Gary I have cracked them before myself. The forend wood is weak and the screw acts like a wedge. Using epoxy for filler and assembling before the glue sets eliminates this possibility from occurring. I just did one with three large cracks emanating from each screw hole. They're almost invisible; if you didn't know they had been there you would never notice. The ebony tip was also missing and a big chunk of wood was blown out adjacent to the ebony tip. It all looks fine now. It would take an experienced eye to find my repairs. Use epoxy with brown dye (If the color isn't a good match, blend with a brown Sharpie afterwards), use surgical tubing for a clamp to close the crack and hold the wood to the forend iron. If you assemble when glue is pliable it can't crack. Drill out the holes a little beforehand to remove the wood you inserted in the screw holes. Epoxy is stronger than wood, don't be afraid to use it as a filler.