Can one of you all post a short tutorial on heating the springs to weaken them?
Didn't want to hijack the other thread but I am very interested in doing this

I hold the trap with pliers or vice grips and then use a propane torch to heat each spring for about 20-25 seconds. Check them after they cool as some may need a bit more.

You can a lot of the time just put your feet standing up on each lever grab trap jaws and pull up a few times real hard,a lot of times this will weaken even a new trap.

Wait for the Beav's response. He is the expert.

Chris

I'm a expert on this spring weakening. LOL I did this to all my Duke 1 1/2 rat traps.
I built a rack so I could place a dozen traps In It so I didn't have to hold each trap. I used one of those propane hand held torches.
I heated each spring for about 30 seconds. All springs aren't created equal so you might want to start out with less time per spring to see how It goes. The other thing Is that the very end of the flame Is the hottest part of the flame. So try and do each spring the same.
Wait till the spring Is totally cold before testing the strength.

The thing about the trap being to strong Is all about how much pressure the spring levers effect the dogged jaw. That dogged jaw pushes up against the dog and the gives you more pan tension. Sure you can loosen the pan bolt but that doesn't reduce the pressure from the jaw against the dog. You could also bend down the dog tip but In most cases that lets the trap go off to easy and will get you toe catches.

The reason I did this Is that I witnessed all kinds of rats just sitting on top of my traps and not setting them off. Sure I caught rats but I was more worried about the ones I was missing.

I have a bunch of weak springs I will gladly trade for new springs.