I have a Newhouse # 5 Community and wondering if you can educate me on springs. What year did Newhouse go to machined springs? One spring on this trap is stamped 'Sturgeon Falls' and there are also a couple other stamps that are too worn to make out. Any help on the Community No. 5 would be greatly appreciated.

Trip hammered springs were used from 1858 to 1889. Starting in 1890 machined springs were used. A No. 5 Community could have been made either way. I have not ever seen or heard of a "Sturgeon Falls" spring stamping.

I haven’t heard of “Sturgeon Falls” being stamped on springs either - can you post a couple of photos?

Thanks for the replies. The springs on this trap are hand forged. I saw one the other day that had machine springs and wondered if it was legit.

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The Community #5’s were made from 1865 to 1888 and I believe most should have trip hammered springs with either Oneida Community or Kenwood stamped springs. I’m not familiar with Sturgeon Falls - maybe they are old replacement springs? The swivel looks like it’s attached to the base link as it should be. There are a few on here that will probably chime in. Nice looking trap.

I would think that you are correct that the hand forged spring must be a replacement. I think that it is really cool.

Sturgeon falls is an Ministry of natural resources district in Ontario Canada. Or atleast it used to be. Your trap is not unique there has been a few traps marked like that found in Ontario. The fact that you have one shows that traps get around as time moves along.
In the 1970s that mnr office was still probably trapping bears with said traps. By the 1980s they would have moved to foot snares or culvert gate traps. The Newhouse bear traps left in their possession would have been disbursed amongst the game wardens, went missing or sold somehow.

The springs look like the original Newhouse triphammer springs to me. Hard to tell from those pics.
Someone just stamped their stamp in them, you see the sturgeon falls stamps on the bases too.

Nice bit of info there, Mike. I can’t make out the trip hammer marks on the photos but that would be a plus if they are the original springs. Could be the Oneida Community or Kenwood stamps are the ones that are unreadable in the original description.

Pete, All Community #5 Newhouse should have trip hammered springs. Kenwood #5 Newhouse traps can have trip hammered or machine springs.

Thank all of you for your input. As you can see, I'm a novice collector. I guess I knew hand forged wasn't the right terminology, but trip hammered didn't come to mind though I'd heard the term before.

I have no reason to doubt that these springs are the original to the trap. The reason I brought up the question was because I saw a Community # 5 with machine springs and I didn't think the springs were correct for that trap.

There are a couple of other stampings in the vicinity of 'Sturgeon Falls' but they're very faint. Maybe you guys have a trick for making those more legible. Thanks for the help.

Dean, Thank you for the correction and information.

Guys have used white chalk dust to highlight the stampings. Helps show up better for photos too. Doesn't hurt the trap and you can wipe it off later if you want.

Great idea. Thank you.

Based on what you can see, what would be a fair price for this trap? The springs seem weak in my estimation.

The trap collectors guide puts a Community 5 at $1750 in excellent condition with cast jaws and teeth. If the springs are weak that will affect condition as does pitting. The legibility of the spring stamps factor in as well.

If that was yours on eBay that disappeared, they won’t let bear traps stay up for some reason which is a shame - once they find one it’s taken down. I think a few “ buy it now” listings have made it before being caught though.

That was me. What do they have against bear traps? eBay have their equivalent of 'fact checkers' running around. Thanks for the reply.

If you want to sell the trap, you can list it on the Trap Shed Forum or if you prefer an auction and you if you do Facebook, there is an NATCA site or Trapping Treasures or boycott ebay tap collectors group.

The Facebook groups are private just like the Trap Shed.

There are no sales tax to worry about and the only fees are the shipping and no restrictions on Bear Traps.