Fijian Rootstock Club For Discussion Please
 

I have recently acquired this Fijian club and have had others in the past and for some reason they nearly allways have splits running up the shafts as this one does , can anyone explain why these type of club suffer from this , you see lots of these clubs bound maybe to keep them splitting ?

Nice club. I've sometimes seen these split as your has. Probably caused by the drying out of the wood after having been in a European climate for some years. I believe Fijian warriors would periodically rub their clubs with coconut oil.

Possibly, central heating could accelerate the splitting...

That is a very nice and attractive club!

To some extent, I suspect the cracking is an inherent vice from the nature of the wood, how the wood was handled after harvesting and also how the club was shaped from it. 'Rootstock' implies a full core and I suspect the cracks happen along the radius with drying over time. I have seen some clubs with such cracks that have been there a long time. Perhaps waxing might serve as a modern substitute for the coconut oil?

Nice club, i agree with the others, its because of age and climate, nothing that can be done, see it as proof of age... ;)