Is there a specific rule for a socketed Infinity Stone's weapon to be able to unleash the power of the stone?

Question

In MCU, we have seen Infinity Stones attached to a hammer-like rod, a gauntlet, a Stark suit, a Scepter, the Orb, etc. Is there specific material the Stones must be to attached to, to be able to use their power?

the Gauntlet for example. Why is it you can only activate the Stones while wearing the gaunlet, but not by holding it? But Ronan was able to use the Power Stone just by holding the handle of his Cosmi-Rod. And then Star Lord had contained the power of the Stone in the Orb while holding it

Answer 1

Firstly, I want to address the Infinity Gauntlet part of the question as that is answered here. The user needs to make a fist with the Infinity Gauntlet to be able to use it. Whilst this restriction was placed out of universe it is not inconceivable that Eitri baked the restriction in as a minor hindrance to Thanos and to give others a chance against him.

“As you can imagine, when you have a gauntlet that has nearly unlimited power, and every time you use it you can do what you want ... we wanted to create small physical rules that would allow people to hang in a fight with him, so the idea that he had to, you know, close his fist to use a stone was the bare minimum that allowed us to have a fight,” McFeely said.

_{comicbook, ‘Avengers: Infinity War’ Writer Explains the One Catch Behind Thanos Using the Stones}

Aside from that there doesn't appear to be any restrictions, every other object appears to pass the Infinity Stone's power right through it. For example, it doesn't seem to matter where Ronan holds his Cosmic rod or where Loki is holding his Scepter or where anyone holds the Tesseract. As long as they are holding the object that the Infinity Stone is in they can harness its power.

The only odd one out here would be the Orb for the Power Stone. However, the Orb seems to have been built with the specific task of housing the Power Stone to stop people from touching it and destroying the surroundings. I mean, we saw what happened to Carina in Guardians of the Galaxy. The Power Stone is very capable of destruction before you even think about actually trying to control it so it makes sense it is hidden away in a device that is there to hide the power within from being used and harnessed.

Answer 2

Short answer, No. You do not need a staff or a Scepter to use the stones

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There are at least two instances that I can think of that support this:

1. In Avengers: Endgame, Thanos uses the Power Stone to punch Captain Marvel

2. In Guardians of the Galaxy vol. 1, Peter Quill uses the Power Stone to kill Ronan

In both these instances, the wielder held the Power stone with their bare hands and used it.

However, is this valid for other Infinity Stones as well? We do not know because we haven't seen any such instance on-screen.

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EDIT: In Guardians of the Galaxy vol. 1, Karina, the Collector's assistant also holds the Power stone in her bare hands destroying the Collector's "museum" in the process. I, however, do not think this was her actually using the stone.