thunb rings

Alan,
If you have the grain running across the direction (i.e. perpendicular to the direction) of pressure and you are using a style that does not have its edges too thin, it should work out fine.

Thanx Bede,
I was thinking the same thing. This is just the first one, will look for a pool ball and try that next. The whole process did not take more than an hour being that I have a blacksmith shop with a full complement of band saws, die grinders , files and so forth. Kind of fun when it turns out ok the first time around. Will post some photos later when it is finished.
Alan

I have seen iron rings and have made copper rings. Maybe later you might experiment with metal rings. You can make them much thinner.

You know I think that I will give metal a try. Have plenty laying around. I even have some bronze.
Alan

Here is my first bronze thumb ring.
Alan

Another view. Alan

Last view.
Alan

Had some 1 1/4" bronze bar stock.. Not sure of it's alloy make up, but think that It is an aluminum alloy bronze according to the fellow blacksmith who gave it to me.
Alan

This photo shows the bronze ring along with my first ring out of Amaranth or purpleheart.
Alan

Alan; Very crafty. The bronze ring especially looks like a Mughal type. Have you used them yet? Keep up the good work. -j-

Thanx Jack I am trying . No I have not used them yet , so I guess that I am flying by the seat of my pants as my Dad used to say. Will get to use them soon at the 4 day mounted archery clinic in 8 days. Will post a photo of my most recent thumb ring a bit later today.
Alan

I do like that bronze ring, very smart indeed.

Thanx Orda,
I kinda think that they are cool shapes, a type of chela form or claw.
Will have to see how they perform.
Here is my third ring , second one out of the aluminum bronze.
On this one I elongated the ring body to a wider dimension kind of like a cuff now. Itr is about 1/8 inch shorter that the other bronze ring. Also paid closed attention to the fit this one is much more snug fit somewhat in part I feel to the wider ring body. This really seems to help,stabilize the ring orientation. Over all I like it a lot.
Would really appreciate any feed back on these designs from those more knowledgeable that me.
All the best,
Alan

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I have to ask because I have made my first rings. Is it possible to use that metal ring?
I can't see how the thumb could bend with so much material around the joint.

Redhorse,
I will try and post a photo of me wearing the thumb rink with my thumb flexed later today. I have not used the rings that I have made yet but will do so this weekend. I think that because of the slant that I put into the ring body that it allows the thumb to flex. When I put the ring on and flex my thumb it seems as if I can flex my thumb almost as much as with no ring at all.
Look at the two following examples of thumb rings that I drew upon in my design work of my rings.
Regards,
Alan

This thumb ring drawing is from an article here on Atarn by Bede Dwyer about early archers thumb rings. Note the wide body of the ring as well as the string groove,
Alan

Here is another wide ring bodied thumb ring, sorry I can not rsmember where I downloaded it from.
Alan

Here is another that I downloaded from Leatherwall, an archery hunting forum.
Alan

My first guess would be that they are not for full flex, or they would not have the grove. I did put in a grove but the string did never get close to it so I removed the grove :)

The last picture looks like the one I made, and later remade without grove.

Sorry for the quality of the photo. have been doing quite a bit of forge work in my blacksmith shop the last few days and my hands are a bit swollen and stiff, was unable to get it on my right hand , and as a result could not hold my hand at the correct focus distance, but I will try and get a better quality photo later today.
These are my first attempt at thumb ring crafting and as such are a work in progress. Will have a better feel for them after they are put to use
All the best,
Alan

Had a chance to use my new thumb rings for 4 days with Saluki bows at a mounted archery clinic this past week , and my last one with the wide body worked very well. Had to do a small bit of adjustment for fit but over all was very pleased with it's performance.,
Alan

May I ask what weight the bow has?
I have done some thumb ring shooting last week with a 50lb so I can learn how to do. When I take my 70 lb it's more obvious how the ring work :)

The heaviest was 46#.
Alan

Ok, I see. What I have notice is that with low weights you can use any kind of ring. But with stronger bows you will shave the skin and flesh away from upper side of your thumb if it does not fit. And also you must be fast to get the point of thumb away when you release or the string will hit. And with strong bows it's heavier to hold the string low on thumb. And high on thumb it's more difficult to keep the arrow on string, if index finger has to work hard it will push the nock forward. And the nock can't be deep.
Thats what I have found so far, guess there is more to learn :)

yes I am sure that there will be a new learning curve when I get a new bow as I will be ordering a 65 to 70 pound bow from Lucas Novotny at Saluki very soon.
Alan

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.

