Cleaning new traps?

I read in a book that I should clean my new traps in boiling water and sani-flush to get rid of the oil on the traps, I can’t find sani-flush at any stores any suggestions I am going to try to get in some trapping before its all over.

Try vinegar and water for a couple of days.Works great for me, it’ll put a fine coat of rust on them, perfect for “dying”

You could also take them to the carwash. Put them on the ground and use hot water and soap. That will take the new grease right off. Then take them home, spray with vinegar/water, then hang them up to lightly rust.
Once you get a light coat of rust, the traps will be ready for either waxing, dyieng and waxing, dipping/waxing, or just dipping them. What you decide to do will depend on what traps you are talking about and also personal preference

I have 330’s 220’s 110’s and 1 1/2 footholds. I also had a guy tell me that the dish washer will do the same thing so when the old lady is out I am going to slip them in the washer quick and put them outside

Yep, the dishwasher will do the job, but few are brave enough to try it

On your body grip traps, skip the waxing or you will end up with some sore fingers and hands. If they are mostly going to be used for water sets, all I would do is Speed Dip them.

The 1.5 footholds can be either dipped or dyed and definitely waxed. Not all my footholds are waxed, but I like the speed of the ones that are waxed compared to those that are not.

If you are not going to use the traps this season, I would wait on the prepping until later in the summer or very early fall. Rust is good, but too much rust isn’t so good

Thanks again, I was going to wait but I want to take a swing at it and see if I can get something.

I boil/rust/dye/wax ALL my foot holds. You could get by with dipping for a lot of animals – especially while water trapping, but I just prefer to wax everything. This way, if I want to throw out a few canine sets – everything is ready to go and as scent free as possible.

For bodygrips – Wats is right on the money. NO WAX! Speed dip them and clean out the trigger notch.

Tim

when I used to trap rats and mink in the snow runs I sprayed my 110s and 160s with white paint they were allmost invisabale and worked great
never lost any to JOHNY SNEAKUMS

schweg2, how did you get your kid to hold still for that picture? Awesome.

He’s got nerves of steel Vinny..lol

I have enjoyed following the trapline discussions for the last few months. What do you guys mean by dying and dipping traps. I have trapped gophers before and a few muskrats as a kid but am interested in learning!
Thanks!!

Dying and dipping are 2 forms of protecting your traps from rusting which will help them last many years.

The two are different methods and each have their own following. The traditional guys tend to favor the dying. That means to boil your traps in a mixture of water and a die material which could be walnut hulls, certain types of bark, or the commercial made logwood crystals.

Dipping is the quicker and easier way. To do this method, you need a 5-gal pail, a gal of Coleman Fuel, and a commercial liquid such as Andy Stoe’s Dip. There are other brands, but that one came off the top of my head. Mix the fuel and the dip in the 5 gal bucket and then simply dip your traps in the solution to get a rich black coating to your traps. This will slow down the natural rusting process while they are set in the ground or hanging in the shed.

Boiling with lye works good as well. The lye will help etch the traps to help promote rust. Just don’t do it in the house, and be very careful of the fumes.