Haft & Head Dressing
Nessmuk’s Haft & Head Dressing
As featured in the Field and Stream article!
Formulated to feed the wood of axe hafts without leaving them slick like common oils.
Protects axe heads from moisture and corrosion.
Perfect or use on knife blades, especially those with an “as forged” finish.
Protect metal, treat stacked leather, bone, antler, horn, and other natural handle materials, during both storage and use.
Haft & Head Dressing can also be used to wax thread for sewing, as a fire-starting aid, protect and lubricate saw blades, zippers, protecting traditional bows, bowstrings, and arrows, leather, etc.
Good on any natural materials, as well as "as forged" blades etc. It is a mixture of raw linseed oil, natural beeswax, and pine tar and has a sweet, smokey smell.
Hand blended in small batches in the U.S.A.
Tin is 2 5/8 x 3/4 inches.
Approximately 1.75 ounces of Dressing, total container weight 2.6 oz.
You are picking a campsite after a long drizzly day, you lay your pack down against the trunk of a pine tree that has been sheltering the area from the worst of the weather. You withdraw a hunters axe from your pack, and remove the dampened leather covering from the head, not a speck of rust. You set about your task, using it to collect tinder to make a small fire and to make a couple stakes to aid in hanging your trail tarp for the night. Even though everything is glistening with the water from the days rain, your axe works flawlessly. Later, as you sit by your crackling fire, warming your dinner and sipping on a steaming cup of coffee, you pull a well traveled tin from it’s home in your bag. You rub a coat of the tin’s contents on your axe, letting the friction from your palm help melt the wax and oil mix into the hickory, then use your fingertips to smear a coat onto the steel of the head, taking care not to slice yourself on the keenly honed edge. You smile faintly as you hear the memory of your grandfather’s voice: “If you take care of your tools, they will take care of you!”
Why live in a disposable world? Buy quality gear, and take care of it! Use Nessmuk’s Haft & Head Dressing on your tools, and they will take care of you.
For use on wood, especially tool hafts, work a small amount of H&H Dressing into a paste with your fingers or a rag, and rub into to the wood, friction will help warm the dressing into the wood, any excess can be burnished off for use, or a heavier coat left on for storage or excessively wet environments.
For metal or less porous handle materials, work a small amount of H&H Dressing into a paste, and then rub a thin coat onto the surface in small circular motions, taking care near the edge. Allow to “set” before burnishing to a polish. Can be left as a heavy coat for storage, or on axe heads, saw blades, secateurs, etc.