Woodworking occultists? It's more likely than you think!

[Khelric]

I've recently returned to my hometown in New England from Florida where I lived for a few years. One of my many hobbies includes trampsing around the woods (something you can't do much of in Florida) and getting myself into general trouble while doing it (stories I could tell about raging rivers and woodland critters would confirm that I'm not the most capable of nature dwellers), but I love the outdoors and fortunately, my hometown has plenty of it to go around.

While wandering in the back woods, I happened to find the most awesome gnarled tree limb, mostly stripped of its bark, just waiting for me to grab it out of the mud and turn it into something practical and personal. I've been making staves on an amateur level for a couple of years. I find it incredibly cathartic to grab something dead from the forest floor and breathe life and personality into it, but I also love seeing what other people love. How to reconcile the two? I'd like to present my plain staff and have the community throw their opinions in on interesting designs or adornments they think would look cool. I'll select the most interesting ideas and we'll see what we end up with! I'll post the result for all to see. Not an awesome reward, but you'll see your ideas come to life!

The staff has been sanded using a 3-stage sanding process using progressively finer grit since the taking of this picture. I will also be treating this staff with boiled linseed oil and curing it to improve strength and water resistance. These will be the only modifications I'll be making.

Without further delay, here she is:

http://i.imgur.com/a9UAZ.jpg

[Nahemah]

That's a great staff.I like the curve of it,sinous I 'd call it. [thumbup]

Do you know what wood/tree type it is?

I 'd like to make my own staff,eventually,I need more hours in the day first,lol.

[wazzup]

Hey, nice staff! When I saw it, my first thoughts were fire and feathers - don't even ask me why those items entered my head, just accept that they did.

I like it when someone puts life back into the disused and discarded.

[Khelric]

Wazzup: I can definitely see something like that. Perhaps like a bird or flame itself, the wood flows wild and free as it pleases. That's what first attracted me to it.

Nahemah: I'm not entirely sure what kind of wood it is because there's a ton of indigenous species around here. My hypothesis is that it's made of Alder, based upon process of elimination.

[Khelric]

UPDATE:

Per Wazzup's thoughts, I decided to head down to the local hardware store and I bought a light cherry stain. It's accentuated the light tones with soft golden/red hues and the darker tones with an almost scorched blood color. It looks excellent and I look forward to hearing what other suggestions people have. I'll post pictures in a couple of days.