When waxing the traps do you dip them in stright wax or do you thin it down with something, and how long should you let them set in the wax.

You get the best results when you dip the traps in pure melted wax. I don't know of anything you could thin it with.

However, you must be careful. Dip only dry traps in your wax. Wet traps can cause a steam bubble explosion in your wax pot. Wear proper eye protection. Also, keep a tight fitting lid handy. If your wax pot should catch fire, you can easily smother the fire with the lid.

-- Hal

if you are having the problem of the wax being too thick on your traps, i've encountered that too before. you have to leave the trap in the wax longer to let it heat up to the same temp before pulling it out. had a fella tell me that and my wax job looked 100 times better.

Yep on what Bowhunter said! Last winter I did a dozen traps, they had been sitting outside in the cold. I gave them a quick dunk and hung them in my garage. The next morning I had a thick coating of wax that chipped off easily. So I redid them, only this time the steel was closer to room temp and everything went fine. Yet another benefit to having everything BEFORE the season. Go Figer

The first thing I do is buy a quality oderless trap wax NOT parafin. Good trap wax will have the right additives to work the best.

I use log wood dye. I go through my process of dying my traps. Then I heat up my wax as once it's melted it will stay hot for some time. I then bring the traps in the dye to a good strong boil. And then take the pot off my burner and put the wax pot back on to get it back up to proper heat. At this point this only takes a few minutes.

I then take the traps out of the hot dye. This does two things. The dye job ends up better and the trap is still hot so it drys quickly. I take out two or three traps at a time. I want then hot from the dye so the wax doesn't have to heat them up from cold. Hal corrected me on something, DO NOT PUT TRAPS IN WAX IF THEY ARE NOT COMPLETELY DRY. Just read his post below. I stand corrected.

I them submerge the entire trap and chain in the wax for about 30 to 45 seconds or until the wax calms down (this should not be more than a sizzle of the wax heating the metal, any spattering and your traps are not dry). This tells me that the trap and the wax are the same temp. I them pull it out with a wire hook or tongs and hang it from a wire to dry. I repeat this 2 or 3 traps at the time.

Safety tips; I wear my rubberized fox gloves both for some protection and to keep odors off. I have my trap tongs boiled with traps so I can use them to get traps out of hot dye or wax without spoiling scent. I wear eye protection and pay close attention to what I'm doing. I have no intensions of having a serious wax burn killing my trapping season.

"I have no intensions of having a serious wax burn killing my tfrapping season."

If that's the case, I strongly recommend you stop putting wet traps in hot wax. Your luck will run out some day.

"until the wax calms down" If your wax is churning and rolling, you're about a half step away from a steam bubble explosion.

I'll not allow you to recommend that procedure to people here. I don't so much care if you get yourself hurt, but I do care if you get somebody else hurt.

Beginners, pay attention. Let your traps dry a few hours at least, and better yet, let them dry overnight before you submerge them in hot wax. It dosen't matter what freakin' temperature your traps are when you start waxing them. Even if they are ice-cold, 30 to 60 seconds in the wax pot will bring them up to the temperature of the wax. They're steel, for cryin' out loud, and metals are an excellent conductor of heat. Just let the trap set in the hot wax for a minute or so, and you should get a thin, even, durabel coat of wax.

Hal

Sorry if I got a little bit carried away there, but this waxing traps can be dangerous, and I do worry about folks, especially young folks getting seriously injured.

-- Hal

Hal,

You're right. I've been doing things the same way for so many years, I've probrably just been lucky. But with getting older and such, I'm going to take your advice and let my traps hang longer. It may take a little more time, but sooner or later the assembly line breaks. Thanks again for setting me straight.

i've been adding the wax to the dye so after the trap sit there a spell i'll pull it out slowly throught the wax which will sit at the top layer.
have i been doing it wrong this whole time or is that an acceptable method?

Mr. Hal's concern about waxing traps should not be taken lightly. I am one of the old timers that have worked with this stuff for many years. About three or four years ago I had my first wax fire. No one was hurt, nothing damaged, and I was lucky. I had always waxed on a Coleman stove or old electric hot plate. I had recently bought a stove like one would use to boil lobsters on or deep fry a turkey.

Too hot of a temperature, to much yakking to a person that stopped by and before I new it I had a nice little blaze going on. Scared me enough to try dips and believe me that was a tough choice in itself.

Be extremely careful when using wax. I would suggest that any youngster be under competent adult supervision when waxing traps.

As far a s wax with the dye solution or on water, some guys claim to have pretty good luck, but I never did.

Mac