This is a wing Chung training dummy. Its 50 plus years old. The crack runs down the length of the dummy. It doesn’t move, its still very solid, but we would like to seal the crack to avoid further damage.
Our thought wes to use wood shims to fill in the space with wood glue, then use straps or screw down hose fittings to squeeze the dummy together so the glue and shims hold. Then saw off the excess and stain to match color.
Is there a better method or is the above plan stupid? This dummy is special and has history, I just don’t want to make it worse.
Update: Thanks for the suggestions. This wood is hard as a rock. I tried a small wood chisel just to see if a butterfly joint was doable and I could barely scratch the thing. I am guessing I couldn’t squeeze it tighter around glue and shims either.
Someone mentioned just leave it if its that old…i m thinking I might just do that. I may just fill in the crack them closely watch it for signs of damage as it gets used.
I’m being very careful because this thing has history being used by Dan Inosanto.
Adding another view of the damage.
No advice beyond what others have given, but good luck, and I’d enjoy Wing Chun related content if you want to post that too!
You can mix wood glue with sawdust and pack it in the cracks
I would leave it alone. Given the age of the wood it will likely not crack any further. It has already dried as much as it can.
What about the wood putty suggestion to fill it in?
Wood putty won’t add any strength. The crack and piece are large enough where seasonal variation would likely cause the putty to separate from the wood anyway.
I’d suggest checking out John Maleki on YouTube…he’s a huge wood nerd and would probably answer if you reached out.
What about wrapping it with cord/rope? That would be reversible, and keep a similar aesthetic
It already has the mid wrapped up. I’ll keep that as an option
For such a narrrow crack, getting enough epoxy into the space to restore structural strength will be tricky. I’ve had good success with fine sawdust ‘petrified’ in place with cyanoacrylate (CA) glue. Practice on a test piece to optimize colour. A museum conservator would probably not disguise the repair, but if you are trying to do that, consider refinishing the whole piece. Changing moisture conditions, as already pointed out, will stress any repair but given the piece’s age, maintaining humidity within normal indoor conditions will minimize any movement.