Guys I’ve never messed with any of it before…
Always went with peat moss, lawn clippings, calcium chloride, etc.
Which do you recommend sand or dirt??
Considering messing around with it this year.

Not straight dirt or straight sand. Use a sandy soil. This will let you wax 25- 30 gallons of dirt with 10 lbs of wax.

Sand is much heavier which can be an issue for some people.
Sand absorbs much less wax then dirt so you can make more.

Use both. No preference.

Sand is coated and dirt being organic material, absorbs. All sets I used were BLENDED sets so visual differences were a moot point! When I trapped in the woods during winter with snow cover I used waxed dirt. The reason being that when I’d bed the trap I’d have some black dirt scattered on top of the snow from digging the bed so I use waxed dirt which was a look-alike but I still BLENDED the set usually with snow. This was just a personal preference because using waxed sand in the same instance didn’t seem to make a difference except to me.

If a person saw my finished sets, dry ground or snow covered they would not know if I used waxed sand or waxed dirt!

Have always used waxed dirt/peat blended material. Works good and weighs much less than sand. Just my preference due to the weight difference.

At one time I had all the wax I wanted.
I tried both and liked them.
I still stashed bags of peat for remakes.

The number 1 thing I learned with free wax was,
don't be stingy when set making. Spread it around.

Salt is cheaper and way less hassle

I know salt eats steel, but not when you probably treat them after season

Ive messed with both and the advantages and disadvantages are listed above. Went with waxed sand one year and really liked the way it coated with much less wax. But I work out of 5 gallon buckets and quickly tired of lifting them around. Then I learned a trick from a fellow at Coyote Days, mixing half waxed sand and half buckwheat huls. Really lightened up the buckets, and thought I had it all figured out. Turns out 5 gallon buckets jostling around in the back of a pickup quickly seperate with heavy sand to the bottom and huls to the top. All the huls got used up first and you are left with a 1/2 bucket of pure sand.
I'm back to dirt.

LOL! I used wide-mouth 2.5 gal HDPE jugs. I would carry 1/2 doz in a Rubbermaid tout in my truck so I could easily pull one and go make 3 sets and replace for refill so they’d be ready to go each morning. They were very easy to carry to a set and back to the quad. When I sold my waxed sand & dirt I would give a jug to the person as a plus since I ordered in quantity. I highly recommend them as they were one of my more useful canine set-making tools!

My waxed dirt is a Sandy loam…. Have never used pure sand, but sand is elemental in a lot of our soils here.

What about mixing both together?

I started waxing straight dirt. Then I tried mixing dirt and sand. Now straight sand. I like the waxed sand better because, as stated before, alot less wax and I have an easily accessible source of pretty clean natural sand on one of the ranches I trap. Also, I find it easier to bed a trap in waxed sand than waxed dirt.

Sand is heavier, so I got 3-gallon buckets, easier on my back!!!

Why…? Is one better than the other?

Use what. You have in your area as a start, don’t over think this.