Favorite Handle Savers

[thunderstick]

My favorites are:
1. Hockey stick tape--adheres in cold weather and is quite abrasion resistant. You can easily replace it as needed.
2. Leather wrap saturated with boiling beeswax. I use a medium thickness leather and wrap the handle gluing it with contact cement. Overlap it in the back and final cut the double thickness at the same time for a perfect fit. Move right into placing "pure" beeswax in a double boiler and paint it into the leather using a heat gun to melt it in the whole way. The heat resets the contact cements so it cools down with the wax and leather and contracts extremely tight around the handle. It also gets very hard and tough.
3. Apply number 1 over number 2 for a sacrificial layer

What are your methods?

 

[AndreLinoge]

Extra handles.


Seriously, though, I usually leave the front of my hatchet hafts a bit fat so I can just carve checks out of them for a while. Any full size axe work I do that results in a haft strike will usually snap the handle: I like em whippy and they dont tolerate mistakes, no sense in trying to hide a strike or 2.

 

[Steely_Gunz]

One of my favorite strengthening/protecting materials is called Fiber Fix. You can find it at the hardware store in the plumbing aisle. It's grippy like skateboard tape, but you get it wet first and it sets up like a hard cast. I put it on my Cold Steel Viking Hand Axe and its held up fine for a couple years.

I'm actually planning on doing a wrap on a riflemans hawk this week. I'm not sure if I'll wrap the whole thing or just around the handle.

 

[FLINT77]

fiber fix looks interesting. the commercial was fun to watch anyways.

 

[Maine20]

fiber fix looks interesting. the commercial was fun to watch anyways.

I used fiber fix on a maul over a year ago. 4+ cords of hardwood later and it’s unscathed. I wouldn’t use it on a nice axe but for a splitting tool that will see heavy use I think it’s great.

 

[A17]

Electrical tape + duct tape. The first is from the axe book and the other is from all the tools with broken hafts I found. Also, they sell slip on rubber guards (or at least they did at some point).
edit: Amazon.com : VB Groundbreakers HS3 Axe Eye Handle Saver HS-3 : Garden & Outdoor

 

[muleman77]

Hockey tape works pretty good for me. I use it on s few of my dedicated splitters. It's not about the overstrike, but splitting really chews up handles, even if you keep to the edges. I just replace it as needed.

I'd like to give fiber fix a try, I've seen it, and thought it would work, but didn't put any on yet. Sounds like a step up from my tape.

I don't put anything on the rest of 'em, just a couple mauls and splitters.

 

[AndreLinoge]

I reckon I should point out my most used splitting maul is welded to a steam tube, and the other has a synthetic handle that is holding up real well.. blasphemy! I know, I know..

That fiber fix tape looks like some seriously usefull stuff tho.

 

[Yankee Josh]

I tried using a 10oz leather wrap.

Only lasted a short time. It did protect the haft! And in fact it's still on there and doing something for protection.

I like the looks of that fiber fix and I'm gonna get some! It's either that or a complete fiberglass handle. Yuck!

 

[thunderstick]

Melting beeswax into leather takes it to another whole level of protection and it looks professional.

 

[thunderstick]

For an axe and chopping either 1 or 2 alone works fine in my opinion. I like to keep the axe handle thinner than the head for the occasional splitting so that often means I most often just use the tape. For a maul (with a much wider head than the handle) I like the double protection. Glued/waxed leather with tape on top provides a sacrificial/replaceable layer and a cushioning layer for when the split goes off angle behind the maul and the handle impacts the wood.