This is a presentation gavel I made for one of my law professors, at the end of my third year in law school.  It is made of 40-year-old air dried black walnut.  I cannot take credit for the design - I found it on the web (where else?).

Then I turned the head. Once I had mostly finished it, I had to come up with a way to hold it without marking it up, so I could finish off each face.  I cobbled together this ugly but quite functional chuck:

 

I drilled and threaded a hole in the head (the gavel's, not mine) and then threaded the end of the handle, then glued and screwed them togetether. I finished it with a linseed oil/turpentine/varnish blend. I had an engraved brass plate made and applied it with brass nails and epoxy. Here's the finished product.