Esker Care: What to Use on Your Wood, Leather and Metal Gear

Quality outdoor gear earns its place in your kit over time. An axe that has split years of firewood, a paddle carried across countless lakes or a knife that comes along on every trip becomes more than just another piece of equipment. With proper care, well-made gear can continue doing its job for decades—and be passed on from one generation to the next. 

But even the best materials need maintenance. 

Canadian conditions can be particularly demanding on traditional outdoor equipment. Rain, snow, salt and fresh water, humidity and temperature swings all take their toll. Steel can rust, wood can absorb or lose moisture, and leather can dry and stiffen. 

Using quality treatments made with the best ingredients for quality materials is key to keeping your gear at its very best. 

Esker Care was developed around that principle: a straightforward, petroleum-free care system for maintaining the wood, leather and metal of your premium outdoor tools and equipment. Made with natural vegetable oils, Canadian beeswax and natural butters, with formulations specifically developed for different materials and applications, Esker Care provides a natural approach to protecting hardworking outdoor gear. 

For tools made from traditional materials and built to provide generations of use, it makes sense to care for them with thoughtfully selected natural ingredients. 

An axe is a good example of why outdoor tool maintenance isn’t a one-step solution. 

The head is metal. The handle is wood. The mask is leather. Each component spends its working life exposed to many of the same conditions, but each responds differently. 

Metal is vulnerable to moisture and corrosion. Carbon steel in particular benefits from a protective barrier that helps prevent water from reaching the surface. 

Wood naturally responds to its surroundings. Changes in moisture and humidity can cause it to swell, shrink or dry out. A protective treatment helps limit moisture exchange while maintaining the character of the wood. 

Leather also needs protection from moisture, but it needs to remain supple. When neglected or exposed to heat for long periods of time, leather can become stiff and eventually crack. 

Good outdoor gear care starts by recognizing those material differences and applying a specific care regimen for each, rather than treating the entire tool the same way. 

Axes, knives and other exposed steel tools face a simple enemy: moisture. 

After use, remove dirt, sap and debris from the metal and dry it thoroughly. Don’t put a wet blade straight into its mask, particularly for storage. Trapped moisture can create exactly the conditions corrosion needs. 

If an axe head already has light surface rust, deal with it before applying protection. Esker’s tool-care guidance recommends removing rust with vinegar and fine steel wool, rinsing the surface, drying it completely and then applying blade oil. 

Once the metal is clean, dry and free from rust, apply Esker Blade Care to the exposed steel. Its mister applicator allows for a thin, even protective layer that helps defend axe heads, knife blades and other metal tool surfaces against moisture and rust. Its simple, petroleum-free formulation uses natural vegetable oil to provide a protective barrier for the metal components of your outdoor tools. 

This is especially worthwhile after working in rain or snow, travelling by canoe, or before putting equipment away for any length of time. 

A protective treatment isn’t a substitute for keeping an edge sharp, either. Inspect cutting edges regularly and sharpen when required. For axes, a two-grit axe stone allows the coarse surface to address small nicks and restore the bevel before the fine side refines the edge. 

A good wooden handle has warmth, grip and character that synthetic materials struggle to replicate. It also changes with its environment. 

Repeated exposure to water followed by aggressive drying can be hard on wood. Extremely dry conditions can cause an axe handle to shrink, potentially contributing to a loose head, while prolonged moisture isn’t good for the handle either. 

For axes and other wooden-handled tools, Esker Handle Care provides a dedicated treatment for protecting the handle against moisture and the demands of regular use. Its petroleum-free formula combines natural vegetable oil with Canadian beeswax. The oil conditions and protects the wood, while the beeswax provides additional grip for greater control and confidence when using your tools. 

That added grip is especially important on hardworking tools such as axes, where maintaining a secure, controlled hold on the handle matters. The beeswax gives Handle Care a practical advantage beyond protecting the wood—it helps the handle feel secure in the hand without relying on petroleum-based ingredients. 

