I know that there is some history with the #9 wolf trap with various owners and updates. I am a little curious as to where this one might have fit in on the timeline. I have had ones with both Manning and Alaska stamped on the pan, but this one just has NO 9. It also has an interesting swivel.

I don't know where specifically it fits in, but Al or JR sure will.

Meanwhile, I bet it belongs in the "#9 Museum!"

Pete

I know that Dean corresponded with dad about the swiveling on the #9 shortly after Dean got it. That swivel looks like the early swivels that dad made. He made and sold a bunch of them that were made out of pieces of pipe with holes drilled for the Jhooks.

its a early dean wilson before he got name change to alaska 9. does it have a sn number stamped on it? those early ones had that swivel. ive heard about 200 of them made but hard to confirm that.

Is it stamped with initials on the bottom? The Manning 9's that I had were stamped with my initials on the base frame.
Like Martenpine said, I think it's an early Dean Wilson trap.

Manning trap...

Awesome.I have his dvd

Could probably sell that trap here on the Trapperman auction

I haven’t really looked it over that well, just cleaned the pan up a bit to see what was on it. I’ll look to see if there is anything else stamped on it. I would like to visit a #9 museum. They really have a neat history tied to trapping in Alaska.

Very nice.

This trap does not have any other markings on it that I can find.

I have some with that swivel on them, I think at least one is just stamped with the #9 and nothing else.

I do have to say that it is pretty cool that these two trapping legends corresponded on an aspect of these traps. We have the ability to communicate so easily today compared to when their correspondence took place. Do you know if Dean purchased any of your dad’s swivels, or did he just make his own?

I don't know if Dean purchased the swivels from dad. I just recall sitting in the Klondike motel in Fairbanks with Dean when he told me that dad helped him out with the swiveling of his #9. He said that they wrote back and forth on it. That swivel is identical to the ones dad made, but dad's were of a thinner walled pipe.

It is a early DW trap. The one that is stamped with a number and initials, is a Steve Titis trap.

Pretty cool

Al, I am pretty sure the photos I took are from the same trap.

i think Steve used the manning pans, i have several with numbers and initials like Al says. the original Mannings ive had dont have any markings on base

Ah, makes sense Steve used up the Manning pans. So even with a Manning pan if they have your initials/serial # , they are a Titus built trap.
It's good to add to the confusion for trap collectors

Is there anything written up on the history of the #9? If not, it would be interesting if someone would put something together. Someone on here shared this cool write up about the Sterling mj600 when I asked some questions about some that I have. It would be really neat to have something like this for the #9.

It's good to add to the confusion for trap collectors [/quote]

Do some of these #9s have some collector interest? I was thinking of selling this one, but thought the pan was unique so I started this thread to find out a little about it.

Also Manning/Titus traps and early Dean Wilson traps. The pans where hand stamped.

[quote=milkcrate]Is there anything written up on the history of the #9? e]

I started at one time putting something together however JR mentioned he was planning on writing something, so I never finished it.

Here is the deal. You have the first model Dean Wilson # 9.You cleaned the pan which some collectors are ok with. Some are not. There is more to the story and if you research a past thread I initiated you will find out more.

There are only a couple of this model in existence!! LOL

Does anyone know who was making the #9 when it went from the round rods to the big bolts holding the springs?

The 1st trap I built in 2025

That’s pretty cool. I bet you could get people to line up for those. Are you going to market them?

JR

Those are all #9s. He's the one who makes them.

That is very kind of you to point that out, but I am well aware of what they are and who makes them. I was inquiring if he was going to market one with teeth, like the one in his pictures.

The 1st one is being donated to the ATA for this year’s Fling. I will be making more in the future due to the high interest from the guys who saw it in my shop. Kind of a fun build.
You were asking about the #9 Museum, well here is the start. Only missing a couple of and one of Chuck’s ivory 9’s would look good in there…

what is the stamping on the frame state. first i noticed it?

Looks like it says 2025

JR did you get the mangled ones I saw that were on Dean's wall in the Klondike motel? I asked what in the world happened to those traps, and he said that was the result of testing.

I did Paul. They are on the bottom right in the display. Dean and our own Wolverinebait were the testing team for that endeavor. I also acquired the door chime trap that hung about the door at Dean’s Klondike shop. I promptly hung it above the door in my shop. Love the sound it makes and memories it brings

Very nice.I have Dean's trapping dvd.Love watching it.

