How do you hold your asian bow?
Hi,
Reading some posts and learning a lot here on the forum. This question came in my mind. How do you hold your asian bow? The grip, how it is? Tight? Soft? Where do you rest the pressure of the belly of the bow in your hand? Made some mistakes? How did they affect the shot?
I rest mine on the concave part of the hand palm, and I do close completely the hand around the grip firmly, but not thst strong. Just enough.
I think it can be interesting
Reading some posts and learning a lot here on the forum. This question came in my mind. How do you hold your asian bow? The grip, how it is? Tight? Soft? Where do you rest the pressure of the belly of the bow in your hand? Made some mistakes? How did they affect the shot?
I rest mine on the concave part of the hand palm, and I do close completely the hand around the grip firmly, but not thst strong. Just enough.
I think it can be interesting
There are lots of ways to hold the bow depending on the style you shoot and and the type of grip fitted to the bow. Bows made with a Middle Eastern style grip with a ridge on the back make it easy to use the four major grasps of the bow popular from Morocco to Central Asia and India. These grasps concentrate on the tightness of the lower three fingers (middle, ring and little fingers) and the relaxation of the other two digits (index finger and thumb). The position of the belly of the grip varies according to the size of your palm and the length of your fingers and how they relate to the bow grip.
The Korean system, which is widely used now, builds the grip on the bow up so that the belly fits into the gap between the thenar and hypothenar eminences on the palm of the hand. In English terminology, this is a high wrist position.
Among the Middle Eastern grasps, both high and low wrist positions are used depending on the style of shooting and the stance of the archer. This is somewhat determined by the proportions of the archer's body and specifically of the hand.
On Sunday I was demonstrating the Persian low wrist grasp called čangal-e baz which has the index finger curled behind the back of the grip, the thumb curved down over the middle finger, and the arrow resting on the base of the thumb. Most of the pressure on the bow comes from the part of the palm above the thenar eminence between the thumb and index finger. The three lower fingers are tight on the grip so that the bow rotates vertically in the hand when the arrow is released. There is nothing touching the lower part of the belly of the grip until the string is released. This is a difficult grasp to master, but it is surprisingly accurate when shooting.
The Korean system, which is widely used now, builds the grip on the bow up so that the belly fits into the gap between the thenar and hypothenar eminences on the palm of the hand. In English terminology, this is a high wrist position.
Among the Middle Eastern grasps, both high and low wrist positions are used depending on the style of shooting and the stance of the archer. This is somewhat determined by the proportions of the archer's body and specifically of the hand.
On Sunday I was demonstrating the Persian low wrist grasp called čangal-e baz which has the index finger curled behind the back of the grip, the thumb curved down over the middle finger, and the arrow resting on the base of the thumb. Most of the pressure on the bow comes from the part of the palm above the thenar eminence between the thumb and index finger. The three lower fingers are tight on the grip so that the bow rotates vertically in the hand when the arrow is released. There is nothing touching the lower part of the belly of the grip until the string is released. This is a difficult grasp to master, but it is surprisingly accurate when shooting.
Sorry about the double post. I had a misbehaving mouse that has since been retired.
So far I've mostly done something like korean grip, collapsed hand. But often pretty relaxed fingers, just not thinking of gripping tight but not very loose either.
I think there should be a book on just bow grips...
How would you describe that grip #30? Of Arab archery, that is supposedly the best? I tried reading about it on Arab archery but I didn't get that much from it, such as, how high or low should the wrist be? Should all the pressure go on the web of the hand?
What would be a good grip with a middle-eastern style handle (bulgy on the back, more or less constant width grip, slightly wide) that wouldn't be too difficult and would be very accurate? Even if no khatra, that would be easier really. I just don't want to damage the bow from the arrow hitting it. I should try to see whether collapsed or non-collapsed wrist strains the limbs more evenly, I think collapsed? (like korean)
Is the big eagle claw "low wrist", all the pressure on the web of the hand? It seems medium wrist, the wrist not totally straightened but all the pressure on the web of the hand anyway. It's hard to tell from pictures.
thanks
I think there should be a book on just bow grips...
How would you describe that grip #30? Of Arab archery, that is supposedly the best? I tried reading about it on Arab archery but I didn't get that much from it, such as, how high or low should the wrist be? Should all the pressure go on the web of the hand?
What would be a good grip with a middle-eastern style handle (bulgy on the back, more or less constant width grip, slightly wide) that wouldn't be too difficult and would be very accurate? Even if no khatra, that would be easier really. I just don't want to damage the bow from the arrow hitting it. I should try to see whether collapsed or non-collapsed wrist strains the limbs more evenly, I think collapsed? (like korean)
Is the big eagle claw "low wrist", all the pressure on the web of the hand? It seems medium wrist, the wrist not totally straightened but all the pressure on the web of the hand anyway. It's hard to tell from pictures.
thanks
Should I switch to a low wrist (less contact on belly), or continue with a high wrist like Korean grip? This is with short bows. Low wrist is just harder... but it may have some advantages?
It seems like a "medium wrist" is best with my horn bow...
It seems like a "medium wrist" is best with my horn bow...
I have my wrist in the same position shooting my bow or punching the sandbag. Never had a problem with it.
Been trying to do the big eagle claw more recently. It is harder than just collapsing the wrist like in the Korean grip. Seems very stable.
Some of the differences in wrist position are accommodated by padding the grip. The most obvious padding is the Korean style which is adaptable to most low wrist styles despite the Korean practice.
