I was gonna dye and wax all my traps earlier this fall, but never got around to it. Now it's late in the season and I want to finally get out and set a bunch for yote fox and coon (earlier I was just using the no-bs ones that were already powder coated, and some that I speed dipped for water trapping) but now I want to use flake anti-freeze and they need to be waxed for that. If I'm going to wax them should I dye them too, or can I just go straight to waxing them? A lot have already had some kind of wax, dip, or dye on them. And since the seasons getting close to an end anyway, should I just do the type of waxing where you have water and then a filmy layer of wax on top of the water? I heard that way it will chip and flake eventually but I can always redo them well over the summer for next season. Thoughts? Thank you!!

… I just wax mine… in straight wax

… but don’t use antifreeze at my sets

I don't even wax mine I just dye lol

During the season if I am on the road and not near my home base of operations, I take my traps to a car wash, rinse them well with straight water, let them dry well and re wax only. Not wax melted on top of a dye pot. A pot of pure molten wax.

Yeah, from what I've heard pure wax is best

Yeah but you've probably never even heard of antifreeze, lol

Cool thanks, so then, if I wax em in pure wax then can I save the wax in a bucket or something, to use again?

Yes

… just be sure to clean your traps first

… I powerwash them

I clean mine by boiling them with hardwood ashes, bring to a boil for 15-20 minutes and turn off the heat.
This will let the old wax come to the top, when you see a lot on the top of the water add more water to flood the kettle and push most of the old wax on top out of the kettle. If you think it's needed you can boil and reflood the kettle
Remove them from the kettle and let them air dry and then wax

Learn about how to deal with boiling wax it can be dangerous.

OK, I'll dig the powerwasher out today and get em clean
Cool, thank you

Yes, I'll make sure I have a sheet of tin or plywood or something to smother it if it catches (will plywood work or does it need to be some kind of metal?)

Law Dog brings up a very good point. Fire isn't your only hazard. A pot of hot wax getting knocked over and spilling on you is a very real risk as well.

Any moisture on the traps going into the hot wax is also a hazard. They gotta be popcorn fart dry.

I use a cheap walmart hot plate and aluminum pot with pure wax. You can control the heat and keep it from getting too hot and catching on fire. Mark the control knob with a magic marker when you find the best heat setting so you can go back to it the next time. Use a wire hook to put a trap in and take it out and put on cardboard to cool. The trap will look white or cloudy when you drop it in and will clear up when it warms up to the temperature of the wax and you can take it out.

popcorn fart dry......never heard that one lol

I
I use a pot of straight wax. The water and wax method didn’t yield the results I was after.

GULF canning wax from Walmart and an oz. of rosin from Amazon works just fine for me...

Yeah. I'll make sure to be extra careful
OK, thanks!

Cool, thanks!

Yeah I've heard it's not as good

Any comments on using a good floor wax. Easy to dip and no fire hazard.