Occasionally I see old traps pop up for sale that had teeth, or nails welded to the jaws. Just wondering what the purpose behind those was?

I know the old timers that used those traps were after results, but I can’t see what kind of advantage that has over regular jaw, besides Mabey holding an otter or beaver that hits the trap with their belly

Helped keep the foot from sliding. Traps weren't quite the the quality of today's traps.

The trap used to capture the wolves released into yellowstone had teeth. They cause LESS damage. Just like a lot of other trap related stuff, the people writing regs have no clue. Another example is states requiring offsets. The reg happened because the legislators thought that the traps grip less not more.

Holding power, when springs were weaker

There idiots offset traps have more holding power than regular jaw traps

Sometimes i have a few coons almost escape.
if i had teeth on my traps they would definately escape alot

Are you sure about that.

Some flawed information there Ethan^^^ you shouldn't speak about gear you've never used

Please explain...if both traps are equal other that offset vs regular jaws, what makes you think one holds with more “power” than the other? The only thing offset does for me is cause more damage, but I would like to hear your experiences with the two different types of jaws.

He can't explain it. He's young and presumably learning how to trap.

I would however suggest he do more reading and less posting.

X2

I have teeth on all my beaver traps and wouldn't set one without them.

You have obviously never handled old traps such as Newhouse or others, many of them even after a hundred years are still stronger today then new ones made today

I am sure that some old traps were junk then as some are junk now, but I would say many of those old traps made by name brand companies were better back then, then most of those made today just because labor was a whole lot cheaper then nowadays so they could spend more time on fit and finish

What gman said. Ethan would lose a bet with me using offset traps or regular jaw traps versus my Victor 14 and other teethed traps.

Ive used offset traps before the only time they dont hold as good is when you get toe catches and the levers come up higher on an offset making thwm lock up higher makes it way harder for an animal to escape as long as you got a good catch

Snap one with teeth on your hand and snap another one laminated on your other hand and get back to me.
You will find out why they are seldom used anymore.

The levers on a regular jaw are lower when caught an animla applying less pressure on an animals foot

Wanna be, its simple mechanics. An animals foot is thick enough that the trap jaws do not come completely closed with a foot between them. They do however come closer together than non offset. What happens with the offset is the levers come up higher. That gives them a mechanical advantage. More leverage. The disadvantage is when animals like coons step on them. A coons front foot is thin. The jaws close completely. That gap allows the thin front foot of a coon to pop right out.

And I trapped for 30 plus years where my major beaver traps were three dozen #14 Newhouse double longs with offset jaws and teeth. I had tried numerous #4 size traps and tested them with hundreds of beaver catches to arrive at the 14 Newhouse traps that produced the highest catch and HOLD rates. I always set for front feet and the 14 Newhouse with the offset jaws and teeth seemed to result in less problem with wring off than the tight jaw #4 traps while also holding far more of the beaver who stomped one of their big hind feet partially into a trap and were held by a toe or two and a bit of web. The Newhouse had enough power to get a good grip on even the hind foot or tail while lesser traps with teeth could not set the tooth and the critter pulled out. I recaught a number of beaver that had pulled out of #14 Oneida jumps and left just a series of parallel skid marks down the hind foot where the teeth did not dig in and had some of the same problem with #4 Victor longs with welded in teeth EXCEPT that welded in large fence staples are so sharp that they did bite and hold. During those many years trapping beaver in extreme Northern Wisconsin I caught a number of otter in those same #14 Newhouse and can assure folks that they grab and hold otter better than any other foothold I ever set intentionally for otter.

I never used toothed traps dryland trapping BUT another employee at the research lab where we both worked did the trauma assessments for a major wolf capture study that utilized both toothed and non-toothed traps and she found that the toothed traps resulted in less trauma to captured wolves than non-toothed traps, especially shoulder trauma. The best explanation for those results seemed to be that wolves taken in toothed traps fought the traps with less force due to the puncture of a tooth into the lower leg or foot.

Thats crazy but bet you wouldnt be releasing any wolves from ones with teeth!
Or am i wrong?