I just push the levers down with the heels of my hand. Hate to say sounds like the same way J does.... I didn't know I had a heel on my hand. Must be I caught something from some southern feller.... now my hands are like feet..... yikes

I can't imagine an over-compressed longspring on a modern trap. Of course, if you weigh in at 400 pounds, there's always a possibility. My experience has been that when using decent traps,you're not going to damage anything. Let's remember, a coon, coyote,'cat, otter or shallow-caught beaver is going to beat the living daylights out of a trap and if its going to be damaged, I would suspect it would be done here instead of when its being stepped on when setting.

Maybe we should get Slim or Asa or Hal to wade in and get their learned opinions on this subject. Combined, I'll bet they have over 150 years of experience and should be able to tell us what's really going on.

Wasn't that long ago Kraig you ancestor's were using their hands as feet as it? lmao.

NO.... they were just dragging their hands not walking on them....

Not to get off topic, but back to the original question. Yes, you can set a trap over your knee and not worry about contamination. Be clean, but you don't have to be as sterile as an operating room either.

Ive known of bridger and duke #5 springs breaking from people standing on them the wrong way. About 2 years ago on this forum a guy had three of his bridgers break like that. Myself I find its easier to set longsprings over my knee, except for newhouses or the #4 1/2 sleepycreek because the baseplate is so long. Id say the springs were over tempered to break like that on the #5's. The new sleepycreek wolf trap has a warning not use it in water because of the massive ammount of temper in the springs.

Tempering is just re-heating hardened steel a bit to draw it down (soften) so it's not so brittle.

Just "food for thought" but if you're setting on your knee, wouldn't you have more of a chance to over-extend the levers (past horizontal to the frame), as opposed to standing on them, where the lever travel is pretty limited by the ground?

U would have to weigh 500#'s and trap centered on a railroad track to hurt the springs, then again your going to hurt the base plate before the springs. Thats on coils.... Just my opinion.

If I'm trapping in a creek with a muddy bank, I'll set my 1 1/2s by hand, wearing gloves usually.

Stronger coyote traps, sometimes my gloved hands, but mostly my feet.

If you want to know how to set a coilspring with your hands, watch the "Destroying the Myth" video, there's a beaver trapper on there that does it really fast. (that's where I learned, anyway!)

As far as breaking or incurring damage, never had a problem.
Scent contamination? If I set with my feet, my boots smell more natural than the coyotes do by the time I get to the set, and under water it dosn't matter.

I'm only using Coilsprings, but I do have two #3LS, which I set over my thigh.

Good Luck!

thanks guys for all the responses but let me ask this question. how many of you set over your knee when setting for fox and yotes?

I went to a fabric store and bought a piece of vinyl for like a couch cushion. It is cloth on one side, vinyl on the other. It is about 3 feet by 3 feet. I use it as a kneeling pad, vinyl side down. My pants don't get wet and I set the traps on the pad. I also use it to lay the trap bed dirt on before sifting.

Tempering is actually hardening steel so it wont be brittle. The act of transforming one of the brittle components(martensite) into ferrit(less brittle). Over tempering can have an adverse effect, making it to hard for the intended purpose. Thats why sleepycreek has this warning on their #5 wolf trap.
Warning: Because this trap is intended for land trapping only. The Springs have been tempered to maximum hardness. They may break if used in water sets.

Any time ya step on a trap and a spring gives up chances are it was junk already.i use my hands and knee or the ground. RayA

Ky
Hardening steel is heating to the highest temp and then quenching taking it to its hardest and brittlest stage.
Tempering is done after hardening by taking to a lower temp and quenching to make the metal softer and less brittle, but still hard enough to retain strength.
The softer the steel the less brittle it is.

Im sorry but its not taking it to its hardest and most brittle stage. Its taking it from its current brittle stage to a harder stage. .The whole process of tempering by the very definition is still hardening the steel to change the basic makeup of the metal. Its taking the brittle elements and changing them to a harder element. Not making them hardest and brittle. Then the metal can be softened from there.. True softning is part of the after process but only if the operator wants it to be. The actual act of tempering is the chemical change of the elements. I.E Martenite to Ferrite. From a brittle component to a hard less brittle component.

Back to the original post about scent from pants, etc, I used to set all my canine traps on my pants, assuming my pants were not sweaty. I've run combined water and dry sets and set them on my hipboot covered leg and that works, too.

If you're sweaty, use a setting cloth between your leg and pants. If you're not sweaty and have clean jeans on, it shouldn't make much difference, as long as your trap jaw doesn't tip when stepped on and your lure is compelling enough to get them to investigate the set.