Antique Guillotine Mouse Trap - $1,000 Mousetrap - Mousetrap Monday

in the dayz video we're gonna test out a very old and valuable style mousetrap I'll use my hand tools to show you step-by-step how to build them and then we're gonna test them out in the barn and we'll feed the mice we catch two wild animals in the backyard so stay tuned because this is a really good episode today for mousetrap Monday we're gonna test out a very old-style mousetrap known as a guillotine for good reason now this style of mousetrap was commonly used over 200 years ago and each one was handmade and unique I already posted a video on this variation it's different because it has jagged teeth and a spring coil but in this video we're gonna make another variation that's far more common the first mousetrap we're going to make is based off an original that's in the collection of the Smithsonian and it's featured right here this homemade mousetrap was found in a home in Amityville New York and donated to the Smithsonian Institution in 1891 overall it's a nice looking trap the metals kind of rusty in the woods a lighter color so I'm gonna reproduce it from a block of oak now the second mousetrap we're gonna make is based off an original that's the only one I've ever seen for sale it came up for auction on eBay last year you know these things are so rare I bid up to four hundred and fifty dollars on it but someone else wanted it more if it was in full working condition I would have bid over $1,000 but it was missing two key components including the spring that makes the trap work and a guard so instead of spending all that money on a broken and incomplete trap I thought it'd be better to make an exact copy based off the photos of the original so let's go to the workshop and start building our two traps the mousetrap on eBay was made out of a darker wood so I'm gonna use black walnut this is a big block of black walnut but it doesn't look very good the outside is kind of rotten it's powdery that's because it's been sitting in her barn for over 20 years a couple decades ago a man gave me this wood originally he intended on making a rifle stock but he never got around to it so over the years I've been cutting off pieces doing different projects the inside of the wood looks great it's a dark chocolate so we're gonna cut off a slab and make our mousetrap for the mousetrap I'm making out of oak I'll get a piece of wood from the woodshed but before I get started I'm gonna try an experiment because we're making two different mousetraps and because the originals were handmade I'm gonna try two different methods for the oak mousetrap I'll use modern electric tools but for the walnut trap I'll use hand tools such as this you know what this is this is called a braced auger bit it's great for drilling holes but for the opah I'll use a cordless drill and forced in there a bit plug your ears much faster same with the planers this is a hand planer I love seeing it when it takes off the shavings this is much faster an electric planer so we're ready to get started I'm gonna cut off a block of walnut and to do that I'm gonna use this bow saw look how big this is so let's get started come here let's make a mousetrap [Music] here's the completed wooden bodies of our mousetraps that was a ton of work but they sure turned out nice the walnuts a dark chocolate color and the yolk has all this grain in it it's hard to believe that started out as a piece of firewood but now that the bodies are done we have to make the metal components including the guillotine blade that guards the trigger system and the spring we're going to shift from woodworking to metalworking here's the components I have a 3/16 metal bar we're gonna hammer this out and make the guillotine blades also we have some wire and some metal strapping we're gonna cut and Bend all the pieces heat them up hammer them out so let's go back to the workshop and start working the metal [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] I finally completed all the components of our antique-style mousetraps and we're now ready to put them together this had 10 metal pieces and this one had 12 I had to custom build each piece except for a few items originally the guillotine blade was held down with a round headed screw so I got one of those and to power the trap we have a mainspring these are very strong and they're designed for setting off a hammer on a black powder rifle but I found these smaller mainsprings that will fit our mousetraps perfectly now for the fun part we'll take all the pieces and put everything together just like this I am so happy with how these turned out let me show you how they work to set the trap we first need to place bait on the trigger hook inside then we'll pull back the latch and lift up the bar as we pull that up you can see the spring flex and that has quite a bit of downward force and we'll lift this up all the way and hook it in we even have a groove on the blade to fit the latch and we connect it back to the trigger that holds it all secure but it's still very sensitive that way when the mouse enters the slightest touch will set off the trap these antique style mousetraps sure look good but the question is do they work I'm gonna set them up in the barn with motion cameras and see if wild mice will enter hit the trigger and get caught but I have to be very careful with what I show on YouTube especially when it comes to a sharp metal blade slamming down on a mouse's neck it might even act as a true guillotine so I'm gonna place a toilet paper roll in front of the trap that way we can see the mouse enter see the trap go off and we won't show a bloody mess so let's go set up the motion cameras and see what happens well after watching the trail cameras I learned a lot about these traps there's a huge weakness a mouse can go on top hit the trigger and set off the blade without getting caught that's what happened with the first one then it went inside and got a free meal but the second Mouse wasn't as lucky and went down there pulled the trigger and got the bar right on its neck it worked very well but it doesn't act as a true guillotine it's more like a regular snap trap now one thing that drives me crazy is mice came back and started chewing on my trap right here has teeth marks I worked so hard on this and they damaged it but I guess that gives it character and as you can see they love to poop everywhere they're really messy now I don't want the mouse we caught in this trap to go to waste so I'm going to feed it to a wild animal let's go set up the motion cameras in the backyard and see what comes along and enjoys a guillotined Mouse well the skunk was the winner of our mouse dinner I really enjoy making these antique style mousetraps and even though they weren't perfect matches they were close enough to test out and see how they worked thank you so much for watching I've taken the last two weeks off to spend time with our new baby I've really enjoyed this break slowing down but it's time to start posting videos again if you haven't subscribed to my channel yet please consider clicking the button right here I've posted over 550 videos on YouTube and currently I'm posting new videos every Monday so if you want to see the best videos on how to catch mice rats squirrels chipmunks moles voles and Gophers stay tuned

Channel: Shawn Woods (Mousetrap Monday)

Views: 1,025,224

Rating: 4.8424764 out of 5

Keywords: Shawn Woods, Mouse Trap, Mousetrap Monday, Pest Control, How to catch a mouse, mousetrap review, mouse trap electric, mouse trap bucket, mouse trap quicksand, mouse trap commercial, mouse trap kills mice, mouse trap bottle, big mouse trap, victor mouse trap, rat trap bucket, antique mouse trap, vintage mouse trap, rare mouse trap

Id: daOSp8YbjT0

Length: 12min 48sec (768 seconds)

Published: Mon Jan 27 2020