I recently purchased some #4 size new house traps. I waxed them thr other day, and now the springs will not stay in the "up" position. I took a blow torch to the spring eyes and where they contact the jaws, and the jaws stayed put until the wax hardened. What can I do short of starting completely over

I’m confused can you post a picture. I have 3dz #4 Newhouse and I’m not exactly sure on what up means ?

I push the springs up parallel with the dog, but they spring back straight out, perpendicular with the dog

Do you mean push the spings down? Is the dog not staying latched on the pan? If so you need to scrape the wax off the end of the dog and the pan notch.

I think this is what he means

When I've had this problem l take some dry sand and sprinkle it around the spring eye and work it back and forth against the jaw. This usually alleviates the problem of slipping back to center.

I have a few that do that but once I place them in the bed and pack dirt around it they don't move.
And they still catch a critter just the same as the other ones that stay in the proper position

I had some Sleepy Creek 11s that did that years ago. The longsprings kept flipping back lifting the loose jaw up. Fixed it by crimping the area around the spring eye until they stayed in place. I recently talked to another older trapper and he had the same issue with the older SC 11s. Don't know if that will fix your problem with these or not.

Be careful when you "scrape" wax off the end of the dog. Some may be a bit overzealous in the scraping and remove not only the wax but also the dye or paint down to the metal. The result is rust that may lock the dog in place and not allow the trap to fire. More of an issue with your smaller traps, especially if you're targeting mink.

That's a good trick, Walt

I picked up a bunch of older Victor 11's, and some do this. I noticed the eyes were bent in relation to the bottom of the spring. Bent em back and they are better.

Sprincle some dirt on them like another guy said when you wax longsprings it lubricates between the contact points.

I've had a few longsprings over the years that did this. As said, once bedded the bed should hold them, but they can be a bit of a pain to bed. Usually scraping just a bit of wax off the eye of the spring will cure it.