thunb rings

Stephen Selby · Post by **Stephen Selby** » Wed Sep 17, 2008 1:36 am

For those worried about pain when drawing heavier bows, don't forget that there's nothing to stop you from using a very thick, light-weight serving. All the modern traditional bows I see have much thinner strings that the old traditional bows.

In designing a ring with a groove, you need to ensure that it does not make you look at the string when nocking the arrow, otherwise you won't be able to nock quickly or on horseback

See how it feels if you leave off the thumbring and put a thick binding of chamois leather on the string below the arrow nocking point. If it slows the release, wax it.

Bede · Post by **Bede** » Wed Sep 17, 2008 4:52 am

The thumb ring should not be a problem with a heavy bow. If it is, it does not fit correctly. Stephen's comments are especially true. The simpler thumb ring is much easier to use.

I had problems shooting an 80 pound bow with a siper last weekend, but the problem was with steadiness and muscular strength. The little copper thumb ring I used caused no problem. I drew the same bow with a leather thumb tab without any problems too. It was only with the siper and trying not to flex my bow hand wrist that there was trouble. You don't want an arrow inside your bow on the siper without full control of your wrist.

I am not sure that even string thickness has much effect other than making positioning on the ring easier.

orange · Post by **orange** » Fri Sep 26, 2008 8:19 pm

Photo Galery - Making Thumb Ring from Billiard ball

If you will be interesting , I can translate some imporant parts for you.

Suggestions from experienced Ring makers are welcome, especialy about what Ring shapes can be done for Billard Ball !

osmiu · Post by **osmiu** » Wed Dec 31, 2008 3:02 am

hello,
I enjoy making thumb rings :

and that are just a few of them ...

of corse , some of them are not so good looking :

Bede · Post by **Bede** » Wed Dec 31, 2008 3:46 am

Does anyone have any historical information on why the Koreans made some rings with that small cut out at the base of the lip? As far as I have seen it is present in some 19th century rings so it wasn't invented recently.

It is nice to see someone making leather rings. They are very useful, easy to make and easy to adjust. In Mongolia they are common and are described in Middle Eastern and Indian literature.

osmiu · Post by **osmiu** » Wed Dec 31, 2008 4:19 am

I do not have historical information about that groove , but the reasons I suppose must be obtaining space for folded skin of the thumb to strech and closing the distance beetwen string and thumb join , witch led to a stronger clench . cutting that groove is a very tricky thing to do ... too small is useless , too large cause thumb injuries ... in the picture just before the last one , the groove is a little bit too small ...
the lip of the "bended" leather ring was submerged in boiled water for strengthening and making that curled shape ... it was very soft while it was hot , but after it cool down , it became much harder than regular leather . making a leather ring is cheap , easy and fast (is a matter of minutes) .

on the down-right is a leather ring before glueing .

Stephen Selby · Post by **Stephen Selby** » Wed Dec 31, 2008 7:33 am

My personal observation is that the Koreans love playing around with different types of thumb rings. Some club members like making them as a hobby. Fashions change very quickly, and not always in a rational way (e.g. if a respected member of the club likes a certain style, others will follow it.) It's like guitar-players and picks.

osmiu · Post by **osmiu** » Wed Dec 31, 2008 9:37 am

that are the rings I currently use in shooting :

and some weird useless rings I designed in the past :

Thomas Duvernay · Post by **Thomas Duvernay** » Fri Jan 02, 2009 11:42 pm

Osmiu is correct--the cut-out space is for the fold of skin on the thumb to have somewhere to go...

osmiu · Post by **osmiu** » Sun Jan 11, 2009 11:45 pm

today I made another one :

I hope it will be usefull , not useless ...

Bede · Post by **Bede** » Mon Jan 12, 2009 9:19 pm

I have seen pictures of Koreans and Mongolians in photographs shooting with a bow hand ring. Usually it had a projection to stop the arrow falling off. Hard rings can be noisy. Leather ones are quieter.

osmiu · Post by **osmiu** » Mon Jan 12, 2009 10:12 pm

do you mean one like that ?

the second one is thicker and I use it with t'ong-ah because sometimes when I do not use any protection I can feel vibrations in left thumb

Bede · Post by **Bede** » Tue Jan 13, 2009 12:38 am

Not that kind: the ring is narrow with a projection in one quadrant. I have added a diagram to this post.

Feeling a vibration usually means that the dart is nocked too low or that the lower limb of the bow is stronger than the upper one. Rarely you can get the same effect with a high nocking point. If the channel of the guide is not quite smooth you can feel it too.

osmiu · Post by **osmiu** » Wed Jan 14, 2009 1:19 am

I made 3 of them and I cut a groove in the rigid one . I hope at least one will work .

the dart was nocked too low and one particular dart was not smooth enough . The feathers of the darts was too small also .

Bede · Post by **Bede** » Thu Jan 15, 2009 3:28 am

Generally, the feather size should not make any difference. I have darts that are so short I use no feathers and they still shoot smoothly.

There is a reference in the Hidayat ar-Rami to wearing a glove on the bow hand when shooting darts in war. The implication was that during the stress of battle mistakes were made.

I still use the same tension/relaxation pattern with a guide as with long arrows. I tense the lower three fingers (middle, ring a small) and relax the thumb and index fingers. In the Middle Eastern manner, you can turn the hand down so that the guide is resting on the top of the proximal phalanx of the thumb rather than on the side.

Shooting with the siper is a different matter. The thumb and index fingers should be tense, but the hand position and process of shooting is entirely different.