Off Topic cracked wood

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fishiker

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Nov 5, 2006
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This is way off topic but I respect the knowledge of this group and feel like it's the best shot I have at finding a solution. My hiking stick that I've had for many years and countless miles is developing a crack at the handle. I do NOT want to wrap it with any type of cord but would like to repair it rather than replace it. I'm thinking wood glue or putty and a healthy dose of BLO.
A friend who does woodworking as a hobby recommended drilling across the crack and driving a glue coated dowel into the hole. Are there better options? Should I use the BLO before or after sealing the crack? Is there a specific adhesive that works better than the Gorilla Wood Glue? Is there anything I should do to the wood before attempting the repair?
Sorry for so many questions and thanks in advance for any ideas.
 
fishiker said:
This is way off topic but I respect the knowledge of this group and feel like it's the best shot I have at finding a solution. My hiking stick that I've had for many years and countless miles is developing a crack at the handle. I do NOT want to wrap it with any type of cord but would like to repair it rather than replace it. I'm thinking wood glue or putty and a healthy dose of BLO.
A friend who does woodworking as a hobby recommended drilling across the crack and driving a glue coated dowel into the hole. Are there better options? Should I use the BLO before or after sealing the crack? Is there a specific adhesive that works better than the Gorilla Wood Glue? Is there anything I should do to the wood before attempting the repair?
Sorry for so many questions and thanks in advance for any ideas.
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Can you take some photos? It's hard to tell without seeing how long the crack is, whether it's longitudinal or horizontal or diagonal, etc. My gut feeling is both a dowel of some sort and gorilla glue. It's hard to beat gorilla glue for toughness.
 
fishiker said:
The crack runs with the grain. I'll get a pic later.
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Okay. Just that description helps! I've had incredible luck fixing cracked hafts with gorilla glue. Stuff is amazing and stronger than the wood that's it's replacing. Especially if you mist both sides lightly as it suggests on the label. Incredible bond. And no i don't get ad money... Haha.
 
If this is the wood splitting of itself, because it shrinks and contracts with age then really it is just the appearance of a weakness that was there all along and now gets exposed as the wood ages. In and of itself it has no bearing on the usefulness or longevity of the stick and a cosmetic fix is sufficient if this split is bothersome to you. It's a question of masking the split to blend in or contrast depending on your preferences with a filler, (fused in shellac seems to me a good choice), and then a finish coat. When that crack comes from hard use then I would cut it out beyond all signs of damage and splice in a new piece its the only way to create enough contact surface for the wood glue to work optimally. Only then does the claim "the glue is stronger than the wood" hold true. There is no basis to the idea that linseed oil, boiled or otherwise has any effect on the strength of the wood or wood connections. It offers some limited protection against moisture incursion and surface grime and highlights the grain pattern 's all.
 
If you wanted to get fancy you could butterfly it. If you fill it use something that retains some plasticity after curing.

I really like titebond 3 and have been using it in water use wood laminates and wooden implements for years. A PVA glue mixed with fine sawdust would work well as a filler.
 
fishiker said:
Here's what I'm dealing with, not terrible now but I don't want it to get worse. I'm not sure how long I've had it but the "finish" on it isn't sandpaper it's years of use.
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I agree with Fmont on this one. I almost always recommend gorilla glue but titebond will be better for this one. You can just let it run down till it fills and clamp the hell out if it. And blo would work just fine after its sanded.
 
Some crushed turqouise worked into the crack and filled with several coats of thin ca glue would do a neat job on the crack. You would have to sand it some after glue dries.
 
There are some good ideas here, but that's a pretty large crack comparatively speaking. Simply packing it with epoxy might not fix the underlying issue and won't really be as strong as one might think. Epoxy works best when gluing 2 things together instead of as a filler. I would cut a hardwood shim that is smaller than that crack in every way. The goal is to have something for the epoxy to bond onto so that the crack is pulled together, not to make something large that is going push the edges apart; leave enough space that it can kind of rattle around in there, that will give the epoxy somewhere to sit and cure. Don't fill it all the way, leave about 1/8th" depth of the crack exposed. Let it fully cure, giving it more than the recommended time on the bottle.

Part 2 is to generate some fill by sanding a piece of the same wood, or a wood with a similar color. That's the easier way, but if you have enough wood to spare, multiple passes on a band saw yields swarf that has a larger aggregate size than sawdust. Mix more epoxy and slowly add the sawdust until you have a runny paste. It's different every time, and there is no way to know until you try it out--curse words and removal may be required--and use it to spackle up the crack until it is slightly proud over the crack. This paste is largely cosmetic, it's not structurally very strong, step 1 is what's really going to hold. Once it's cured, lightly sand it down flush.

From the picture, it looks like a second crack is forming. Work a bit of epoxy in there with a toothpick, and it won't go anywhere. Then stick the end of the stick in a cup of BLO and let it drink to its heart's content, or use mineral oil with the caveat that it doesn't last as long. I like mineral oil because it is so benign and I don't have to do anything special with used rags. Good luck.
 
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