What do I need to do to treat a stick to turn it into a window treatment / curtain rod?

Question by KristenCO: What do I need to do to treat a stick to turn it into a window treatment / curtain rod?
I’m getting ready to cut down a couple of small pine trees on my lot (they are stealing water from my bigger trees), and I’d like to use the bigger branches as curtain rods in my house. What do I need to do to the stick before hanging it? Does it need to be treated, stained, sealed, or anything like that? Also, any advice for hanging it? THANKS!

Best answer:

Answer by parishaanta

Shellac is a great durable finish, though it will darken the wood and it is oil based so you would need solvents to clean your brushes and stuff. Polyurathane (a water based kind) would do the trick too, it is not quite as durable but would seal the wood once it was dried. It is not like curtain rods get tremendous wear and tear, so the poly protection would be fine ( and water clean up).

Though I think it would take a bit of time for the wood to dry out and there might be sap seepage if it was not dried out all the way. I am in Florida, so not too many pine trees here, but I recall sticky pine tree sticks in my Grandparents yard in Jersey.

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