To me, it always comes down to the Strange Mood.
Meditate on what it is you seek the tool for, ask yourself what actual work you can do to cement it to that purpose, and then do that once the need to act crystalizes in you.
A staff that you intend on using as a weapon? Practice your martial arts with it, moving first with your body and then directing the force into the object.
A staff that you intend to use as an object of self-mastery? Walk with it, every day on long walks through the paths of nature which call to you, until your shoes wear thin. Every day, look on it and cherish it for what it is and what it means to you. Write upon it lessons you have learned which you have occasion to forget. Embellish it and decorate it such that those around you compliment your work in good faith.
You can do all you like as pertains to blessing things and purifying them and imbuing them and so on, but nothing beats a slow and quiet approach to building up one's magic.
Occasionally, this will then overflow into a strange mood wherein you will see a way to utterly transform the tool into an object of power.
It's kind of like the difference between quick-charging your phone and trickle-charging it. You get more battery life and charge out of the trickle.
