Uploaded February 2017 | Updated September 2026, 1 hour ago
A little video documentation of an attempt I made to use the hide of the lower leg of a deer for a ready-made rawhide axe handle guard. In many ways the hide on this part of the deer seems perfect for the purpose of an axe handle guard. It is thin but tough, and thickest in exactly the correct spot for maximum protection of the handle and quite thin on the sides and back.
Unfortunately I found no way to get the very tough hide to stretch over the fawn's foot/butt end of any of my axe handles, so the only option would be to cut them open and attempt to sew them on, which somewhat defeats the purpose of this experiement, as the idea was to be able to do this without sewing.
It may be possible to get one of these to stretch over a fawn's foot, and I'm going to store them for a future attempt if I get some feedback from the interwebs.
For good videos about axe handle guards, I highly recommend the videos Skillcult has put out on the subject.
youtube.com/watch?v=Qm2KLC4v5EI&t=157s
youtube.com/watch?v=Qm2KLC4v5EI&t=157s
youtube.com/watch?v=Qm2KLC4v5EI&t=157s
For basic info on processing deer legs, I recommend his video on the subject as well.
youtube.com/watch?v=0ptw_Lf7CiM
A little video documentation of an attempt I made to use the hide of the lower leg of a deer for a ready-made rawhide axe handle guard. In many ways the hide on this part of the deer seems perfect for the purpose of an axe handle guard. It is thin but tough, and thickest in exactly the correct spot for maximum protection of the handle and quite thin on the sides and back.
Unfortunately I found no way to get the very tough hide to stretch over the fawn's foot/butt end of any of my axe handles, so the only option would be to cut them open and attempt to sew them on, which somewhat defeats the purpose of this experiement, as the idea was to be able to do this without sewing.
It may be possible to get one of these to stretch over a fawn's foot, and I'm going to store them for a future attempt if I get some feedback from the interwebs.
For good videos about axe handle guards, I highly recommend the videos Skillcult has put out on the subject.
youtube.com/watch?v=Qm2KLC4v5EI&t=157s
youtube.com/watch?v=Qm2KLC4v5EI&t=157s
youtube.com/watch?v=Qm2KLC4v5EI&t=157s
For basic info on processing deer legs, I recommend his video on the subject as well.
youtube.com/watch?v=0ptw_Lf7CiM
