trap cleaning

needed to clean my traps after a long good season. Always power washed before. But wanted to know if better options. What does everyone do with there traps after they get home?

Power washing has always worked for me.

Power wash here also.

I soak mine in an old kids plastic pool and stock tank with water first, then pressure wash them. They come out much cleaner with the pre soak.

Just my way..

"Wasting time" boiling makes me feel bitter about the cooties in the critter blood spit and poonpee.

Wright Brothers, this is just for cleaning the traps after season to better hold them over until trap prep time in the fall once again. I still boil and use pot wax at that time yearly. Mid-season if needed, I just pressure wash and wax if I need some traps.

Always a good idea to get the crud and any (salt) corrosive materials off if any is on the traps.

Same here. I usually just hose them off in buckets, let them soak a bit, hose them off again and toss them in big black tubs that have drain holes in the bottom. They are big black plastic tree pots. They stay there in the shed till I can boil them in the spring/summer.

I knew you were matriculas about your gear just from seeing it and talking to you before Bob.
Coming time for me to sell some. Glad I took care of them.

I know a guy that boils his tools twice a season. Highly doubt he will mention that on here. It works for him as he stacks fur.

Tumble in a cement mixer. About a dozen at a time for about 30 minutes. Have used coarse blasting grit but coarse sand works just as good.

After the tumble, they are waxed. Ready to go.

If you have the earth anchors attached to trap chain...clamp the anchor in trap's jaws.

Pressure Wash here. You can spray them with Oven Cleaner first. I don't but have heard some claim they come cleaner and rust better.

Just spray them down with a garden hose and use a brush if there are chunks on them that don't come off. And then hang them up. But I don't use salt or calcium chloride so I don't have to worry about that. They'll be boiled or painted later. Will probably sand blast some this year to take all the old paint and rust off and try powder coating them white to see if it holds up better than paint. All my nonpainted traps get dyed and waxed but I like white traps to set in the snow, they don't melt out like dark traps do.

Pressure wash, throw in a bucket/pool of vinegar for a day, rinse and let dry, dip in a bucket of Zeps. Shiny brand new looking traps again ready for the season.

Throw the anchor in between the jaws, wire together in half dozen bundles, then pressure wash and put away until ready to boil and wax. Putting them in bundles before pressure washing prevents chasing traps all over the driveway when hit with the pressure washer lol

Self serve car wash. Hot soap followed by rinse. Then later in the summer prep them for fall.

Lye soak

Yup, bucket of water/white vinegar for a day and they clean right up. I soak brand new ones in a bucket with Dawn dish washing liquid.

Went to the car wash with mind.Came home went over with steal brush, checking for name tags, back to car wash.Let dry than wax they are ready for next season. It is amazeing how many tags get chew off 6 out 84 on mind.i

Power wash most of the time. I FMJ my footholds so the coating rarely gets compromised unless a coon gets in it. If it needs stripped, lye or vinegar boil. Dont vinegar your powdercoated traps as that will strip the coating. Lye might too but never tried.