I agree with the square stock comment.
I like base d ring to be slight off center the moving back forth will be cut back to only half a trap then,,, because of the principle you can't push a soft rope up hill

If you count the year I started 1966, I have 53 years of experience compared to Taxi and cat4fish. and let me tell you its GREAT when your experience years equals your I.Q. (LOL). I get smarter every year!!! Can't add anything here except I lost more coyotes than I liked from my #2 Montgomery RJ's in the 80's UNTIL I flattened the inside of those "rod" jaws with a file to increase perpendicular surface area to the captured paw (with minimum or no visible damage). The 1.5 Mont. RJ's actually held as many or more coyotes for me than the #2's until I filed them (possibly because the 1.5's made more toe catches). Now with all the jaw improvements on the current foot traps,,,, we are "fine tuning" the tool's points of contact to the betterment of quarry and trapper. For what its worth, I use both cast jaw 650's and 550's with the same results for each type (holding percentage) on a 24 hour check... the mike

Small air grinders can use several types of polishing discs available from different outlets. For jobs like this they would be superior to a regular 4-1/2" grinder. Easy to use one handed and easy to adjust pressure on the disc to control metal removal. Yeah, you need a compressor, but I bet most of you guys have one.

This may help with the lam stuff..

might help too if you really wanna get fancy


So the base trap is an unmodified Sleepy Creek #2DBLS I got in a trade. So first thing we need to do is clean off the jaws and jaw faces, a flap disk on the ole' angle cleans it up real nice in a few swipes.
Before

After

Now we laminate the trap. Im using pieces of cattle pannel. If you don't use a material heavy enough you can bun through it while welding the seam shut. One problems with the pannel is its pretty heavy so you wanna bend it a lil so it confirms to your jaws .
Clamped before welding

After


Now we need to either remove or clamo the springs down so theirs no pressure in the jaws . if you don't know what your doing the pressure fromthe springs Can warp the jaws while welding due to heat. If you've never done this CLAMP OR REMOVE SPRINGS ! As you see here I have mine clamped with some vice grips so I can work .

Now were going to welded the seam between the jaw and the lamination. This is also a good time to weld your lugs if you want it off set.

Just wanna show how hot your jaws can get and why you wanna be carful.

Now the seam is welded were gonna grind everything down flush. Again a flap disk is best.
Before

After

Make sure not to grind too long in one spot,you'll and up washing out the jaw..
Lil bit of paint aaand


This isn't needed but I know some films love the way this looks so hope this helps !

It's always a plus to break any sharp edges on trap jaws
A disc sander will work fine on the outside edge of the jaw...too bulky for the inside edge
A small air die grinder (or Dremel tool) is easier for the inside edge of the jaw
A hand file also works well on either edge
A big help is to use a wire wheel on the jaws AFTER breaking the edges with your tool of choice

In my opinion for the 650 because of their power.....laminations are needed
650's can easily handle laminations because of their spring strength
Inside, outside or both .....just personal preference from experiences

I also,often use a half round file to initially break the edge on the inside.It goes pretty quickly,then smooth up with a Dremel flap wheel.

Great post! My take on this....have used the 650s since they were introduced. Great trap... I have 7 dz.! I did have a learning curve using this trap but now feel very confident on how to use it very efficiently. I have caught a large amount of coyotes and coon in these traps as well as around a dz red fox and around 30 beaver in these traps. Consider trap check laws we have a 24 hr ck here. Consider chain length and swiveling as conditions they differ every where and most importantly consider the individual animal and it's disposition BEFORE discussing paw damage. I used the trap without jaw lam.s for two years and had very few issues but again great swiveling, a 24 hr check and lots of coyotes back then. Began experimenting with the different jaw lam.s that MTP offered and again very few issues. I believe the inside lam.s are an easy way to reduce THE CHANCE of trap issues and some of the live market guys I spoke with like the inside and outside lam.s for their purposes. Honestly, I prefer the outside lam.s over the other styles for our freeze, thaw, snow and ice conditions...helps with grabbing those toes and hanging on. Great trap and I would personally laminate before I would sand or dremel tool. Thanks.

Lots of good responses! Thanks guys. I went the lamination route. Saved like $25 buying the kit instead of buying them already laminated. Figured an hours worth of work and an excuse to be in the shop was worth it. Haven't fully decided on inside or outside yet but it will be a spur of the moment decision I guess. Leaning towards outside at this moment.

MChewk brings up a really good point. Seems like a lot of guys get wrapped up in the trap itself where I'm a firm believer that if it's swiveled properly and you're checking on a regular basis you'll reduce foot damage greatly. Our check period is 72 hours here but when possible, especially if there's a chance for fox and coon, I try to go every 48 during weekdays and 24 during weekends. I looked into the shock springs as well but didn't pull the trigger on them yet. May do that in the near future.