You can use a rock and a Crescent Wrench, if you want too?
I sure enjoy a well made bench swagger when making hundreds of snares!!!

How many of yours have you had tested on an Instron? What was the mean failure point and the standard deviation?

How does yours stack up to the swaged ones that are inferior to your homemade. Same data points as above.

properly swaged ferrules are much stronger than hammered on ones. if there swaged properly you will break the cable before they pull loose.

This is the way to go 100% IMO.

Those hand swaggers mounted to the bench, that was in one of Newt's videos MANY years ago but for the price you can get real bench swaggers for you'd be crazy to not get the real deal.

I hooked then to the ball on my truck to test.
The way I hammer mine on they cannot let go before the cable breaks.
All I know is mine dont break and the swaged ones were no good.
And I snare everything. Have been for 50 years.

I've tried to purchase swaggers on Amazon twice now and they haven't shipped to rural AK- FYI.


Been disappointing. Have some mods to make and it's already the middle of the season. First order was in Oct.

Hammers and anvils work. Swaggers make a higher quality product.

I seriously doubt that having had commercial swaggered cables fail me a number of times. Whereas my own hammered and cross punched cables have never failed me per my recollection.
Get to know what your doing and you can produce a quality product with anvil, hammer and cross punch.

Swaged are junk.
Read what the Tomcat said.hammered and crosspunched-never fail/

So is there a special way to hammer them so that they hold. Have any pics of one?

I think it's a Canadian trade secret.

Practice and hammer with force then cross punch with screw driver or beveled edge on your anvil without cutting thru the ferrule or stop.

I use to make my disposable stakes with 1/8” cable double ferrule hammered flat then used a dull chisel to cross punch them. I also used 2 5/16” annealed nuts per loop hammered flat. I thought both were strong until I bought a swagger and seen first hand how much better and stronger a swaged double ferrule was compared to a hammered and punched one.

Both ways will work but swagged is stronger and more fun to use and quieter.

Once you use a swagger you just laugh at the people hammering them on.

A single ferrule stop on the end of the snare wouldn’t be too bad to just hammer on but making cable stakes with 2 loops and 2 double ferrules swagged is the only way to go

I hammer mine on also. Except the double cable ferrels. For them I use a swedging tool like above but need that great looking bracket. That would make it easier.

Not stronger-weaker.
I lost two wolves with swaged snares.Will never use that junk again.A wised up wolf on the line is a Huge liability I cannot afford.Let alone Two.
Never lost a wolf with hammered.

I’ve had a few stakes that got drove through some junk etc in the ground and could not drill them out. Had to hook my truck up to them and pull them with the truck. Never had a double ferrule pull through but have had the 1/8” cable break. Loop still intact and holding. I have had few hammered and punched ferrules pull through. And a few annealed nuts pull through.

I’m not gonna say about single ferrules on snares, never had any of them break or put them to the test either.

Maybe your ferrules weren’t crimped right or maybe they were break away ferrules designed to release at a certain poundage.

But for me making cable stakes using double ferrules swaged is the only way to go.

I've never snared wolves and I've never had a swagged stop of ferrule fail. Professionals who have peoples lives in their hands use swaggers on their cables, not hammers. There must be a reason.

I wonder, boco, were the stops that failed just crimped once in the center of the stop and was there any cable beyond the stop? I crimp all stops twice so it covers the entire stop and I leave a little bit of cable beyond the stop just like you have pictured with yours. My ferrules are crimped 3 times, the entire length of the cable and a leave a little cable off the end as well. That little cable as you know spreads out a tiny bit making it harder for the stop to pull off. Also if a person were to use 1x19 cable vs. 7x7 the stops could more easily slide as well (as witnessed over and over, ad nauseam, by Beav who loses coyotes due to release ferrules designed for 7x7 cable on his 1x19 cable restraints, but still keeps using them).

I dont know about any of that but I know i wont use them again.
I use a double ferrel for an end stop with the cable folded over inside then hammered.
When I tested them with my truck the cable broke.

Boco and bctomcat's experience mirrors mine. I have been making snares with all types of hammered ferrules since the late 70's and swaged ones for 30 yrs. Used high tensile steel fence ferrules swaged since 93'. You need to consider looking at the cross section of the cable you use FIRST (look at the manufacturer's drawings/printings of the two types of cable) . All 1X19 is very uniform and smooth in circumference twisted wire, whereas the 7X7 has an irregular circumference layered surface. When swaging you are compressing a "ROUND piece of smooth aluminum" against a "ROUND piece of smooth galvanized or stainless steel cable with 1X19". You are banking on enough internal ferrule FRICTION from that swage to hold on that smooth surface (discount any petroleum lubricant present on the NEW cable). On a 7X7 cable you have more irregularities on the cable's surface to cause more ferrule friction and potentially better compressive/flexile strength against a straight line pull. Swaged ferrules are externally PRESSED somewhat evenly along the the axis of both types of cable. With hammering flat and with a notch you have deformed the interior of the ferrule and the cable enough to add a significant amount of "FRICTION" to the connection (introducing more friction points) PERPENDICULAR to the line of pull. Can you cause enough damage to the cable/connection? Probably not with an aluminum ferrule and your arm hammer. The annealed steel nut connectors in place of aluminum ferrules could cut the cable if too much pressure is applied but again "which is the softer metal" taking the hammer blows? Sounds like I dislike swaged aluminum ferrules doesn't it. Not really, as I still use it (bench swager) with Newt Sterling's double ferrule technique for 1X19 shown above and if I use the small steel annealed nuts, I use them in the bench swager. It works better than "my 70 year old eyes and an old man with a hammer can" LOL. For 3/32 extensions I can see good enough to hammer aluminum ferrules. There is a trick to using the steel nuts in the swager and they must be soft but no problems with 7X7 (1/16th or 5/64ths) for me. My experience................ the mike

X2. Love mine