Last night's attempts resulted in no luck again. I think we're right with
the metal shaft and rod combos but we're missing something. Here's a few
of my thoughts thus far:

- Fletching strings or dwarven wire as a component seems unlikely.
Although some items need things MADE by other trade skills (compass), I
can't think of anything that requires you buy components from a different
trade skill. Dwarven wire is for the Trueshot Bow quest (?) and takes a
while to obtain - lots of travelling.

- Spiderling silk sounds like a good possibility. Watch out though, there
is SPIDER silk, and SPIDERLING silk. The latter seems more likely as
spiderlings are right in Steamfont and it would be very similar to how the
lockpicks need a rat ear.

- Spriket? Assuming that the two books are all that exists of tinkering
now, a spriket is the only item not used for any project. What is a
spriket though? Not in the dictionary...

- Raw bamboo doesn't seem like a likely component. It is a bard
instrument, also the pic of the collapsible pole shows it constructed of
metal.

- A bottle as a possible component.

Luke