Is it required to boil the water for dying or can you just mix up the dye in cold water and let the traps set for a couple days? I’m just using logwood powder dye

i pack as many traps that as you are gonna do in a clean pot then cover with water and add your logwood dye bring to a rolling boil and let boil for one hour then remove from the heat i cover and let them steep over nite the next day i rinse traps to remove any excess powder and let hang to dry in bundles of four once there dry i bring the wax pot up to tempeture and place each dry bundle into the wax allowing time for the traps to reach the tempeture of the wax i then remove from the wax give a good shake and hang to dry

Boil water first. Add logwood dye to hot water so it dissolves.

I've tried the cold soak thing...its good for cleaning the traps but I dont think you get the penetration a hot bath gives

the method i discribed is Russ Carmans

Pretty tough to unwrite an old book! Applied heat expands the micro structure and gives the dye or tannic acid (if you’re using it) molecules energy to penetrate.

Hard to beat the old tried and true logwood boil, dye and pot wax methods for trap prep. I have done all the available methods in my lifetime. I still use the boil and pot wax method.

Some folks like painting, paint dips, floor waxing and cold tar dips it is all in what you like and works for you.

My process is the following. First boil is with a lye product to clean traps. I let them dry. I then fill a barrel with water, bring to a boil, add the logwood, get that boiling and then add traps. Bring to a boil and do that for 40 to 60 minutes. I then pull out the hot traps and they dry almost instantly and I have my pot of wax going and dip the hot traps in the hot wax and get a very nice thin coat and hang to dry. After drying I use a file to clean out the pan slot and the dog. I like those areas to actually rust a bit so they hold better.

Bryce

I steep my traps in trap tea! At a slow roil

Lots of good tips backed by experience in the above tips. IF YOU HAVE THE TIME, you can hose (used) traps that are rusty to remove surface soil and foreign matter, then mix up your tannic acid source (logwood powder, oak leaves/bark, maple leaves/bark, sumac berries, walnut hulls et., etc.,) with water and submerge the traps for a minimum of 2-3 months in early summer . Heat is the catalyst (speedy delivery) that will do the work of time and cause the chem reaction to take place sooner.That's why you boil. If Lazy - Like ME, I keep a 30 gallon plastic drum of tannic mix outside in the sun from May to October and add traps that need dying in May - June so the reaction has time dye the metal. Once in a while I acquire traps too late to dye in the summer so I may fire up the turkey fryer to boil them or bring them into the shop area during cooler months knowing they may be ready by January to either wax or coat with the product I choose. Have tried a lot of methods to coat traps as I may trap muskrats heavy 1 year and hardly any the next three. Same with coyotes, or coons so after the dye process the traps get coated with what I like and may set in the crates for a while before they get called up. You can do that with a dozen or 500 traps if you have the time and space. I do "cold dying" as it fits my schedule and I save propane costs in the long run. Been My experience............................... the mike

Works fine, just takes a lot longer and might not be as good as you would like.

X2

Of course a light surface rust on traps is first thing

I also put a barrier to keep the traps off the bottom of the hot barrel so springs would not get too hot and lose strength.

Bryce

The tempering temperature you’d need to get the springs up to and hold for about an hour is around 375*F This is possible depending on the intensity of the flame.

Baseplates solve that possibility because they go in jaws down

375 degrees is not possible in a boiling pot of water (W/O pressure) as once the liquid water reaches 212.001 degrees it instantly turns to gas and raises to the top. That water surrounding the trap and touching the bottom of the boiler is replaced with water that is cooler (211.999 degrees) and the process repeats itself as long as there is liquid water in the pot. Put a thermometer in the pot to check. The temper of the springs cannot get to 375 degrees. And even under a pressure lid it is difficult for steam to raise to that temp on a home boiling outfit. Heat of the pot may raise on the OUTSIDE and boiling may be taking place exponentially to where the sides are 212.00 (along with the traps) but at 375 degrees you can melt a lot of soft metals and that doesn't happen (melting metal) in water. Physics 101 ..............................the mike

You are correct about the circulation of the water in the pot but once all of the water reaches 212* the bottom of the pot can be a lot hotter than 212*. This is because the metal of the kettle is a better conductor of heat than water and the bottom where the heat source is can reach a significantly higher temperatures well into the 375* range before the heat is transferred to the water. Meaning the trap springs would have to be in intimate contact with the kettle bottom for them to be affected in a negative manner. That’s the reasoning to use spacers on the bottom of the boiling pot or making sure the jaws are down on the bottom.

I also don’t know of any “soft” metals that would or could melt in a dye pot, on the bottom or not! Pretty tough to weld!

Water circulating from the bottom of the pot, converted to steam is replaced by that the liquid water instantaneously which is lower temp, volatilizes into steam and raises out of the pot. If you are talking about the 3 types of heat transfer (Radiation, Convection and Conduction) then the minute amount of heat through conduction from a metal to metal contact would mean the trap itself is 212.001 in temp (or above as stated) and boiling the water from its (trap's) surface. the entire spring would have to heat to 375 degrees (your number) to affect the temper. The liquid water is constantly replacing the steam to keep the temp at what the transfer of heat is producing. When it gets to 212 it is steam and gone to be replaced with 211.9999999 degree water. Energy in the form of heat is lost from that site. Pull one trap (or just springs) out of the rolling boiling pot and shoot a laser thermometer on it and tell me the temp. The temp of the inside pot and trap are way below 375 degrees. Water in liquid form as we know it DOES NOT exist in 1 single molecule. It is a simple H2O connected to several other molecules of itself (otherwise ice would form on the bottom of lakes instead of the surface and there would be no turnover to catch any fish or stink at the sewage plant ponds in the spring or fall). Oh and lithium, sodium, potassium (along with a few others) are metals that melt before 375 degrees F. Physics - 101 ................ the (not that I paid much attention in class unless they talked about ice and fishing) mike

You are correct about the importance of keeping traps off the bottom of the pot. You sure can overheat the bottom layer of traps when boiling them. I ruined a few long spring traps many years ago.

In other words, don't worry about ruining your traps when boiling them. I've been boiling traps since the 70s and have never had an issue.

However, I did throw my 1 1/2 Blake & Lamb longsprings into a fire to "sanitize" them when I was 10 years old...that was a very sad day for me.