Before I launch into my planned exploration of the mechanics of archery I want to say a few words about a great new substance I’ve discovered. It’s called sugru. Now, I don’t normally go into pushing products but this is something that I discovered by chance and that is so potentially useful that I want to get it more widely known about.

Sugru is a kind of silicone putty. You can mould it like putty but when you leave it overnight it sets into a solid silicone rubber. As it sets it will bond to just about anything, including wood, leather, metal and plastic.

An old friend of mine introduced me to sugru by giving me a small 5g pack. I put it on my bow handle and gripped into it, leaving me with a layer on the back of my bow that is shaped to my fingers for a consistent hand location. I plan to add some more to the belly side for a thicker handle, mine being on the thin side. After that I shall be adding small dots or ridges to the nocks of my arrows for ease of alignment (the nocks on my bamboo arrows have these built in but those on my carbon arrows do not).

Archery aside, this stuff has a multitude of uses, for fixing things, reinforcing them, cushioning them (you can put a little bit on each corner of an iPhone and then just throw the phone around), etc. not having horses myself I haven’t applied my mind to horse-related issues but I’m sure they’re there: uses crop up everywhere, at work, at home, in the car…

Now in fairness I will say that the good people at sugru gave me a load of it when I sent them my idea for the bow grip, so I’m not exactly unbiased. On the other hand I had every intention of buying it anyway and have been telling people about it ever since.

Don’t take my word for it. Look at http://www.sugru.com to see this stuff and then just carry on life as normal. Within hours you will start seeing little things that need fixing. Then you can thank me…