I have different opinions on the way to make a magickal wand your own... they are also called wands as well.
I've seen a dozen videos on it, and also browsed already made ones on Etsy for ideas!
But what they generally say, and this is not any more or less valid than anything else; as anything else is not more or less valid than what I am about to say ( It is entirely up to how you would like to do it! )
1. You can purchase one and try to make it your own with consecration, blessing from divine, cleansing, adding onto design, spending time with it, etc
2. Or a more natural way and a way to flex your artistic skills and also bond with nature and also manipulate your energies to imbue the chosen material:
go into the woods and you can research different magickal types of woods with different types of properties or any wood is fine.
A tree is a living thing, respect its life, if you think you should pick a fresh branch, some say to ask the tree and if it feels right then go ahead, or to leave an offering ( like fertilizer, water, etc to help the tree )
Or pick one up from the ground and take it home.
3. The hard work and preparation begins, and this is optional. You can do what ever you feel you should be doing with the chosen wood piece. But this is what I have done personally:
I began to scrape off the harder bark with my knife as well as smoothen out areas and cut off some others that were not necessary to my use as a wand. I also inspected and spent copious amounts of time with it, feeling its entire length, knowing every curve, and then cleaning out the branch since it was a fallen one and since it also had some termite tracks inside of it. Then I sanded it down as much as I could without ruining the authenticity of its natural texture.
I gave it a ritual bath, yet to cleanse it. I scrubbed its wood and let it soak, to rebirth life back into its form; to repurpose this fallen branch. To also scrape away any missed areas that I hadn't sanded down, and the scrub I had used left the wood smelling nice and fragrant.
I then used some sealer polish--be it wood varnish or some top coat nail laquer, what ever can seal up holes or weak spots or crevices that can become dirty will slip off the slick surface, or give some areas a nice sheen and shine, or to seal your wand/staff if you are using it a lot outdoors or wish to give it a nice varnish to bring out its raw colors.
I let it dry, and It's still awaiting decoration, I'm taking my time on it. You can make it as simple or as elaborate as you want, what ever you feel you should do with it. You can also just wittle it down and leave the end as a handle and call it good.