Personally, I would not use salt to assist in the rusting process. Place your traps in a dark damp area and turn them every week or so. It takes longer this way but it rusts pretty evenly.

I think I'm going to get away from rusting however. I've gathered enough accurate infromation from this forum to conclude that I'm not going to rust traps again. I like to use dye,even though it probably really isn't necessary as stated previously. I think I'm becoming a better trapper by evolving with new ideas that are proven effective. You'll find alot of good ideas on this forum so keep yourself tuned in with an open mind.

The vinegar soak will clean and rust them very nicely with little effort over night. I don't use lye anymore as it seems to make my traps smell even after dyeing. It is also very safe compared to lye, and no boiling is required. Works great for dulling new snares too.

Soaking snares is vinegar is a bad idea!

Vinegar will eat away at the galvanization (zinc) and promote rusting in the cable. It also can penetrate the strands of the cable and eat away at the snare from the inside. It well be hard to neutralize the vinegar once it penetrates the cable.

An unwanted consequence of soaking snares in vinegar is that you can loosen the ferrules! If you eat the zinc coating off of each little strand of cable, the strands become smaller in diameter, and they can loosen themselves inside the ferrules.

-- Hal

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