On Sun, 18 Mar 2007 21:33:01 -0700, "Steve B"
wrote:

I live in a dry desert climate. What can I do as a preventative to garden
tool wood handles splitting? And after they're split, I need to sand them
down and do .......... what?

Fill with plastic wood and use them for the work they can do, and not
beauty? Don't need to sand then either, although a wire wheel might
work faster than sandpaper anyhow.

My brother brought back a probably-cheap wood sculpture from Thailand
and after a year it started cracking and cracked all over the place.
I stained the inside of the cracks to match the very dark stain on the
outside, and afaic it looks pretty good. You don't notice the cracks
in the guys leg or his chest. At least from a distance.

Steve