Thanks
tnichols , the proof will be in a few hours when I check it. On top of an unproven trap, I put it in an unproven spot, so a few variables to work out.
MtnCreek , unfortunately no hog rings. I hand cut, bent, and tied that whole thing, and to up the fun level the genius at Home Depot in building materials had never heard of baling wire, much less hog rings. After a minute or two of unintelligible gibberish he pointed me to rebar tie. It wasn't my first or second choice, but my blood pressure can only take so much Home Depot so I ended up doing it with the rebar tie.
If this design works I've already got a few ways in mind to simplify the fabrication process.
On a similar project, Splitzilla makes so many scraps that I can't get a wheelbarrow to and from the pile anymore, so I build a hopper to throw all the shards, splinters, irregulars into to keep the usable stuff off the ground so I can just shovel the sawdust, bark, punky bits, etc right off the pad and into my compost/worm pile and keep all that good little stuff handy for kindling. I had some old Re-Mesh and chainlink laying around, so I just threw this thing together. It's tough to see, but there's an opening at the bottom like one of those animal feeders so the oldest/driest pieces are always available at the bottom of the pile. Now I can just chuck all that useful kindling in one place instead of hunting up off the ground where it's perpetually wet:
I threw a little 1/4" hardware cloth on the bottom to keep it a bit more "solid" but still allow drainage and airflow. I'll just throw a half-sheet of plywood over it when it rains.