mr Turtledale those black tubs you used for making the waxed dirt are perfect where did you come across those
there perfect welldone

I’m not Turtledale but I bought mine at TSC.

I believe those look to be mortar mixing tubs. They are sold at most box stores I would think.

I bought mine at home Depot. About $8 bucks a piece

So far so good
8 hours and holding fine

That shows why you should never have low spots on your top dressing. It will hold and puddle water that will freeze with cold temps and wind chill leaving a frozen area over your trap bed area potentially. I always try to leave a slight hump over the middle of my top dressing area.

That's a good point Bob. The problem I have had if the water runs off the waxed dirt then moves into the trap bed under the waxed dirt. So know I make sure there is plenty of waxed dirt under the trap also not just over.

Bob & Backroadarcher have pointed out two very important aspects for successfully using waxed sand & waxed dirt. Forget the old adage of having a low spot over the pan(or trap for that matter) as Bob pointed out and don’t be a penny wise & pound foolish on using the waxed sand or dirt thinking you're saving $$! You want the trap “incased” in the waxed sand or waxed dirt!

Yes. Completely encased. I learned the hard way not to be too cheap with the waxed dirt. And make sure you cut your trap bed big enough. Don't follow the old adage of making the trap bed just big enough for the trap. Make sure you make it large enough that there is enough room all of the way around the jaws andthe ends of the levers so that there is enough room for waxed sand all the way around the trap with no part of it touching native dirt.

Hats off to all you guys working that hard to set up waxing your soil median (dirt /sand). I am LAZY and don't have time to coordinate and devote that much effort. So in an attempt to help those like me, here is my (the mike's) tried and true "lazy man method" that works for me. After doing the concrete mixer soil prep with my son for a year or two I purchased 2 roaster ovens at summer garage sales over 10 yrs ago (I still see them for sale around here for 3-5.00 each). Each holds approx 1 - 1.25 cu. ft. of soil for heating. You can use them if its raining, overcast, at night or cold in the garage or shop if Ma Nature's schedule and yours doesn't match. You can even DRY any wet soil by just setting the thermostat at low and leaving the lid ajar ( set at 90 - 100 degrees and go about you daily/evening chores). When dry, add your determined amount of wax and set the temp to 135 - 145 degrees F and go do something constructive. Stir 2 times mixing the melted wax and soil as you walk by. When done wear some hot pads and lift the inner heated tub out of the roaster body and pour the waxed soil onto a clean tarp to cool. Shake the tarp occasionally as it cools and check temp with laser thermometer so when it hits the low 80's or 70's pour it into your containers for storage. If you get a clump don't worry, if your mixture ratio is correct you can crumble the clump at the trap site and it will work fine. I do 35 -50 gallons/year with this Lazy Man method WHEN I HAVE TIME not when Ma Nature does. This method might help those who don't have time or weather to donate to this type of trap/soil prep. My experience ............................the mike

You could also use the family roaster just buy the disposable roaster bags.