Gin Traps?

[kiwi 4]

used gins for years, they are good traps if used in the right hands.. you traps collecters got any lanes ace gins?

[Guest Ditch_Shitter]

Kiwi; The Lane's 'Ace' was probably The most mass produced Gin ever made. The overall production must have run into tens of millions. It was also the baby of H. Lane, Australia. That point alone making it a bit less desirable to ye average brit Collector.

 

But ye really have to understand the workings of the minds of Trap Collectors, world wide, to get a handle on all this. Firstly: Most look for their native stuff. And they start off by looking for Traps. Then, having a few Gin's, they learn of and want the Sizes. As they hunt for ever bigger (or smaller) traps, they pick up variants ~ Pole Traps, eg. It's largely all about ammassing 'Sets'. Though one can never really think in terms of a 'set' of Gin's. There's simply too many sorts. Millionaires Collect. They can spend a life time at it and blow their entire fortune and still want more, and know there's more out there. It is mind boggling!

 

But to return to the Ace - and a little nearer home, for you: In Australia they had Gin's for rabbits and Dogs. More rabbits. Thus Oz is awash with four inch (jaw spread) Gin's, such as the Ace. " Rabbit Traps ". And that's where my personal nick name for Ozzie Collectors comes in. I call them " Stamp Collectors ". This is because, faced with so many 4" Gins and they being by far the vast majority of what they'll ever find, those guys have turned their attention to the Makers or Retailers name, stamped onto the spring.

 

Nothing wrong in that. Collecting is a bitch of an addiction. A man has to have Something to lust after. But that's why an Oz Collector may amass a hundred identical traps, all made by one Maker, but each bearing a differant Retailers name stamp. And that brings us neatly back to the Lane's Ace.

 

To the average british Collector, an Ace is, at best, just one more to hang on a nail. But to people with an eye for the minutae? I hear there's a bloke in Oz who's layed claim to a Collection of Hundreds of Ace's; All, presumably, made on a differant press, by a differant guy, on a differant day, in a differant location. Point is; The little " Ace of Spades " symbol on his traps all have a level of differance from each other. And that's how the Ozzies Collect. Bless 'em.

 

Anyway, for anyone with that bit more interest in all this - like we really need more f*cking competition! - there's some cracking books out there. Trevor Bateman (No. Not That Bateman. That's James. But his " Animal Traps and Trapping is a great primer) then Trevor's " Rabbit Traps " is pure pornography, to a more seasoned Collector. Under a tenner. Try the Bay or just PM me.

 

Then, if ye feel a disturbance in the denims at such stuff? Only one place to go: Stuart Haddon - Riddoch's new and enlarged edition of his seminal work; " Rural Reflections " is an absolute f*cking Must! It's our present Bible. Nearer thirty quid. But it's a whacking great hard back and will just blow ye away with how much there is to know.

 

For those already hopelessly lost to The Addiction and craving yet more? On it's way! Our own 'OTC' is, last I heard, working on his own publication, based around yet further and hitherto unheard of information about Retailers and these often - even yet - mysterious 'Stamps'. Myself, of course, I'm the kiddie for the Fenn, Juby, Imbra, Sawyer and a world of other, lesser known 'Approved' Traps ~ and those that didn't quite make it

 

Then, of course, there's ye Mouse and Rat Trap boys. Ye Bird Trap affecionado's. Cage Traps?. European. North American. The list goes on. And there's some bugger crazy for all of them!

 

Lane's 'Ace'? One of millions within millions, Kiwi. And even they have their very own Authoritive Fanatic! He's out there!

 

The devil's in the detail!

[OldTrapCollector 377]

Our own 'OTC' is, last I heard, working on his own publication, based around yet further and hitherto unheard of information about Retailers and these often - even yet - mysterious 'Stamps'.

 

I certainly am Ditch, the research is still very actively ongoing but it shouldn't be long now - once I have everything I want/need it will be in the shops but therein lies the problem with historical research - most of those answers lie dead and buried with the blokes who made them!

 

If anyone has any old paperwork regarding traps or their makers, or any old traps themselves I would just love to see them - they are all pieces of a giant and ancient jigsaw for me. I know you'd probably not want to part with such stuff but a copy or electronic scan of the information would be great for me.

 

As Ditch said there's a niche for all types of trap collectors the world over - the vast array of rusty old gin traps for me, and the intricacies and variations of the slightly more modern Approved traps for him - but rest assured, whatever it is you have squirrelled away in a sack at the back of Grandad's old shed it would be of some use to someone.

 

OTC

[kiwi 4]

thanks for the update, we have millions of them aussie traps and a few kiwi made jobs in nz, as a kid trapping possums was how i got my pocket money and running a trap line was serious shit to a 9 year old, use the victor 1inch and 1 1/2 inch as you can carry more around in the bush now but the old gin trap still does the job, and the best trap for dealing with rats i might add.