Someone a few posts back mentioned seasoning, or aging, the wood before working. This is a mistake I made in the past, and perhaps the reason behind some cracking. I should have waited. But for you lowlanders, here in the "American" highlands(read 7300 feet at my door), the air is so dry that wood cracks quite easily. A friend of mine didn't listen to us about oiling her new black walnut jewelry box purchased in Turkey. Three weeks after returning to Colorado, it literally cracked apart. Guess that means I will have to go cut a new stick, wait a year(who knows, maybe less with how dry it is here), and make myself another one. Gee, what a shame.