Yep, that was me that "tested" those traps. When Dean first acquired that trap business, he called me to come over and give him my opinions on how & where he might be able to improve the #9. So, I just thought that if he wanted to make it stronger/tougher, or at least to know how strong they already are, then to start with, we need to know what the weakest link is, and that includes the chain, swivels, everything. So, I suggested that we could pull on the trap with a pickup, until something gives or breaks, and go from there. But we'll wreck a few traps doing that,... but he thought that was a good idea, so that's what I did. We took a few finished traps, with 10' chains, and ran a towing chain thru the big ring and chained the trap to a big spruce tree, and I took a 1" diameter mooring line and made a monkey-fist knot in one end and put the knot inside the jaws of the trap, hooked the mooring line to the back of my truck, and slowly pulled on it while Dean watched to see how things bent, what went first, etc. And I think, if I remember right, on every test we ended up pulling the jaws out. But animals aren't going to slowly keep pulling harder and harder, their greatest pull would be a running impact when they hit the end of the chain. So I tried "smacking" it with a little momentum too, and maybe we popped the rope out of the jaws once or twice without pulling the jaws out of the base,.. can't remember for sure. We also tried attaching the chain in several different ways to the trap as well,... I know we wrecked at least a half-dozen traps doing all this. But the final conclusion was that no wolf, caribou or even a moose was going to do to that trap what I did with my pickup. The "weakest link" in the Alaskan #9 was well above what any animal could get to. That's when Dean asked me if I would help him with all this,... his welding was not to good with all his shaking, etc, so I did. So the main changes we made were focused on speed & cost. And the first thing we did was to make up some jigs, so we weren't making each piece one at a time.
But this also reminded me, when people were talking about the various changes that happened over time, and different owners, and having a collection of all the different "models",... that there was a very small "run" (12 to be exact) of this trap that had a different spring lever than all the rest. (I'm sure I told JR about this at some point) I had always thought, right from the start, that the thing that looked the worst, or looked the least "profesional" with these traps, was how the spring ears are welded onto each side of the spring lever. Even with my own welding, it was the only "homemade" looking thing about the trap (IMO). So, after talking and thinking about that with Dean, taking some measurements, he had his parts company make up 12 sets of spring levers, where instead of cutting out that big square hole for the jaws to go thru, they would make a sideways "H" cut there, and curl each half 180° outward, and the spring ears would come already made! 8 less welds per trap, and no (sometimes) ugly welds to look at. The only issue? I think that each lever was $4-5 more than the old style, and Dean didn't think that most trappers would want to pay $10 more/trap just to have nicer looking spring ears. And I'm sure he was right. Anyway, he gave them all to me to test out, even tho we both had no concerns that there would be any issues with that new style,... and I've caught many wolves in those traps, and they work just fine. Anyway, here's some pictures of that "factory-style" spring ear, that only came on 12 #9's, at least while Dean had these traps.
This is one of the #9's with the "built-in" spring ears

This compares them, "factory-built" ears on the left, hand-welded ears on the right

And a close-up of the curled-out spring ears

That was a great idea, Wolverinebait. And also great that you still have the traps. Obviously one of them belongs in the #9 Museum. Thanks for your contributions to such a legendary trap.

Thank you for adding to that. It is some very interesting information.

Thanks Dave. Interesting footnote to the history of the 9's!

Pete

Good to see your handle on TM Dave. Good information also, THANKS!

Hey Larry,... long time no see. Yeah, I can't trap like I used to anymore either, but I still poke around now & then on TM just to see what's happening.

One thing I forgot to mention that took place when Dean had the Alaskan #9 trap business, is that he/we looked into making a 2nd model of the trap, which would have been called the "Alaskan #7", exactly like the #9, only with a 7" jaw-spread instead of 9". The point of this was to make an ultimate wolverine trap, and yet would still be big enough for wolves too. It would have had a double-jaw design of some sort, to keep a wolverine from getting his mouth underneath the jaws,... something similar to what I did to some of my #4 coils (picture). But it never happened, because when it was all said & done, building an Alaskan #7 would only have been a few bucks less than what it took to make the #9,... and we both agreed that not too many trappers would be willing to shell out $100 for a wolverine trap,... or even had wolverine numbers that would justify buying it. And now the way that the wolverine markets have developed with taxidermists, skull collectors, etc, body-grippers are really the best way to go, because catching a wolverine by the foot, even if you can keep his mouth from getting under the jaws, still leaves the trapper with a wolverine that only has long sharp claws on one foot, and a lot more chipped teeth. But, it still would have been fun to have had built a couple just to test and seen how they would have worked.

That is a very interesting story from the "R & D" section!

My favorite wolverine trap for years was the NH 114, but the large space under the jaws led to chewing problems as Dave describes. Not much of an issue for the fur trade, but certainly a major consideration for the taxidermy market.

My solution was to search around, find and buy, a dozen NH 48's. MUCH less space under the jaws. For the most part, it solved the problem for me (at least until I caved in and began using 330's!) For those not familiar with 48's, they are basically a NH #4 with teeth. Originally manufactured as a premium beaver trap.

I would agree though, that finding a dozen #48's is NOT easy! I treasure mine!

Pete

A dozen would be a gold mine, I never find more than a couple at a time. And they're always a little overpriced too. I'd like to have more someday