Question: Trap Dye

[Trapper_Stephen88]

I am dying and waxing some new traps this year. I was wondering if I re-dye those traps next year should I melt the wax off first?

Last year I used "FORMULA ONE INSTANT TRAP KOTE" It's a speed dip/dye that you mix with water. It cost about $11 a quart, and following the instructions it made a gallon of dye. You just had to dip the trap in for a min. then take it out and let it dry.. it waxed the trap too. It worked all right, the trap did get darker... even the ones that didn't have alot of rust on them. The down side was, when I caught a fox or two with it and the trap got scratched, so did the dye and you could see the shiny metal. The trap would rust again and you'd have to put them back in the dip.

This year I bought some black logwood crystals at about $5.50 a bag. The new traps I bought dyed really well, the older traps that I had dyed with Formula One dyed ok, except they turned more of a green color than black, and they smelled a little, but not at all after awhile.

Anyway I think I like the black logwood dye better... it's cheaper and it does the job well.

I've used regular logwood dye in the past it's about $3 a bag, but i think black logwood crystals do a better job.