Dave Parks...a trap question.....

S

Steve Sutton

Well-known member
Dave, after our visit recently I armed Debby with what to look for in traps so that she would not walk past a marked at $10.00 while she was cruising the Antique shows this summer.......

So out she goes with a new "other peoples trash are some peoples treasure" identification checklist and of what to be interested in and what to pass on.....

No #6 Newhouse in working order for a buck three-eighty yet but she doid find something interesting that didn't look like anything that you had shown me....

#2 double long spring but with a (2) piece spring that is hinged at the ends of the spring. The top piece of the spring is skeletonized and the lower part is solid. The spring is "compressed" via a coil spring that is located at the hinge. It also has double jaws. One set that was normal and the other set made up of four "blunt teeth". This second set of jaws is set inside the outer set by about 1/2"....

The trap chain was the same type as the no tangle chains on the Newhouse traps.....

No writing visible on the pan but it was very rusty and while Debby will pick up and turn she's not going to scrape....

Just curious....what was she looking at and was it worth anything?

Steve
 
Steve,

It's hard to say without seeing the trap. All the double springs like you describe were made back in the early 1900's. There were many makers back then. Most all of the "double jaw" traps had cast jaws and were made by Triumph, B&L, Newhouse, etc. The no-kink chains usually came on the better quality traps. Condition, just like in guns makes a lot of difference in values. Most antique shops today know what traps are worth. There are Trap Blue Books now and everyone who collects them are looking at good deals now that trapping with leg hold traps have been banned in States like California.

I'll email you some sources.

Dave
 
Guess it shouldn't come as a surprise that old traps that have been laying around unused for years and years are suddenly worth big bucks....

Did a google search and I "think" that what Debby was looking at was a TRIUMPH "triple clutch".......I'll show it to her tonight and see if that is right....if it is then she should have bought it and run like hell for the truck.....

Looks like I need to keep an eye open for a Newhouse 4-1/2 Wolf Trap with the original chain and four prong drag too.......somewhere out there there's one laying in a shed, covered with rotting burlpa bags and mouse turds that has an owner that doesn't know its worth close to $5K.......Holy trappin trap.......

Steve
 
Steve,

I bet it is a Triumph Triple Clutch! Funny you mention a Newhouse 4-1/2 Wolf Trap with chain and drag. For years there was one hanging just inside the shop door above where my welder sits now. Judy's dad used it for years here on the place to trap Mountain Lions when they would start probblems. Like a lot of other things it was among the many items that turned up missing after her dad died.

I know where there are 2 #6 Newhouse bear traps (in a miners cabin in Trinity County, Calif.) but you would need a chopper to get in and out of there. I found the place in 1969 when our hounds were on a bear that took us all on a merry chase thru some 80 degree mountain sides. It was all we could do to get ourselves out of there let alone pack out 100+ pounds of #6 bear traps.

My old bear hunter friend Larry Riley sat down to take a break one day to listen for his hounds. He damn near sat down on a #6 Newhouse that was SET! Larry took a pine limp and set it off, then found the pair of Newhouse C-clamps that were wired to the chain (which had to be there by law, so if a man stepped on the trap he could at least get what was left of his broken leg out of the trap). The trap chain was bolted together around the pine tree and had been there for years. (it's a wonder some deer or bear had not stepped on it). Larry packed the #6 out and it sat on his fireplace hearth for years.

Those #5's I showed you in the shop are the biggest traps I have at present, but I'm always looking for the larger Newhouse traps.

Dave
 
and I have no doubt that given your luck that after you move a couple of hundred lbs. of gold nuggets, a paymasters wagon full of double eagles, a case or two of Hernry, "GOLDEN BOY", repeaters consigned to one of the lesser known, but truly bad ass Indian War Chiefs like Gall, Rain In the Face, or Hump, (knowing of course that the stuff to the better know Chiefs would have surely already been delivered), that you'll stumble on a helicopter that you didn't know was there and then we can go get that pair of #6's.....

I recongnize that it might take a bit more time to find the helicopter flight manual so that you can figure out how to fly the thing so lets schedule it for a week from tomorrow...that should give you plenty of time to find it, learn to fly the thing and get the weed eating done.....

Times a wasting......

Steve
 
I thought I needed a helicopter to get those two #6 Newhouses out of that canyon, but I think I'd just settle for that paymasters wagon load of double eagles and a case or two of Henry's.

We still have a lot of these Double Eagles and these one ounce chunks of .999 Fine that we found in the old safe up at the shop....that also had those two new S&W's in it. But a couple cases of Henry's would go a long ways towards that Blackhawk we need to get them traps off the mountain!
coins-0.jpg

Dave
 
Hey Kenmack, as luck would have it........I happen to have a leaky faucet too, so if you need a 3rd one..........I'd be glad to ship you one. :^)

Dave
 
Yea, but you probably got your leak for virtually nothing if not for free, and I will get it from you at market or just under. Dang, I wish I was you.
 
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