Good morning everyone. First off I want to thank everyone who has answered all my questions the last few months I really appreciate it. I have another one. This is our first year trapping and right now for various reasons money is really tight and we still have a bunch of essentials to get before the season. And I’m trying to prioritize the necessities. My question is . What should I do with my foot hood and body grips as pertaining to dying? Now I don’t have the equipment to do a boil dye so that’s out . I was looking at the dip n dye , the battle born clear coating or just rattle canning them. I’ve read so many articles and watched so many videos but still not sure what to do. Like I said money is really tight and want to get my traps ready. If it’s an absolute necessity to go the more expensive route then it is what it is. Just looking for some direction. Thanks again.

Power wash them and set them as is. Dying them only helps hide them and wax is to help preserve them. After your season is over, I would power wash them again and hang up to dry. Then next year you can dye and wax them if you like. I know of several professional trappers who use this method successfully. If you feel the need to do anything I would probably paint them.

As above. Don’t spend money on dye nest year . Get a pot, gather walnut hulls, hard maple bark. Place in t shirt and boil. After drying even if ya have to do it again it’s cheap. My friends call me Mr. Cheapo.

What kind of trapping are you going to do? And how many traps do you have.

I’m going to be doing a little of everything. Coyote,fox, bobcat , fisher beaver mud rat and mink

I dipped 4 dz mb 550 in rustomium rust inhibitor primer twice and let dry/air out for 2 weeks in the sun then dipped once in bullet proof and was very pleased with the results. I trap in a very wet environment and they held up extremely well.

When I was young I would mix some walnut hulls in water then soak my traps in that for a few days. I didn't heat them up at all and gave me a decent dye job.

Rattle can flat black air them out for a couple weeks been doing this for years it works

Rattle can rust oleum actually works pretty well and is the easiest way to go. Or clean and wax like mentioned above. You don't need a big pot to wax in, just deep enough to hold the largest traps you are using. Check Good Will, I've bought several almost like new 8-12 quart cooking containers at the local one here. Some are even stainless.

If you are tight on money rusty metal primer or paint in a spray can is the way to go. It works.

If you can swing it, rusty metal primer with equal parts of acetone makes a amazing dip for traps. Dip and let dry a couple of days in the sun, then dip again. Make sure to set and check each trap as you might need to clean a trigger or pan notch.

DoubleJ- Where are you located in NY?

This works great I did about three dozen dipped twice with a quart and had some left over. If it’s hot add acetone as needed.

I bought a gallon of miss matched exterior Latex paint for $12.00. I cut It with 2 gallons of water. I dipped 60 160 BGs and had about 2 gallons left over. Did a great job and with very little waste and with complete coverage. And about a 3 hour drying time.
All you need to do Is stir a few times since the paint wants to settle to the bottom. Dip shake and hang to dry.

I’m up in the watertown area.

Has anyone tried a "rust converter" type product on their traps. I have some that I use for other things but I'm thinking about trying it on a few traps.

I did a dozen not long ago as an experiment. In fact they’re going in the ground today. Used that rustoleum rust reformer stuff.

Stuff better wear like iron. In spray form at least ends up costing about $1.15 a trap for the initial treatment!

The spray is too expensive and slow. And I don’t see it offered as a quart option a guy could use as a dip. A dip would be the way to do it of course.

This is the stuff that I have on hand. It dries and converts surface rust to a type of primer. I'm going to try a few to see how it goes.

If these raps are new, just use them as is the first season. I do all new traps this way and they catch as many coyotes as my seasoned traps. Worry about treating them next year. Plenty of good advice here and I’ve done everything above. I just started doing this with new traps maybe 15 years ago or so. Works like a charm.

Thanks everyone for the responses. I’m going to try just using them as is this year. Will let you know how it all works out.

Phosphoric acid?