but is there anything you do to clean your storage and carrying containers? Or that’s just going too far? Thank you all very much for any input. It’s all appreciated, jamie.

The only dumb question you can ask is the one you already know the answer to. Cleaning your mud pails out the way you do is fine, and they're free. No need to spend money on 'rubber maid' tub products. Keep clean traps in clean buckets, and dirty traps in dirty buckets, without ever mixing them up. You should be good for years. After you boil your traps correctly, lay them out in the grass for several days to maintain the thin layer of rust for the wax to adhere to. Make sure your traps have completely dried prior to waxing. Shake off the excess wax, let cool, then into your 'clean' bucket. Keep the lid on the clean buckets, sealed tight for odor concerns. Actually the real odor concern is from a trap that has made a catch.

Frank.

Thank you very much for the reply. I have one more for you, since almost all kinds of soap are scented, do you think I should try finding something unscented? I’ve always just used whatever dish soap or hand soap I had on hand already and was just doing some cleaning before typing this and realized it. My hands hold the smell of soap after washing. Might the buckets and then traps? I guess that’s maybe a question I’ll need to find out for myself. But figured I’d ask anyway.
Thank you!

If your concern is with the soap smell then don't use soap. I've scraped clean several buckets of joint compound with a putty knife, then warm water using a bristle brush. Good enough except for food related products. I also bought screw on lids to make sealing the buckets easier. Also, you made mention in your first entry that you don't have the stuff to do all your traps outside. Please do not boil, and especially do not wax your traps inside your abode. It's not only smelly, but potentially extremely dangerous!!

Frank.

Don't know your time frame from waxing till use. I've seen some real mess's caused by folks sealing there freshly waxed traps in containers that did not allow any air flow.Some very interesting molds were the result. I would rather put them in a clean container and cover them but allow for some air flow. A cardboard box with the lid folded shut would be suitable. Don't over think this "keeping them clean".

Unscented soap. I get unscented dishwasher detergent at the Dollar store.. $1 a box. Don't know if you have them in Minn. or not

Don't you think dishwasher detergent would be too caustic to clean a plastic bucket? Not for the bucket, but for the individual?

Guys, I've read this thread 3 or 4 times, I don't think we're all on the same page.

If you're worried about the smell of scented soap, in your clean mud buckets, put maybe 2 gallons of warm water in one of your buckets, with about a half cup of regular bleach. Using a wash rag, wipe your buckets down, make them wet inside, then let them air dry.

Bleach is powerful stuff, it doesn't take much. You don't need it where it's going to burn your eyes and nose and peel the skin off of your hands. I forget the exact ratio, buy you can sterilize cooking utensils, washing them in even cold bleach water. According to the Health Department.

Talking about boiling and waxing your traps, and not having a fancy turkey cooker thing. Go out and buy yourself one of the little Coleman propane camp stoves. Around $25, with 2 tanks of gas. The burner sits on top of the propane tank.

The way that I do it, I'll dig a little hole about 4 inches deep, the same size of the propane tank. Stick the tank in the hole and set cinder blocks on each side of the stove. Make it solid, my wax pot holds around 3 gallons, it's sitting on the blocks, just above the burner.

It might take an hour or more to get my wax hot, but you can always find something to do for an hour. Deed honest, you don't want to wax your traps inside the house. That's just too dangerous!

I hope you never see a wax fire, it burns like gas. And you always want to keep the lid for the wax pot handy.

?????

Are we talking about cleaning traps, cleaning buckets, or both?????

Clean your mud buckets out with warm water and forget it.



Yes.

Unscented dishwasher detergent is what I use to clean traps in the boiling kettle.

You don't need rust to get wax to adhere. You need rust to react with dye (organic) if you want your traps to be a black color. Hot wax will adhere to brand new bare steel just fine.

Yup, my bad on the rust requirement. Got carried away with my usual cadence of boil, dye, wax. Should have know better, cuzz I did do a dozen MB 450s last year, boiled and waxed but not dyed. No rusting. Turned out pretty.

Frank.

Thank you all very much for the replies.
I’m sorry I made such a rambling mess out of that. I was basically just trying to ask, if anybody here does anything to wash their buckets, barrels, boxes, bins, or whatever else you store clean traps in, other than clean and wash with soap and water.
Each year I try to get more serious with my trapping and do better jobs with keeping things clean and done the best I can. And just realized I never put much thought into making sure traps stay clean once clean, while storing them.

My question was answered as good as I could have hoped for. Thank you all very much.