How To Make Your Own Fox Snare Swivels.
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Illustration shows the shape and dimensions of steel bar with extra holes drilled along the top of the bar. The first holes should be drilled no less than 1" from the end and 1" deep. Insert a steel nail e.g 2 1/4" masonry nail 2.5mm diamater, cut a lenght of galvanised fenceline wire 14" long and 2.5mm or 3mm diameter or thicker if required, bend wire into V shape and attach to steel bar as seen in illustration, then hold wire firmly against shoulder of bar with thumb and forefinger of left hand, then wind wire around nail tightly approx 8 turns snip of ends & finish of by giving the wire turns a slight tighten with the pliers, now pull nail out of hole & slide the swivel off the end of bar, to line swivel up perfectly push nail down through the turns of wire at kneck & pull swivel as seen in illustration an engineer can make you a steel bar quite easily if you cannot get one made, get a joiner to make your shapes out of hardwood such as oak or ash. They can be made any size to make small centre swivels or larger end swivels, the reason behind the holes along the top of the bar is in the event of the first hole becoming worn you can move to the next hole along. I have a T bar hand tool made and cut my wire lengths 11" long and it makes a perfect swivel with no ends to cut off. I also have a tool to fit into an electric drill that makes a swivel with a slight touch of the trigger in a second. The reason I told you to cut the wire to 14" is to give you good leverage when winding by hand. You can make thousands of swivels with simple tools at hardly any expense. Why pay money for a thing that can be made for practically nothing, the north american trappers have used wire swivels for decades they are simple, cheap and highly effective, in making your own swivels, breakaway s.hooks and the GSW breakaway wire barrel eye, you can make your own humane fox snares for less than 30pence.
How To Make Breakaway S Hooks For Humane Snares
Illustration shows simple tool for making your own breakaway s hooks, it consists of a flat square piece of mild steel 3/8th of an inch thick, 1 3/4" long & 1 1/4" broad with a 3" long piece of same type flat bar welded to the underside to fit into vice. There are two small round steel posts 5mm diameter and stand 3/8" high, they have been inserted into two holes & welded underneath to keep the top surface nice and flat, the total distance from the outside of each steel post is only 3/4", a welded nut and a simple threaded 6mm bolt with a wing attached, to allow tightening & slackening, this bolt holds end of wire tightly to stop it slipping as you bend the s hook into shape.
Illustration shows how the procedure works once wire length is held by bolt.
Illustration shows steel posts and slight groove this gives the bolt good holding power over wire length once inserted. As the fox is our largest land predator I use 2.5mm english tinsley galvanized fenceline wire as its quality made wire and strong, unlike the imported wire where the galvanize flakes off & is of weaker strength (do not use high tensile wire) cut your wire into 1 foot lengths and you should average 6 s hooks out of each length, it takes only a couple of seconds to make one, you can even make thousands if you so require at a cost of 1 penny or less. In north america the trapper can use various heavier diameter wire for larger species e.g coyote & wolf. I use this wire to make my barrel eye all in one breakaway snare eye, to make a breakaway either stronger or weaker, decrease or increase hole size or add a smaller or larger washer at back of hole on s hook, or make GSW wire barrel snare eye with incorporated breakaway only 1" long as seen on www.thehuntinglife.com (HERE). The normal s hook fits certain snare eyes the way they are made others will have to be adjusted by fixing bottom loop into vice & turning the top loop a quarter turn, so that the bottom & top loop now face opposite ways from each other.
