helve
The handle or haft of a tool or weapon.
It was the bad ax-helve someone had sold me— / “Made on machine,” he said, plowing the grain […]
A forge hammer lifted by a cam acting on the helve between the fulcrum and the head.
Where it comes from
From Middle English helfe, helve; from Old English hielfe, from Proto-Germanic *halbiją. Probably cognate to English half, although Etymonline claims relation from halter and helm.
Adapted from the Wiktionary entry helve (CC BY-SA 4.0).