Axe Handle Protector

sometimes while splitting wood its inevitable you will have a handle strike and if you're my younger brother its usually a given! the first use of a new axe he missed and nicked the handle and decided to duct tape it to protect it. that lasted a few more swings and the tape was pealed off. my solution was a metal gard so I used scrap aluminum from an old street sign

this is self explanatory, you just cut a template to fit

I left a little extra on the sides of the aluminum just in case which turned out to help me later

I started the first bends on a vise

then I clamped and hammered it to fit.

in the second picture you can see it didn't fold over to the center because the fold wasn't perfectly center when.I bent it
once it's folded over draw a line and cut the excess off and start working on the other side

once the other side is bent over cut the excess off to match up with the other side

mix up some jb weld or epoxy to take up some of the empty space and act as a buffer and to stop the aluminum from moving if struck that way it doesn't oblong the nails.

I used a kind of finishing nail, cut it a little less than a half inch long and predrilled the hole with a smaller bit then hammered them in then wiped the whole thing off with some gas on a rag then I wire brushed the aluminum to shine it up and I put an edge on the axe now you can miss that log all day without worrying about handle damage