With all the discussion about the different ways to finish off a bata, I 
decided to post up a few pics of one that I did using melted wax.  I let the 
stick dry, bark on.  When ready, I slightly sanded the bevels of the cuts to 
take off "edges" and sanded smooth where branches had been trimmed away.  Then,
using a standard white tapered candle found in any store (unscented) and a 
craft heat gun waxed it.  I slightly  softened the end of the candle and rubbed
the softened wax onto the stick, covering a patch of about 2 to 4 inches 
square.  Then, I directed the heat gun onto the waxed area until the wax melted
and flowed like water, bubbling a small amount.  This soaked the melted wax into
the bark and the exposed wood.

The cean is loaded with lead.  A hole drilled in the top of the shaft, some
fishing sinkers, a steel measuring cup, and a minute on the stove burner filled
the top with enough to give it a nice weight.  Be warned.  This is messy.  Wear
leather gloves to prevent burning your hands with melted lead and have an
appropriate surface under your stick for the inevitable splatter/splash of
melted lead.  Or use a propane torch outside.  If you ruin your wife's linoleum
don't say I didn't warn you.

Initially I wrapped the cean with copper wire (stripped out of left over home
wiring).  I drove one end into the top like a nail, wrapped the wire around
until it had about 2 inches thickness, traveling down the length of the stick,
then drove the trailing end into the stick like a nail.  This looked really
good but didn't hold up to the rigors of stick-on-stick drills.  The wire 
worked loose and eventually came free after only half a dozen sessions.  Super-
gluing the wire ends into the stick prolonged the process but the results were
eventually the same.  This would be acceptable for a stick you didn't expect to
have to hit with too often (a walker maybe) but not for one you're going to do
drills with.  A trip to the home improvement store (Lowe's) yielded a copper 
pipe cap slightly smaller than the end of my stick; 1 1/4 inches in this case.
A moment on the workbench with a drill and a hole for a brass screw was added.
Pliers adjusted the perfectly round shape of the cap to an oval that more 
closely matched the cean.  Then a few moments on the gas stove top expanded the
cap.  I tapped it onto the cean (hiding the lead loading) and cooled it down
with a dip in some water.  It contracted and fit fairly snug.  Then I drilled a
guide hole for the brass screw in the wood using the convenient hole I earlier
drilled in the cap.  Run in the screw and now it is solid.  I don't expect it
to come of.  The cap, like the wire wrap, will help prevent splitting along the
length of the shaft, adds a bit of weight, and is attractive to boot.  When I
heated the copper it oxidized to an ugly brown.  I steel-wooled most of it off
but left some deeper lines in it.  This generated an attractive "brushed 
antique" look.

While I was replacing the wire wrap with the cap, I decided to re-wax the areas
where the bark had inevitably flaked off, exposing the layer beneath.  This
turned out better then I expected but I expect this layer will also, 
eventually, flake away as well.  You can easily buff the finish to a lovely
luster with just an old sock and a few seconds of spare time.  We'll see how
well it holds up to stick-drills.

Since we just got a new digital cam, I decided to take a few pics to share.

stick1.jpg - The whole stick.  You can see that I used an oddly shaped stick.
             I like a bit of concave at the cean whereas Ken (and everyone else
             I've talked) to either prefers a bit of a back-curve or a strait
             stick.

cean-closeup.JPG - Closeup of the copper cap.

cean-closeup-screw.JPG - Closeup of the copper cap with the brass screw.

cean-closeup-top.JPG - Closeup of the copper cap from the top.  You can see
                       the manufacturer's stamp.

rewaxed-top.JPG - Where the bark flaked away and I rewaxed.  Looks not too bad.

rewaxed-top-closeup.JPG - Closeup of the rewaxed top.  

rewaxed-bottom.JPG - Closeup of the buta where the bark flaked away and I
                     rewaxed

stick2.JPG - Another pic of the whole stick.  You can see from this angle the 
             concave section that just seems to suck in the strikes as I block.