Crazy Ideas

I get them far too often.  I'll be reading something and "BAM!" something crazy pops into my head.  Most of these ideas just make me chuckle to myself and some even hang around for a little while but seldom does the idea actually hit me so hard that I end up implementing it.  Even more seldom does that crazy idea work.  I generally don't share these ideas because I get a disappointed look and a head shake from most people. 

Over the summer I came up with an incredible idea while researching primitive bowstrings.  Of course, I had to find some other materials that I had access to in case I ran out of one kind.  I found a list of bowstring materials that had historically been used.  The author also rated them but did not provide any information on how and why so I disregarded the ratings.  The material that stood out was hair.  It didn't specify from what creature I should make a bowstring from so I just went for what was available.

At this point it had been about a year since my last hair cut and my hair was probably about eight inches or so.  That was the ticket!  I could just use my own hair.  I thought it was genius.  I shared the idea and nobody understood how it was even possible.  I was so confident in this idea that I had to video the entire process from taking it off my head to shooting arrows from the bow string.  So, I did it!  Here is the video.

It turned out much better than I expected and I've worked out some of the drawbacks that I mention in the video.  This has also given me a renewed view of other people's crazy ideas.  When someone comes to me with a crazy idea, I'll think about it for a second, and then if I can't find a reason not to then I try to encourage them to go for it!