Thanks Dave... my bad, custom wood weapons that are "carved". The weapons would be for presentation only. And lets just start with short staffs.... escrima, for the sake of this post.
If you're doing sticks, you might just look for the raw materials and make some for the gifts. Shaping Escrima sticks is seriously awesome, and really puts something special into it.
I made a pair for one of my instructors and I think I spent about 2 hours on the burning. I like to think of it as painting with flames .