Sometimes you read things in novels that you know are just impossible, especially when you have some experience in that field. Running into something like that make it a lot more difficult to lose yourself in the story. After completing the chapter on Torval’s bow (the bow made in a day with only a hunting knife), I wondered if I had just delivered a few thousand words of nonsense. I’d made bows and strings from natural materials before, but always using a range of tools. So I decided to put the tools aside and try out the technique.