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.

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 !

hello,
I enjoy making thumb rings :
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and that are just a few of them ...

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

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

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.

that are the rings I currently use in shooting :
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and some weird useless rings I designed in the past :
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Osmiu is correct--the cut-out space is for the fold of skin on the thumb to have somewhere to go...

today I made another one :
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I hope it will be usefull , not useless ...

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.

do you mean one like that ?
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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

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.

I made 3 of them and I cut a groove in the rigid one . I hope at least one will work .
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the dart was nocked too low and one particular dart was not smooth enough . The feathers of the darts was too small also .

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.

today I finished another :
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I made it wider that normal one , with the hope that force will spread on a bigger area ... it is not tested yet ... it was a rainy day ...
is not the size of the feathers ... I don't know ... in the beginning darts traveled straight , but then I increase the diameter of the tunnel digging deeper in the bamboo and I cut a wider channel ...
when I switched from distance shooting to target shooting I had a unpleasent surprise : darts don't travelled straigth anymore ...
I'll make another t'ong-ah , when I'll manage to find some bamboo ...

The guide I use has a semi-circular hollow, 0.5 inch (12.5 mm) in diameter. I have attached pieces of paper to cover the end and was able to discover that the dart left the groove in contact with the part of the groove closest to the bow.

I am worried that you might be reducing the thickness of the walls of your bamboo enough that the guide is starting the flex. If the guide flexes it introduces inaccuracy and absorbs energy. The dart can leave the bow traveling at unusual angles.

I tested the ring today ... I shooted at 145 m ... for the first time ... it's hard even to see the target (80X80 cm wet cardboard) ... hitting it was out of the question ...
it's a little bit too tight , the neck is too small , the slope too abrupt ... except for that is just perfect ... no pain , clean release .

Hi. I have new thumbring to my colection. Nefrite, China :wink:
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Hi!

This is my first post on ATARN so I want say hello all :) My name is Jakub, I'm come from Poland (Europe) and I'm living in Roztocze, pretty place on east :)
I' m really sorry for my weak English language. All the time I'm learning.

In this post I want to presents one of my thumb rings. I made it with cherry wood.

Images:

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Regards from Poland ;-)

The first, third and fourth from left are made from pool ball.
The second is made by buffalo horn and is laquered with nail varnish.

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different plane angles

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fine leather inside
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First two are mine and last two are made by Osmiu.

Welcome to Jakub. Your English is fine and your thumb rings are good. :D

Stephen Selby wrote:

Welcome to Jakub. Your English is fine and your thumb rings are good. :D

Hello! :)

Nice heard that, but I really sorry for my poor English language :(

Now, I want to show my new thumbring, all are made with cherry wood (this is very good material for rings). Two I made today for 5 hours :)
Images:
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And even a thumbring, also made of cherry wood This one with the shelf ;) :

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What do you think about this?


PS. To administrators: I can't edit my personality profile. When I trying, on the screen I seeing such message:

The keyword you have entered is incorrect. The location of the keyword should be stated on the registration page. Please try again.

What I may do with it? I want to edit profile, but I can't, and I don't understand message :/ This is a bit frustrating :)

Can yo help me?

Regards from pretty Poland ;)

I have some cherry wood that I was making arrow guides from. I shall make a ring and see how it goes. In the Qing Dynasty in China, wooden rings were used. As long as you respect the grain, there should not be too much of a problem with hardwood.

Would pewter be a suitable material for making thumbrings out of? It might perhaps be easier to make than horn (and I'm really bad at woodwork)

pewter can be too soft on thumb ring, because this is "flabby" material...
And if you would making of metal ex. lead you must prepare special form for it :)

Regards
Jakub

The main thumb ring I use is one given to me made out of wood from a date tree.

Hi everyone...perhaps I posted in the wrong section and that is why I'm not getting any responses. I guess I'll try here as well...

Ivo wrote:

Hello everyone,

New here and Very Happy to be joining this community.

I don't have much experience with thumb rings, but decided to make one once. The material was steel and the method by which it was made is investment casting. The thing with it is...I made it wrong. Shooting with it is very uncomfortable as there are numerous pressure points created when the ring becomes under tension of the string. Almost cutting into the knuckle.
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I assume the problem is with the angles at which the ring's inner walls are interacting with the thumb as the bow is drawn.
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Can someone please set me on the right track here.

Thanks,
Ivan.