rusty coilsprings

I have looked through the archives and could not find directions on how to prepare rusted traps. I have several coil spring trap that have weathered outside for several months but would like to know how to get them prepared for the upcoming season? can anyone help me with some step by step directions??

All i do is soak mine in vinegar for a day or so then wash them with clean water. If your going to dye the traps you need a little surface rust so a light coat left after the vinegar is fine or if there isnt enough, let them sit out a day or so. If prefered now is the time for dying and waxing or in my case i just wax them and put them in a sealed container. Make sure to scrape the wax off of the end of the dog and pan notch before setting or you might end up with bruised fingers. On a side note...i tune and/or repair all my traps before i even soak them in the vinegar

Crankbait, was that detailed enough, or do you need more breakdown and instructions?

Not really. would like to know the whole process from start to finish. Trying to put together bits and pieces from the archives can be confusing! I am going to trap grey fox? I need to know about the wax process to, because i tried it but the wax was real thick and did not stick very good. thanks..

The process from start to finish can be a little long for a post like this, but is covered in many trapping books. How clean are getting your traps? They should have a light to good coat of surface rust, but not crusty or caked.

How are the traps before you dye them? What metheod are you using for dye and how are you trying to wax?

Don't make this harder than it is.Waxing and dyeing are two seperate procedures don't try to combine them.On the Trapper Edu. page click on the ND trappers manual they give a good description of dyeing and cleaning your traps.You can substitute dish washer detergent for the bakeing soda they suggest with good results.Waxing is covered in detail in the archives

can i just spray them with a pressure washer then dip them in parrifin wax or am i totally wrong.

You can if you want to. I don't believe that would be too deleterious, as long as you clean them well.

-- Hal

is parrifin wax the same as trappers wax or is it different

Different.

-- Hal

what is the difference?
does it make a difference?

Trap wax has a few added ingregients (like rosin) to make it tougher. You can wax with paraffin and do okay. Some folks I know use candle makers wax.

-- Hal

When we were young we would sometimes use a combination of paraffin and bees wax. But last time I checked you could buy trappers wax for about the same or less than paraffin so why wouldn't you want to use a good quality trapping wax. That may help reduce some of your problems.

Spend a little more time reading and then ask questions. Oh and a real old time way to clean up rust is good old Cocacola.

One thing to add to my previous post. I set pan tension after waxing. Everything else gets done before but the tension gets set after.

Yeah BillG, except that coke is alot more expensive than plain old white vinegar from wally-world. I couldn't believe how effective vinegar was at removing trap rust!

well I manage a True value hardware store and pariffin wax is a stock item and i buy at wholesale, so $1 a pound is cheaper to me and i was taught to use my resources to my advantage.

Dated for search.