Besom. A traditional broomstick made of a wooden handle and twigs. It is often used for ceremonial of sweeping ie of a circle, but is also used in some ceremonies such as handfasting (witches wedding) where the jump over the besom as a symbolic leap into the next stage of their life together. In many traditions it is also a symbol connected with fertility. In older times when witchcraft was illegal, many witches used their besom as a wand, and the end covered in twigs in some cases would have been covered with hidden symbols.
Witches never flew on broomsticks as represented in fiction, but like many stories is in part based on fact. Before roads existed and when in far earlier times people lived in homes that were low and had a hole in the center of the roof to allow smoke to get out. Some wise women who administered at the time of childbirth or when a person was ill, ran to the patients home using a broom like device with short bristles, and a longer handle to vault over streams, plants, fences, rocks, hedges and often entered by the fast route via the opening in the low roof. The bristles formed a pad so stopped the stick from becoming stuck in the ground. It is thought that the sport of pole vaulting developed from this. You can imagine a fit paramedic racing to your rescue clearing plants and hedges and arriving from the air into your home would be quite a site. Were these people witches, well they were the wise people of the time and witch only really means wise person.
Flying is achieved with the mind not broomsticks, but we will cover that in another section.
Few water witches or our covens have a besom, as we think of it as a special form of wand, but a bit large and not all that practical. Its not that easy to carry around, tends to be recognized as a witchcraft tool by the very people we don't want to discuss the craft with, and has become far too closely attached to fiction. In use it tends to be too messy an tool for use in homes as it leaves twigs everywhere. They are also difficult to cleans and consecrate unless you already have a lot more wands, by which time you don't have a use for one.
We usually now favor a sword for some of the task besoms were originally used for such as at a handfasting, We also have a special type of wand called a brush wand, it is far smaller and we use for the purifying role.
Some other traditions do use them and some hedge witches would class them as the tool they would use instead of a wand.
If you wish to make one then it is only a type of wand and you can empower it in the same way.