Does 100% of the of the old wax have to be removed from traps before dyeing and rewaxing ? I pressure wash, then boil traps let water cool a little and flood pot to float off wax floating on top. Spray off traps and boil again. I would say this removes about 98% of the old wax. My concern is some of the old wax might contaminate the clean wax. Does a vinegar bath remove wax ? I feel I'm way overthinking this, but would like to hear your thoughts. -Thanks

I feel you are correct. Just dye and wax them and go have a fun time trapping with them.

I don't even dye traps anymore, I boil clean and wax or just wax

Or no need to even put a flame under a trap anymore. Soak and hose off (or powerwash), then re wax. Took me a long time to figure out dying is a waste of time. I'm a slow learner.

One of my favorite smells is a wood fire and the smell of trap dye on a cool fall morning. I agree with both above though. Last year I stripped all the old wax of my predator traps and painted them along with the bodygrips and saw no I’ll effects.

I boil them to get the old wax off.Then rinse them and boil again in dye,,then wax them.I like my water traps dyed because it helps them blend in.

I always just put my dye and wax in the same tub. The wax stays on top and the traps are coated as you pull them out. Just put them in you dye /wax combo . If it is boiling the old wax comes off......................

Oh yea if you still got wax on your traps at the end of the season ,some old trapper told me one time" you ain't much of a trapper" . Guess he based that on the fact a caught animal wears the wax off when caught........

While waxing is all you really need to do, nothing kicks off trapping season like a wood fire under the dye pot. I like to hose them off, throw in the dye pot for about two beers worth of time, then wax. SOP for many years.

Nothing sticks out of a creek like a silver circle. Especially looking from a bridge.

I started to write something and realized this subject has come up before. Asked and answered.

Coyote trapping, water trapping is different story

Wash and re wax. Boiling traps (in anything) is a complete waste of time. Took me decades to realize that. I'm a slow learner.

And I don't get why trappers get so turned on to the look of jet black traps. They don't blend well (if that's your purpose). Those of us who live in ROW trapping states can look under any bridge and see a black trap a block away. Might as well paint them flo orange.

What is the purpose of waxing?

Keep trap from rusting or odor control ?

ML

Hey if Stanley Hawbaker used logwood crystals it must be right LOL.

SPEED, odor control (to a point), protection and decreased pan tension on those mink/rat traps ( I hope to never set another rat trap that isn't waxed...ever). Wax protects steel far better than dye ever will. We've all dyed traps and tossed them in the lawn for a couple days and presto....Rust.

That said no trap wax is "odorless". All of use can smell our wax pots from across the yard ( and we're no k9). Diggers aren't always the result of cross contamination. I've had k9s dig at fresh wax. Let air a couple weeks and not an issue.

And nothing blends better than a trap with a light coat of rust color, cover by wax.

I'll hit my water traps with a cheap paint (not black) just to take the shine off them until you get a light coating over time.

But as always...to each his own.

Nor could I find odorless wax, and I knew generations of candlemakers.
When they bring paraffin to their shop its liquid from a tanker. You can smell it a long ways off.


I know a couple of folks that say boiling is not needed. I continue to. Can not get around the thought of the parasites in manure, urine, blood, and saliva. and cooties. Especially in our typical mud season here.
That said, I have carwashed and go a few times when pressed for time.
Someday I might own a pressure washer, until then I boil.

I suppose a water set trap should be dyed the color of the ground or sand under it if possible. Here, that would be black as all the dirt and mud around here would be a black color.
Dirt comes in many different shades. Last year, while I was in western Illinois, I brought home several buckets of field dirt to make wax dirt with. The farmer friend of mine that lives out there just wishes he had this black prairie dirt that is around here. I figured as long as was I making waxed dirt I could at least start with the same dirt as found where I was trapping.
Does it matter? Probably not. But it makes me feel better about the whole thing. lol.
Trapping season just could not start out right without a wood fire, a #2 washtub full of trap dye and a bunch of traps wired together for dipping after checking them over good. And yes, I just throw the wax on top of the dyed water.
I have done this since 1971. It's a tradition. In my family, this one will die with me.

I'm complete opposite from most of you in the East. NOTE: COYOTE TRAPPING. I've never set a water trap. No wait. Once a 330 and caught a beaver.

I think wax is a giant waste of time. Traps are plenty fast without it, so stinking hot here all summer the wax melts into the bottom of your tubs, unless your traps are boiled scent free you are just contaminating your wax and all your traps, when you pull a set I feel the trap should be thrown in the dirty pile which if your camped out boiling and waxing is a giant pain. Even if your home it's a giant pain to deal with during season. Once the wax is on a trap you pretty much are married to it.

When camped out I just bring the dirty ones back in the evening and every couple of days while making supper I just turn the boil pot on and whala! 20 minutes later new, clean fresh traps.

Cat traps are lucky to ever move from the pile they get thrown in at seasons end until they get thrown back in the truck next season. Makes no difference to me or the cats.

One very efficient high numbers MT coyote man who's name is not allowed to be spoken here does the same as me. Just boils and traps. After a few years if he thinks the rust has slowed his springs down he just changes the springs. Easy Easy.

I imagine if I lived somewhere else other than the driest hottest place on earth I might need to change my ways.
Thats why I asked "why wax" I just don't get it.

ML

No offense, but I would think every subject on trapping has come up before multiple times over the years. This is a trapping forum to discuss trapping with other trappers, correct ? If it's not we can archive the whole site and make it a reference only site via the search button, since there are only so many topics to discuss on trapping.