Sand Blasting Traps.

[turbo]

I've been sand blasting my traps this year to get my traps clean and ready for dyeing. It really doesn't take me that long. I take a dozen or so at a time and do them at work on my breaks. It does a great job getting all the dirt and grime from them and makes the steel seem fresh and very clean. They have a texture to them that seems like they will take dye really well. I haven't actually boiled them in dye yet so I can really share any results at this point. Has anyone else ever tried this?

[trappnman]

Never have, but I'd think it would work great. Are you doing thema bunch at a time, or singularly?

[turbo]

One at a time. We have a blaster, booth type rig at work. I've just been doing them periodically throughout the Spring. I only need about a hundred traps a season for fox, and it makes short work of getting especially the old wax of. I've done a bunch of my coon traps that were pretty rough looking from last season also and they look pretty amazing. It might be a lot of work for someone who runs a lot more traps than I do, but I have the time so it seemed like a good idea. I'm new on here, but if someone could tell me how to post pictures I'd be glad to show my results.

[flathead40]

Yep, it works great to get them clean, but totally not necessary in my opinion. You can throw your chain between the jaws and boil them in lye. Get them just as clean, do as many as you have room for in your barrel at once. Also not necessary in my opinion.... But either way they do look nice when your done and start a light rust coat in a hurry.

[turbo]

They do overtime develop a very light coat of rust in some areas, but I've had some done for several months and for the most part they don't have much rust on them at all. I keep them stored in Totes so moisture doesn't really get to them. For me I just figured it eliminates the step of vigorously boiling to get all the old wax and dirt and grime off of them. They are ready for boiling in clean dye water. And then I will wax them up and they will be ready to go. Just a method that I use that works well for me and might work for others also.

[flathead40]

I've also put them in my cement mixer with my blasting media. At the time I was blasting with black diamond sand and some glass too. Pile in as many as you can, turn on the mixer and go do something else. Works really good, but still end up boiling and waxing anyway so I was adding a step .... I'm glad you like your system, but it seems like you adding 100 steps doing them 1 at a time aren't you?

[turbo]

Well, lol, I guess you could say that. But I dont mind...just personal preference I guess. The way my traps are coming out makes me feel pretty confident with how clean they are. It's just a method I'm giving a try. Another thing I really like is that I have done some of my traps that would have taken a good working over with a wire brush and probably would not have gotten them as nice as the blasting did.

[flathead40]

Yes, it is 100% what works for YOU. I know there are people who use dip. That's the worst stuff I've seen on a coyote trap. Doesn't work for ME. Works for them, good enough.... more than one way to kick a dead horse against a wall. lol