Wax

[krank]

The way every body seems to wax traps is a dunk in pure wax.
Has anybody ever seen traps dipped in wax floating on water?
I seen an old timer when I was a kid and he had a big barrel of boiling water on an open fire. He threw in some wax and it was like a 3 or 4 inch layer on top. He dropped them in and pulled them right back out. His traps had a thick layer on them. Maybe too thick.....

[bigjohn]

Don't wax traps anymore but have done it in the water deal. Just let get hot then pull back thru. It will leave a little thicker coating than straight wax but will work.

[Walleye Joe]

I don't agree with the water/wax method. Wax just doesn't stick to something wet. I'd have to be proven wrong. 
Let your traps come up to your "pure wax" temperature then pull them out. You get a nice even, THIN coat of wax.

[krank]

Well.....Us kids did it because we saw the old man do it. Works just thick. How else you gonna dip 50 traps with #2 of wax?

[Walleye Joe]

I see your point. If it was good enough for them then, it should good be good enough today! 

[Walleye Joe]

Speaking of wax. I have a 10# bag of what WAS flake wax intended for use in making waxed dirt. It didn't get used the last couple of years and is now a solid chunk. Is there a way to "re-flake" it? Or should I just use it for dipping traps?

[krank]

Yeah, fine cheese grater. Once you melt flake it is hardly "cost" efficient to change back.

[Walleye Joe]

Dec 15, 2018 19:17:59 GMT -6 krank said:

Yeah, fine cheese grater. Once you melt flake it is hardly "cost" efficient to change back.

My chain saw would be much easier and faster! Quite a bit messier too! 

[krank]

Use the wife's food processor

[Walleye Joe]

Dec 15, 2018 19:21:36 GMT -6 krank said:

Use the wife's food processor

You know what? I think I have a brand new one in my trapping room cabinet. Got it for Jack Mack slurry mix and never used it. 

[krank]

Who cares about wax dirt? Use peat or CaCl2...I also seen a documentary with trappers up in Maine using wax on top of water.

[Walleye Joe]

Dec 15, 2018 19:29:42 GMT -6 krank said:

Who cares about wax dirt? Use peat or CaCl2...I also seen a documentary with trappers up in Maine using wax on top of water.

I just wanted to try WD at least once. I'm sold on my Peat/CaCl2 mixture. Especially with that pipe dream trap bedding technique I'm using this season. 

[trkyslyr]

Agree with Joe. Wax and water doesn't mix. That's why it stays on top. If it intention is post season storage, sure, I guess the thicker the better but for trapping use, straight wax is better as it adheres to the trap better. If u do the water wax method, it will flake off the trap FAST.

[krank]

I am not asking if it is the best way to go. I am asking if anyone remembers when people did that?

[tjm]

Dec 15, 2018 22:24:21 GMT -6 trkyslyr said:

Agree with Joe. Wax and water doesn't mix. That's why it stays on top. If it intention is post season storage, sure, I guess the thicker the better but for trapping use, straight wax is better as it adheres to the trap better. If u do the water wax method, it will flake off the trap FAST.

Agree with wax and water don't mix part, but for storage you'd be better off just tossing the unwaxed traps out back til next season. The thing is that water gets in tiny places and cold wax traps it there. To do any good with wax at all it is necessary to have the wax hot enough to vaporize water and get it off the trap as steam, heat the wax to ~230F and as the trap heats up you will usually see the steam bubbles, leave the trap til all bubbles disappear and the wax has a chance to penetrate places like between the frame and the cross. If you are successful the trap will appear greasy rather than glazed if any glaze shows, the trap was not hot enough.

If i was starting with new traps today, I would do no trap prep but to tune the triggers. Left in the woods a trap would last longer than most of us. I recently found and returned a pair of Northwoods 1.5s to a man that had 1987 tags on them. In good condition but with a full coat of "patina" rust. He said he used those in high school and no longer trapped.

Joe if that wax was intended for wax dirt, just melt it and mix it, the reason for flakes is soy wax is made that way for ease of melting at low temps in candle making. Paraffin wax can't be flaked, it can be granulated. I would not use the flake on traps because I think it won't work as well as mineral oil/paraffin wax, either in penetration or durability. The glob of flake you have might melt easier in chunks, use a hatchet, circle saw, bucksaw, what ever- but one Kansas trapper posted that he melts large wax into his dirt normally. Said he never buys the flake.

[Walleye Joe]

Thanks for the info Trevis! Didn't know they were two distinct types of wax!

[krank]

Wax means paraffin. That soy junk is a new invention. Kind of like margarine....

[Flying Trapper]

Joe
What is your peat/CaCl2 mixture? How much of each?

[tjm]

Joe, I found out about the soy wax 15+/- years ago when one of my daughters had a candle making business. Soy, paraffin and bees wax all have candle uses, but there are dozens of other waxes used for other purposes like car wax.

Paraffin means kerosene to a lot of the world, it also used to be used for any of the alkanes; methane, ethane, propane, etc.

Any how I use Gulf Wax with a chunk of rosin (rosin won't even melt in boiling water) and get it almost smoking hot and leave the trap in til the wax gets back up to hot again (every time you add traps the wax temps go down big time and you get bad, worse and worser penetration if you don't wait) When I pull the trap out I want all the wax to be hot enough to run off, the result will be a greasy look that will protect the traps through 50 years of storage, and storage is when and why I wax. Can't get a real good job on a cool-cold day, after the maple and walnut get leafed out is the best time to cook traps. Go straight from the tannin boil to the wax and the trap doesn't have to stay in the wax as long. If you store traps in a bog bottom or slough mud there is no real reason to either boil or wax, the bog will provide a continuous tannin treatment. I've read about storing traps in a barrel of tannin solution made of Spanish moss that eliminated all rust concerns also.

[Walleye Joe]

Dec 18, 2018 18:33:16 GMT -6 Flying Trapper said:

Joe
What is your peat/CaCl2 mixture? How much of each?

I don't have a precise mixture. I probably use about 1/2 gallon of Calcium chloride to 5 gallons of Peat. Seems to work pretty good.