How to Build an Old-Fashioned Guillotine Style Mouse Trap

YouTuber Shawn Woods of “Mousetrap Monday” is trying something new with this video. Viewers have complained that his videos don’t usually show him building his custom mousetraps, so this time he did the work of capturing the process on video — so that you too can make your own mouse guillotine!

He starts with a block of wood, and it’s all quite simple. He uses only some wood, some steel strapping, and a few bits of odd hardware. Before you know it (well, slower than that but he does speed it up so the entire video is still only a bit more than 12 minutes long), he’s got a mean-looking trap and a bleeding thumb where the trap caught him! Ouch.

This would be a satisfying way to slay some vermin. Off with his head! But it would have to be reset each time, so it’s not as efficient as, say, the old bucket “mill” method. But a dead mouse is a good mouse, and the methodology is not as important as the result.

This build video doesn’t show the kills, because YouTube. So if you want to see those after you view the video below, click here.

Russ Chastain

Editor & Contributing Writer Russ Chastain is a lifelong hunter and shooter who has spent his life learning about hunting, shooting, guns, ammunition, gunsmithing, reloading, and bullet casting. He started toting his own gun in the woods at age nine and he's pursued deer with rifles since 1982, so his hunting knowledge has been growing for more than three and a half decades. His desire and ability to share this knowledge with others has also grown, and Russ has been professionally writing and editing original hunting & shooting content since 1998. Russ Chastain has a passion for sharing accurate, honest, interesting hunting & shooting knowledge and stories with people of all skill levels.