nostalgicdemise

Yeah, I've Googled this. Over and over again to no avail.

I suppose a more appropriate term would be "wood firing". I suppose, back in the ol' days, they used to fire-harden spear tips and such to make them more durable.

Anyone?

[Actually, rather than spear-tips, this is for the sparring sticks of my group of friends. Yeah.]

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"Better never to have met you in my dream
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Philo

According to "The Field and Forest Handy Book" pub. 1906, fire hardening should only be done on well seasoned wood. If the wood is green, the process closes up the pores, trapping natural moisture and leading to rot.

Slow toasting on dry, stripped wood sounds like the way to go. After its hardened, you can scrape or sand off any charred parts and you're good to go. Hardening a whole stick may cause some warping though.

Have fun and don't poke your eye out.

barnsturm

Yeah, and wrap the wood with leather straps for increased strength.

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Parsley, Sage, Rosemary, and Ronald

Verago

Two ways to go about it:

Way one.
Slowly and low heat, to toughen the fibers and make it harder internally and externally.

Way two.
Very quickly and at high heat, such as by waving a blow torch over the surface. This kind of creates a shell over it, and also makes the wood look cool.