Remaining Focused

So today, finally, I shall be fetching in a variety of hardware bits and pieces. Some of them are for the archery target frames, some for the spine tester. The last real hurdle to get going is the spine tester...well, at least for arrows. We all have usable bows so the bowyer's clamp and bench can wait a little.

I got together a tutorial on the making of Asiatic composite bows...this is my long term goal in bowyering. I find these bows to be far handier in the forests and thick brush..although in an old growth forest with very little undergrowth, a longbow would not be a problem. For now though, the brush and undergrowth are quite thick...and I have sorted out the fact that if I am canoeing and need to use the bow, the composite is a far better choice, being smaller and yet still powerful.

So where do I, a Northern Ranger, get these items and skills? Why, from my travels of course. I have been East beyond the sea of Rhûn, and South to Far Harad and beyond, where the stars are strange. A Ranger learns a great deal. Sometimes safety comes from being able to blend in. In my ordinary, mundane existence, I have been around the world four times and to every major continent (and one sub-continent) save two...and one of those I have no desire to visit. So these are reflected in my Ranger background in the above stated way.

In any case, the drive to master the skills of bowyer, fletcher, and stringmaker are driven by both hobby and practical life needs. I appear to have a gift for them, or at least a knack. Only time will show the reality of course but it is possible, if not probable, that I may be able to sell the odd bow and sheaf of arrows now and then. It would be a pleasant pass time for me and is eminently doable from home. Being able to make crossbows would simply accent it nicely. Some folk cannot, for a variety of reasons, use standard bows...but they can use crossbows. It may not apply so well to the world of Middle Earth, but it works in the everyday, and therein is where I will use it. They'd be even easier to use in a canoe, come to think of it.

Remaining focused has allowed me to reach this point. Discouragement is not something I am prone too, thank goodness. There have been setbacks..there still are, in a variety of endeavors, yet I will continue on regardless. Until the flame of my spirit gutters at last and I rest from my labors.

So much to learn, so much to see, so little time.

Nai i-Valar tiralyë.

Eledhwen