Cut crystal would be nice, but I'd like to see some sort of natural mineral sphere attached. Something earthy...maybe a Jasper. Here are some natural mineral spheres.
https://www.bing.com/images/se...
There are a lot of these available on Ebay too.

Wow, love those mineral spheres Karen.

AntMan01 said:I'm reminded of the fact I did go through a brief 2-3 year Grizzly Adams great beard phase, when my hair was brown and I still had hair. Big-T, not hard to imagine you with a wizard's pipe, one also needs a wizard's staff to complete the image. I discovered the makings of an excellent wizard's staff last year while cutting down brush, there was a red oak sapling being strangled with a bittersweet vine; when I cut it down I realized what a great and powerful staff it could be, the only thing left to do is find a crystal for the top. It's the perfect height and heavy weight for a walking stick.

Real nice staff Mark. I love the story of how it "came" to you. That makes it more magical and powerful, it was meant to be yours. I would suggest giving it a couple years in a cool dry place to cure, and perhaps seal the ends with wax to help prevent checking. It can take up to 1" per year for fresh cut to cure and dry naturally. You might find the bark will peel away easier too.
As for a finial, Mass/N.E. is great for rock hounding. Lots of gems and minerals to be found, Rhyolite, agates, jasper, topaz, tourmaline, quartz. Take a hike, take the staff on a hike, perhaps the right finial will come to you also. Most likely your custom shop could drill out your found finial for a small fee. Cut the head off of a small lag screw, epoxy in place. Drill out the staff and thread it in.
I miss rock hounding, not much to find here in Illinois. I lived in San Miguel de Allende, Mexico for 4 years when my boys were little. We would walk the desert searching for odd little cactus/succulents and rocks. I even discovered a massive geode field in a creek bed in the Canon of the Virgin outside of town.

This is a geode I found there. Years of sitting in the creek bed and grinding against another rock exposed the cavity.


I call this the Ben Grimm stone. (Fantastic Four fans will get it. ) This was an end cut off of a huge agate I found there.


Gem cutting is another facet (get it, dang I'm punny) of my talents.

Love your staff, worthwhile project.

So crazy cool! I'm partial to jasper and tourmaline myself.

Love the likeness of your Ben Grimm stone Big T!

Wow BigT, you're a man of many talents, and you know a heckuva lot more than me about gems and minerals, I'm totally novice with all that. Lizzy, you seem to know all about gems and minerals too.

Thanks for all the detailed suggestions about how to finish and "empower" my wizards staff, another project to get to one of these days, I'm planning on it for the autumn, my favorite time of year in New England. I like the idea of things "meant to be". I was thinking about that today as I chose rocks to add to my blue-green ceramic semp planter bowl, I chose perhaps 3x the number of stones I needed, and then found the stones that just sort of worked and suggested agreeable alignments... meant to be

I was in Vermont in October once. So much beauty to behold! I'm no stone cutter like Big T, but I'm fascinated by that whole world. I have a small collection of raw material that I've cabbaged onto over time. Unclear what I'll ever do with them, but I love to look at 'em!
Glad you're going to work on your staff. Seems like a really neat project.

Vermont is a gorgeous State, I have often said that I wanted to move there when I retire, however now that I am retired, I love Massachusetts and will remain here, I can visit beautiful Vermont when I have that need.

Today is my mom's 97 birthday. I had sent her some pics of my semps in hopes of reminiscing about her little green hen's and chicks that I spoke of earlier. While speaking with my niece in law, Brenda, who is mom's primary care giver, she informed me that they still have some of mom's strawberry pots with that original semp from my childhood. All is not lost and I should have some of that original semp to carry on the generations. I'm so excited. and more than a little verklempft. Carry on, talk among yourselves.

Thanks for sharing with us, your Good Fortune, Big T.
Please give your Mom a "Happy 97th Birthday" from Bev for me!!

Bev, actually your name did come up while talking with mom. I was telling her of the many new friends I've made here. I mentioned you and your trip to MCG and all the semps there. She was amazed that from her "little green semp" that there were so many varieties and good folks keeping them.

Aww, I think you just made my day telling me that!

Wow! 97! Good for your Mom. You are very lucky to still have her with you. My Mom won't be 97 until November so she is a good bit younger than your Mom.

BigT, tell her we could love to see a photo of her with her wonderful heirloom sempervivum.
And please tell her from me, a great big HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!

My semp addiction began all because of Lynn selling a few offsets in the classifieds. I think I ordered 3 semps from her the first time then I was tree mailing her every month asking if she had more she could sale me. Patty, Greg, Tim, Julia, and Bev didn't help the fact either. Everyday they posted new pictures in the chat which equaled new plants on my want list. It's easy to go from just a semp fan to a full blown addict hanging around this forum.

That's exactly how it happens, Daniel! My semp want list keeps getting longer, and it's all so much fun!

I started out with just one semp, you know, the 'Green One', in 1999. Fell in love with how tough it was, and loved the watermarks it had at certain times of the year. Then my neighbor told me where it came from, Helen Payne lived just down the road from me, about 3 minutes away. I did a google search to see who she was and was blown away by what I was learning on the internet searches. In those searches I came across Squaw Mountain Gardens. Only an hour from my home. Of course I had to go there, you know, just to see what all the fuss was about. Semp addiction can hit fast and hard. I came home with about 10 varieties. The two that I have never forgotten are 'Pink Pearl' and 'Cebenense'. I still have offspring from those original plants, Almost 800 cultivars later I keep telling myself "What are you doing?". This year I started to cull out the ones that have winter rot poblems, those that need special attention during drought season. Down to just over 700 now. What a good girl I am.
See, I can quit if I want to.

OK Lynn I think the REAL reason for culling is to find room for MORE NEW ONES.....

From a fellow addict, your buddy, Kevin, although my addiction is more to crossing than collecting

You could be right about that Kevin. But the only ones I got rid of are the poor doers. Well, there were a couple that in color and form really had nothing going for them. They are also gone.