Reply To: How best to repair a split backsaw wooden handle
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I’ve dealt with cracks like this using regular wood glue. First, I get a drop of water onto my finger tip and dab it along the crack and work the crack a little. This serves to keep the wood from drawing the moisture out of the glue so quickly and very slightly thins the glue in the next step. Next, either put a drip of glue on your finger or onto the wood and start rubbing the glue into the crack. At the same time, try to hold the crack open to the extent that it feels safe. As you rub, relax and let the crack close, then open it again. Keep on with the rubbing and alternatively opening and closing the crack. You likely will need to keep adding a drip of glue now and then. If successful, you start to see that glue squishes out each time you let the crack relax and draws in when you open it. Sustaining this causes the glue to be worked deeper and deeper into the crack. I’ve even put another little drop of water on my finger. At some point, you decide you’ve moved the glue as far as you can, at which point clamp lightly. Don’t go crazy with the clamp and force all the glue back out. You may even decide that no clamp at all is best.
If this can be made to work, I prefer it to CA because CA shatters when shocked. Sometimes, CA is the only option, though because it penetrates so well. If the crack has a gap when relaxed, then I’ll use epoxy. If the crack has a tiny gap, then I decide how much I care, the point being that most epoxies are viscous and won’t penetrate very far. One exception is West System’s epoxy which is quite thin and takes substantial time to set, giving it time to penetrate. I’ve had cracks that ran through and the West would run out the back side, draining the crack of glue! So, a bit of tape on the low side(s) was needed to keep the glue in. The problem with West System is that it is expensive. Since I don’t use it much, it isn’t worth buying a real container of it, so I bought little squeeze-out packets (like ketchup packets) of the stuff. This elevates it to Stupid Expensive, but at least I don’t throw 95% of it away. Actually, for a crack repair, I guess even with the little packets you do throw most of it away, but at least not the whole can!
It’s hard to judge a photo, but I’d likely go after this crack with regular wood glue, as described. If the crack goes through, apply the glue to one side and see if you can just work it so that it comes out the other side. That will give you confidence that the whole interior surface has glue. If it never comes out the other side, then of course try to work glue from that side, too.