Rust on Traps

Newbie question here. I'm mostly going to be going after beaver, muskrat and otter, so my question is if rust on conibears set in/under the water is a good or a bad thing. I would think it would help cut down on any glare from the metal that might cause the critters not to go towards it. But it also seems like it may not be good for the trap overall? Thoughts?

A little rust "Stain" won't hurt the trap and will, like you said knock down the shine. DO NOT WAX THEM! It makes them dangerous if you don't clean the trigger. Many guy's use paint or a commercial dip.

Formula One...brown.

brown or black paint on all water traps

Thanks guys I will go with a trap dip in brown then. Looking at Speed Dip. Thoughts?

I'd thinkrust would be bad for using a dip.

I made the mistake of buying used traps over the internet that looked good in the pic, only to find them rusted as all get out under the dip.

Just me, but i don't like rusting traps.

I dont buy dipped traps just because of that. Not everyone is on the level. I am going to do like Aix sponsa next year with my water traps.

NoRust from Home Depot, etc, cut about 4 to 1. Soak 12hrs. Good for tools also.

Thank you guys, great info and just what I was looking for. I think I'll dip them in a thinned Rustoleum product. Much appreciated.

Another reason to paint them came to me today: paint protecting and extending the life of trigger wires. By dipping them, ya get a good coating on the wires. Some brands and homemade replacement wires last longer than others, but they sure don’t last long when they rust.

Stainless wires would be great.


Sure, there are other coatings that will also protect em, but I find paint to be easy and effective.

You got that right Wolfdog. Fast,easy and long lasting.

I won’t discourage someone from using something that works for them, but I’m not going to advocate using white primer, at least not on bodygrips. I wouldn’t use it on footholds either, so I guess that covers that too. If they’re going to follow up with paint, ok. If they truly want a white trap, that’s OK too, but when experienced trappers say that rusty metal primer dips work well for them and the only picture posted is of white trap, well, I think beginning trappers seeing that may be getting pointed in the wrong direction.

Quite a few people, myself included, have gone to only dipping in a coat of thinned primer, and I sure don’t want it to be white. Whether or not it matters to animals is another issue altogether, but if someone is using white traps, it is my opinion that they are, at a bare minimum, asking for problems due to theft and non-Trappers noticing them more easily.

I see the paint in the picture, but the trap pictured isn’t painted, it’s just primed.


I didn’t mean to ramble on, I just wanted to be clear that clean metal primer isn’t what most people are talking about when they say they’re dipping their traps.

60% Acetone to 40% rustoleum here

Something that hasn’t been mentioned yet is rusty bodygrips WILL leave rust stains on fur, and that just ain’t good.

I hate rust.

The only modern reason for rusting traps, IMO, is to ensure that the mill oil is all removed, and to help the coating bond to smooth surfaces. But only the lightest surface rust is needed to obtain both of those objectives. And with today's modern strippers and coatings, it's probably not necessary at all.

I do want to emphasize that you usually DO want to strip the mill oil off brand new traps before costing them, whether you use soap, degreaser, solvent, or just let them weather and rust a little. But I agree that just letting traps rust indefinitely is just laziness and poor care. i like wax, and I wax everything, including 330s and snares (I think Boco started me on snares). Even traps I paint usually get waxed afterwards. The main benefit of wax is that if you use it HOT, over 212*F, it actually purges the moisture out of the pores of the steel and makes a very good long-term preservative. It also makes a thinner coating the hotter it is. I think many people who don't like wax never tried it hot enough. I wax in a crockpot that safely keeps it 250-300 deg. It's just slow because you can't fit much in a crockpot at a time.
The main downside of wax is that you can't repaint it without stripping it if you want to change colors.

I just spray paint all my conibears with cheap flat brown or flat black. It lasts for years. When the traps need a touch up, it’s easy to do.

X2

Pink

. Too many Bad thoughts to type out in one day. Skip the "speed dip" Seriously Use ANYTHING else, Anything!

Good of fashioned logwood dye or paint them with rustolium brown primer.

If I dip my traps in Rustoleum, should I also wax them? The traps would be for cats and coyotes.

There Is no need to wax over any type dip.

I hear that some trappers wax over dip. It seems to me that hot wax Is going to burn the paint and leave a bad odor on your traps. And I would assume that would also ruin the wax.

Geeze,

We sure Don't Want Our Tarps Smelling Bad !!!

w

Don't you have something to do. LOl
I'm headed down to NAFA to check out the market.