[Moo] A little project I could use some help on.

[koldune]

Milord Joshua,

I would agree with the linseed oil idea. A method of application that I've heard for it, though, is a series of them: once a day for week, once a week for a month, once a month for a year, and once a year thereafter.

As for affixing the amethyst point to the top of the staff, I doubt that simply tying the point to the staff would keep it there. How big is the point relative to the staff's top end? Is the top big enough to make a hollowed-hole that the point could rest in? If so, I would go that route, and then glue the point into the hole with an epoxy (Super Glue or similar). You could then add a leather wrap over the whole connection, also discreetly glued, if you wished. 

If the top of the staff is smaller that the diameter of the point, then you might still try Super Gluing the point to the staff top. The glue joint won't be as strong without the hollowed out hole, and gluing the wood and the rock together would be clumsier, it might work with some patience. (I once tried to Super Glue antlers to either side of the end of a staff. Glue alone kept falling apart before it dried and then every time the staff got wet, so I had to engineer something more complex.) Again, you could add a cosmetic leather wrap later if you wished. There are epoxy glues available that will create bonds stronger than either the wood or the rock.

Hmmm: another idea, from what I did with the antlers: epoxy a short, threaded rod into a hold drilled into the bottom of the rock and a matching-sized hex nut into a hole drilled into the top of the staff, or vice versa. You'll end up with an arrangement where the amethyst point screws solidly onto the top of the staff.

Let me know what you try and how it works out.

Darri


>    1.  A little project I could use some help on. (Joshua
> de Gastyne)

> ----------------------------------------------------------------------
> 
> Message: 1
> Date: Wed, 4 Mar 2009 16:06:18 -0800 (PST)
> From: Joshua de Gastyne <joshbdeg at yahoo.com>
> Subject: [Moo]  A little project I could use some help on.
> To: General Mailing List for the Barony of Stierbach
> 	<moo at stierbach.org>
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> 
> Dear SCA Friends,
> I was wondering if anyone out there could give me some
> advice on a craft project I am working on. I have a walking
> stick that is about 5'3" in height that i have
> stripped of the bark and have gotten it to be pretty
> smoothe. It is to be a gift to a friend and I wanted to find
> out the best way to waterproof it without it looking gunky
> from polyurethane. My friend also wants me to afix a large
> amethyst point to the top of it and I have struck out on
> ideas how. I had been thinking of using leather to hold the
> amethyst to the stick. My question are these, is leather a
> viable option for it and what would be the best way to seal
> it?
> 
> Regards,
> Josh