I prefer a wooden handled axe or maul for my own use but we use fiberglass handled axes with our youth group as they are much tougher.

I have wrapped the area behind the head of a maul with wire before to prevent it from damage when splitting blocks of hardwood.

At work I keep a steel shafted/rubber handled Estwing axe on my snowmobile because it is used for a specific task. I often use it to test the thickness of lake/river ice and it is very easy to break a wooden handle doing this. You need to chop the ice in a trough shape to keep the handle from hitting the ice surface. I also spray paint the entire axe black to blend-in with the colour of the snowmobile, people notice it less and therefore I think there is less chance of it being ripped-off.

Mike