When maintaining an axe, pay particular attention to exposed end grain at the top and bottom of the handle. These areas readily take up moisture and deserve the same care as the more visible length of the handle. 

Storage matters, too. Keep wooden-handled tools away from extreme heat. Leaning a damp axe beside a wood stove might seem like a quick way to dry it, but intense heat can dry and shrink the wood. 

Larger wooden equipment has similar needs, which is where Esker Wood Care comes in. Designed for broader wooden surfaces and gear such as paddles and other traditional wood equipment, its petroleum-free formulation uses natural vegetable oil to condition the wood and help protect it from the elements. 

For paddle and wooden gear care, start with a clean, dry surface and inspect the wood as you work. Regular attention provides an opportunity to catch worn areas, roughness or damage before they develop into larger problems. 

This is also why Esker offers separate Handle Care and Wood Care products. Both are designed to condition and protect wood, but they serve different purposes. Esker Handle Care combines oil with Canadian beeswax to provide the added grip and control desirable on a working tool handle, while Esker Wood Care uses oil alone for paddles, larger wooden surfaces and other wooden outdoor gear. 

A leather sheath or axe mask has two jobs: protect the cutting edge and protect you from it. 

Doing that work in the outdoors means leather encounters rain, snow, dirt and constant changes between wet and dry conditions. Without care, it can gradually become dry and stiff. 

The first rule of leather mask care is to let wet leather dry naturally. Remove a damp sheath or mask from the blade and allow it to dry at room temperature. Avoid placing it against a heater, beside a stove or in intense direct sunlight to speed things up. 

Once the leather is dry and clean, apply Esker Leather Care. Work a small amount into the material with your fingers or a soft cloth, allow it to absorb and buff the surface afterward. Its petroleum-free blend of natural vegetable oils and butters conditions the leather, helping protect it from moisture while keeping it supple enough to continue doing its job. 

It’s also important to think of leather and steel as separate materials during storage. Putting a blade into a damp leather sheath can hold moisture directly against the metal. Make sure both are thoroughly dry before storing them together. 

That small habit protects two parts of the tool at once. 

The easiest way to approach outdoor tool maintenance is to match the treatment to the material rather than reaching for one general-purpose product. 

Each Esker Care product is petroleum-free, but the formulation changes according to its purpose. Blade Care and Wood Care use natural vegetable oil, Handle Care combines natural vegetable oil with Canadian beeswax for protection, grip and control, and Leather Care uses a blend of natural vegetable oils and butters to condition and maintain suppleness. 

That distinction is particularly useful for equipment combining several natural materials. When performing axe care and maintenance, for example, use Blade Care on the steel head, Handle Care on the wooden handle and Leather Care on the mask. 

The same principle can then be applied across the rest of your kit. 

Rather than waiting for corrosion, dried leather or weathered wood to signal a problem, make inspection and care part of the rhythm of using the equipment: clean it, dry it, check it and protect it with the appropriate product. 

Esker was founded by Canadian winter and canoe campers around a belief in practical equipment made for real, changing conditions. Its first product, a traditional bucksaw made with locally sourced hardwood, helped establish an approach to outdoor gear centred on simplicity, craftsmanship and long-term usefulness. 

That philosophy also means taking care of what you own. 

Learning how to care for outdoor tools doesn’t require an elaborate workshop or a long list of treatments. It means understanding the materials, keeping equipment clean and dry, addressing small problems early and using natural, quality products made for the job. 

Esker Care follows the same straightforward philosophy. Every formulation is petroleum-free and uses natural ingredients selected for the material being maintained: vegetable oil for metal and larger wooden gear, oil and Canadian beeswax for tool handles, and oils and butters for leather. 

Protect metal tools from rust. Keep wooden handles and paddles conditioned. Maintain the grip and control of working tool handles. Let leather dry properly and keep it supple. 

These are small acts of practical self-reliance, but over the life of a well-made tool, they add up. 

Quality gear should carry the marks of where it has been without being prematurely worn out by neglect. With regular care, an axe, knife, bucksaw or paddle can keep working through all Canadian seasons, year after year - and from one generation to the next.