I cut off the tag alder branches about pinkie thickness in september with the leaves and catkins attached and make a pile beside the boiler.Then I chop them up into about 1 foot lengths as needed to fit in my boiling barrel which is a half a 205 liter (45 gal) drum with a lid.
I line the bottom with about 6 inches of alder then the traps,then cover traps with another 6 inches of alder and fill with water.
Light a good fire in the evening under the barrel so it gets to a good rolling boil,then let the fire burn out. Leave the traps soak overnight. In the morning light up the fire again so the traps boil again.Have your wax ready on an outdoor woodstove or heated with a propane burner to hotter than 212,just before it starts smoking is good.

Once your traps are boiling good in the morning take them out and wax right away.Replace more traps in the boiling drum,cover with fresh mat of alder and let them boil til the fire goes out,then let them sit all day and repeat in the evening.

I just keep adding alder on top of the traps until all the traps are done,then dump the barrel and use the old boiled up pile of alder for a bon fire starter when it is all dry.

I do this at camp in sept or early oct when I am out at camp doing all the other chores for the upcoming season,like cutting next year firewood,maintaining trails,getting trap locations ready working on stuff around camp etc.
Doing taps in the morning and evening by the fire is not really extra work.Its kind of relaxing actually after doing the more physical stuff during the day.

I’ll have to get a drum. The big pot I use barely fits a 330. And why do they sell the wax in such small blocks when you gotta fill a small drum to dip them? I’ve tried the melted wax on top of the water, then slowly pulling the traps through with poor results, kinda blotchy.

I use a draw knife and peel the bark off the alder and just use the bark myself. I've used the limbs like Boco does, and it works, but the bark is where the dye is and peeled bark is concentrated and you don't have to have near as much in the barrel as you do limbs. Also it leaches into the water much faster. I wax traps by melting it on top of the water myself, but you have to make sure you leave the traps in the water plenty long enough so they are as hot as the water, if the steel is any cooler at all they will come out "blotchy" and thick. Also certain types of wax don't do as well with this method as others. I used to add some beeswax to my wax for water traps and get a real nice coating on them with that mix. Never used it on canine traps though because the beeswax would have odor.

I remember trying it once about 15 years ago when I wanted to try trapping and I thought they turned out great, couldn’t tell they were waxed by looking at them, but my word were they fast and sensitive. Scraped off triggers so I could set them. When I tried a couple years ago, I think the traps were just way too cold.

Same here BROWN FORUMLA ONE

X3

I wound up going with acetone and rustoleum did 60-40 and added acetone as needed. I did the rusty metal primer and half flat black let it dry for two days and did another coat they turned out good nice dark brown color