In the Middle East, the bow grip was considered too small if the fingertips touched the palm of the hand when the grip was grasped tightly. There was supposed to be a gap. It was advised to put a leather cover to make the grip bigger if this occurred. This would have been a regular problem with people with big hands using average bows, but the solution is simple. Ottoman flight bows required an extreme hawk's claw grip and had small grips so the mushamma was used.
Since the "30" really only refers to the position of the fingers (thumb and index) supporting the arrow, the rest of the hand is in the normal position for a square grasp. However, depending on the proportions of the hand and the grip. Personally, I hold the grip tightly with the lower three fingers, rest the palmar surface of the thumb on the side of the middle finger gently and the tips of the index finger and thumb very lightly. This gives you a very good indication of the back of the point of the arrow at full draw and allows consistent draws. The thumb is stretched out and only slightly above the line of the upper side of the forearm. There is pressure on both the hypothenar and thenar eminences. It is good for target shooting.
In the Middle East, the bow grip was considered too small if the fingertips touched the palm of the hand when the grip was grasped tightly. There was supposed to be a gap. It was advised to put a leather cover to make the grip bigger if this occurred. This would have been a regular problem with people with big hands using average bows, but the solution is simple. Ottoman flight bows required an extreme hawk's claw grip and had small grips so the mushamma was used.
Since the "30" really only refers to the position of the fingers (thumb and index) supporting the arrow, the rest of the hand is in the normal position for a square grasp. However, depending on the proportions of the hand and the grip. Personally, I hold the grip tightly with the lower three fingers, rest the palmar surface of the thumb on the side of the middle finger gently and the tips of the index finger and thumb very lightly. This gives you a very good indication of the back of the point of the arrow at full draw and allows consistent draws. The thumb is stretched out and only slightly above the line of the upper side of the forearm. There is pressure on both the hypothenar and thenar eminences. It is good for target shooting.
So you collapse your hand a bit? Thanks for returningBede wrote:
Some of the differences in wrist position are accommodated by padding the grip. The most obvious padding is the Korean style which is adaptable to most low wrist styles despite the Korean practice.
In the Middle East, the bow grip was considered too small if the fingertips touched the palm of the hand when the grip was grasped tightly. There was supposed to be a gap. It was advised to put a leather cover to make the grip bigger if this occurred. This would have been a regular problem with people with big hands using average bows, but the solution is simple. Ottoman flight bows required an extreme hawk's claw grip and had small grips so the mushamma was used.
Since the "30" really only refers to the position of the fingers (thumb and index) supporting the arrow, the rest of the hand is in the normal position for a square grasp. However, depending on the proportions of the hand and the grip. Personally, I hold the grip tightly with the lower three fingers, rest the palmar surface of the thumb on the side of the middle finger gently and the tips of the index finger and thumb very lightly. This gives you a very good indication of the back of the point of the arrow at full draw and allows consistent draws. The thumb is stretched out and only slightly above the line of the upper side of the forearm. There is pressure on both the hypothenar and thenar eminences. It is good for target shooting.
The hand is not really collapsed; it just is not as turned down as in the other grip. It is odd when you look at pictures of people shooting how high they have the wrist. Some people manage to lock the bow into the hand so the end of the ulna is at right angles to the grip and appears to be supporting it. This is often seen with people shooting very strong bows.
Recently I have experienced something strange which "makes me headache" ;-)
I have trained with freshly made arrows and - because of not having so much spare time - I have "forgot" to smooth the feathers' front slope - I am using natural feathers. I have tried to use place feathers like Y and one feather cut a fine but painful wound on my index finger of grip hand - I shoot over my thumb and index finger stretched out, with thumbring on right hand, holding my turkish style bow in left hand.
To prevent the wound I have changed my grip so to hide the index finger, so to speak - and arrows went then over my thumb.
The effect of this was that arrows started to fly more to the left!
I am at a loss why???
However I have been intrigued by that as I know that this is more correct that sending arrows over my index finger (Arab archery, Taybugha).
So recently I have changed my grip to hold bow just as it is prescribed by old masters - most firmly by little finger, less firmly by ring finger, lightly by middle finger and index finger is "hidden" behind qabza. My shooting improved remarkably (when being careful with that, of course ;-) ) I noticed that my grip is similar to sangal-i-baz, perhaps. The bow is going down and to the left size after shoot and right hand waves to back.
I have trained with freshly made arrows and - because of not having so much spare time - I have "forgot" to smooth the feathers' front slope - I am using natural feathers. I have tried to use place feathers like Y and one feather cut a fine but painful wound on my index finger of grip hand - I shoot over my thumb and index finger stretched out, with thumbring on right hand, holding my turkish style bow in left hand.
To prevent the wound I have changed my grip so to hide the index finger, so to speak - and arrows went then over my thumb.
The effect of this was that arrows started to fly more to the left!
I am at a loss why???
However I have been intrigued by that as I know that this is more correct that sending arrows over my index finger (Arab archery, Taybugha).
So recently I have changed my grip to hold bow just as it is prescribed by old masters - most firmly by little finger, less firmly by ring finger, lightly by middle finger and index finger is "hidden" behind qabza. My shooting improved remarkably (when being careful with that, of course ;-) ) I noticed that my grip is similar to sangal-i-baz, perhaps. The bow is going down and to the left size after shoot and right hand waves to back.