I found that when my snakewood pen cracked, I pulled it apart and put it back on the lathe. I sanded off the finish, then using 400 grit, I sanded it with thin CA, this filled in the crack very nicely. I then put on several coats of thin CA and sanded it down with MM. I Used a Blo/CA finish and have not had a problem since. I don't know if this is the right way to do it, but it appears to have worked for me and it saved a beautiful pen.
I am having a problem with all types of pens cracking in one of the stores that sell my stuff. I took all the cracked pens back to my shop and put them into a box so I would get around to replacing the woods. About a week later, I opened the box up and almost all the pens had expanded back to were I had a hard time finding the cracks. Obviously this is from the lack of humidity in the store, since it is the only store that has the problem and they get the same woods as everyone else. I had no choice but to ask them to put in a humidifier or I would not honor my sales policy with them. I took all the pens out of the store for now and when spring gets here, I will bring back an assortment for them to try again. All the cracked pens were stripped and redone, even those that did close back up, just in case. For next Xmas season, they will only get acrylics and stabilized woods. I ate the expense this time, but if they can't control the humidity(or lack of) I can't be responsible.
