Just prune properly and let the tree heal itself. If you seal the cut, it will never heal properly, and the sealant will trap bacteria and rot.

60 years?? What type of tree is still productive after that amount of time?

bees wax
pine rosin
electrical tape

Here are a couple of informed discussions on the benefits of parafilm. This was not available when i was last doing grafting, and i believe i would go with it now after reading what these folks have to say about it relative to wax.
forums.gardenweb.com/forums/...108.html

forums.gardenweb.com/forums/...994.html

Here is a place that sells it:
www.2spi.com/catalog/sup...afting.shtml

I would try to avoid over pruning. I've seen several disasters over the years here with hippies trying to rejuvenate old orchards and way over pruning while not applying a lot of fertilizer and the trees and it taking them the better part of a decade to recover if at all.

If they are cool old varieties, you might think of buying some seedling or clonal rootstocks, potting them up in tree pots and grafting scions on the from the old trees. This is easy and a cheap and satisfying way to get a new tree.

Be on the lookout for seedling trees that really are most likely ( very most likely) not to be worth grafting or keeping.

Since these trees are so old, the rootstock will cause all of the grafts to grow as large as the trees you're looking at now. Something to bear in mind. The restoration link that Wil posted is a good solution if you're working in a modern orchard with dwarf or semi dwarf rootstock, and may work for you, but you'll still have big trees in the long run.

Have you called your local Master Gardener office and talked to anybody there?

What a wonderful undertaking. I hope you succeed in your efforts.

Whenever pruning is insufficient:
Use a mixture of lime sulfur and white paint over the wounds to seal them. I have also seen tar used to seal them but have never used it myself.

Good Luck!

I was wondering what type of grafting you were planning on using? I have used cleft grafting when I grafted two types of pears trees together. I used grafting wax to seal it. I have seen others use the tongue graft and a veneer graft. I know that whip grafting is common in fruit bearing trees.

After you finish puning/grafting I highly recommend giving the trees a good dose of nitrogen in the form of either a kelp spray or throw some alfafa pellets (cheaply available at any farm store) at the base of the tree.

what about slightly moist sphagnum moss? wrap it, but be careful not to girdle. it is known for it's healing properties....