so here's how the stick looked during the process. it goes from top left to right. this took me 4 days to do. i wanted the wood to be darker but it would only hold 2 coats of stain. the third coat just came right off. anyways yeah 2 coats of stain and 9 (yes. 9.) coats of lacquer. with a lot of sanding between coats too. this was my first time doing this sort of thing alone and the result came out pretty good! would love to do it some more some time