Best way to restore my old vintage wooden cricket bat

Question

I own a vintage, wooden bat which I wanted to restore by myself, for myself.

Some of the areas where I require help are:

1. Removing stickers and their marks:
   There are these old stickers on the bat which are still there half-torn from the time I bought the bat (a decade ago). These stickers and their marks give the bat this old look which I want to transform to new. So what are the materials and ways of removing stickers and their marks from the bat and make it look like a new one? Will sanding cause the bat to loose its originality? Please clarify.

2. Crack (line visible) near the area joining the handle and the bat-body:
   There's a crack near the area joining the handle to the main body of the bat, it's not necessarily broken but it's just a deep crack (line visible) which I want to fix so it won't cause the bat to break in future. Do I fill it with adhesive, or what measures should be taken?

3. Bottom part (where we apply the “toe guard”) has lost its shape:
   This part of the bat, due to constant thumping, got deformed, i.e. it lost its original semi-circular shape and has become irregularly shaped. So what do to to get it back into its shape?

Some of the pics depicting the conditions of my bat:

The body (showing the sticky-back, part #1	The crack I mention in #2 (the same stickiness is on the front part)	The irregular bottom, part #3

Basically I need help to find the materials I require (and from where), and how to use them in executing the above mentioned steps effectively.
I know lots of work needs to be done, but I certainly will be successful with your involvement.

Answer 1

This is what I would do if I had to do this:

1. Use fine sandpaper to remove the stickers and the lacquer.* You may want to sand down the scratches as well, but I can’t tell by the photos if that would be a good idea, or that they are too deep (they seem to be so) and trying to fix them would deform the shape of the bat itself.

2. Fill the large crack with wood adhesive. Keep in mind that some adhesives (like PVA) shrink as they dry. If the crack is too wide it may be a better idea to mix some fine sawdust with the adhesive instead of using plane adhesive.

3. Measure and draw a pencil line indicating the desired shape of the bottom part. Use rough sandpaper to shape it and then polish it with fine sandpaper.

4. Put finish on it. (From the little search I did on what finish to use for the purpose, people advise against using hard finish, as it may end up cracking. Polyurethane spray was a suggestion I found reasonable.)

*You asked if sanding it down will cause the bat to lose its originality. I’m not sure what you mean by this - what you want to do: remove the stickers, the cracks and deformities, will cause it to lose its originality in a way. If you are concerned about deforming it somehow – then no, the finest grade sandpaper is used for polishing and it won’t deform it, or leave scratches.