bamboo arrow chart

I forgot the picture!!!
Sorry! :oops:

The very top of the left column says "draw weight" (literally, bow strength). That column shows bow weights (in pounds). The right column shows arrow weight (measured in don [long "o" sound]--1 don=3.75 grams). http://sports.groups.yahoo.com/group/ba ... essage/245


T

Thomas; are these weights with or without points? do the point weights vary with bow strength? What is the placement of the nodes? Is there a plan drawing with measurements?

jack farrell wrote:

Thomas; are these weights with or without points? do the point weights vary with bow strength? What is the placement of the nodes? Is there a plan drawing with measurements?

Jack,

That is with points. The points will vary a little, as heavier arrows have larger diameters, thus needing larger points; granted, the difference would generally not be very significant. On bamboos, there are three nodes: upper, lower, and middle. The lower node is a couple inches forward of the fletching; the upper node is a few inches behind the point; the middle node is near center. It should be mentioned, however, that carbon arrows are weighed the same as bamboos.

Plan drawing? I don't quite follow.


T

Thanks Thomas; How heavy are points? What length is a shaft? I assume that there are variations.

In both columns what does the last line mean? Is that 60 and greater? And 8 don and above?

To make sure I have the conversion right. 5 dons would = 266 grains, and 8 don would = 463 grains.

Jack,

I see what you are talking about now. I grabbed a point and weighed it on a scale; it was 72gr. (hollow brass).

Bustedarrow,

Yes, what you said is correct: 60 and greater/8 don and above. My calculation for 5 don would be about 289gr. and 8 don would be, as you said, about 463gr. (3.75g=57.87gr.)


T

Good, good, now we are moving forward nicely. Does anyone have a Korean arrow made by a master arrow maker who can fill in the dimensions A-F? Please specify the poundage bow for which the arrow was made. -j-

Jack,

I have many Korean bamboo arrows. However, there are different lengths, etc., so most of what I say will be average. As mentioned in the Yahoo bamboo arrow group, here are measurements for a 7 ch'i arrow:

Overall length: 32.2"

Tip length: 1.25" (hollow, no tang)

Nock length: 1.75" (includes tang)

Fletch length: 4"

Back of nock to trailing edge of fletch: 1.75"

Leading edge of fletch to rear node: 1.5"

Distance between rear and middle nodes: 9.25"

Distance between front and middle nodes: 9.25"

Distance between front node and back of point: 5"

Overall weight of arrow: 405gr.

Again, this is all average.


T

Thomas,

What thickness have the bamboo shaft of the korean arrow?
As I have understand the arrows have the same diameter but different mass.

Eugen,

Actually, arrow diameter will vary. I've seen arrows with a diameter as little as 1/4" and as much as 3/8", with common diameters being 5/16" and 11/32".


T

Thomas; So is this plan more or less correct? I realise the fletch is drawn much too large in proportion.

One other thing; it would make sense that arrow weights would continue to increase with bow poundage one don for each 10 pounds? An 8 don arrow would not do for a much heavier bow? -j-

Where can one get 72 grain brass points?

Korean is easy to read. http://www.omniglot.com

jack farrell wrote:

Thomas; So is this plan more or less correct? I realise the fletch is drawn much too large in proportion.

One other thing; it would make sense that arrow weights would continue to increase with bow poundage one don for each 10 pounds? An 8 don arrow would not do for a much heavier bow? -j-

Jack,

It's reasonably close. As mentioned, it is an approximate average arrow.

Although there are arrows heavier than 8 don, I have not commonly seen them. Bamboo arrows (and even their carbon cousins) tend to be fairly stiff in spine, so I think you would find an 8 don arrow would work fine in much heavier bows. Still, in Korea archery, relatively heavy bows--70# or more--are very uncommon, so it is not something most archers here would worry about. An exception might be the 106# bow being drawn here:
[external image]

Ron Jachim wrote:

Where can one get 72 grain brass points?

Ron,

I personally get them from fletchers over here in Korea. However, there are similar (and also heavier) ones at Three Rivers Archery:

http://www.3riversarchery.com/ListProduct.asp?offset=0


T

What sort of variation in weight is deemed acceptable for a set of Korean arrows? Wooden shafts sold here in the UK that are within 1 pound spine and 25gr are considered a matching set.

Hello!

I am writing from Poland (Europe). It's my first post in this forum so let me say "Hello!" to everybody.

Let's go to the subject:
Proper bamboo shaft material is not available in my country at all, and barely in Europe. I decided to give a try to bamboo stakes used for "gardening" purposes. I've just received 100 pieces of such material 120 cm long (at "tremendous" price of $20 for 100 pcs and sorted by 10-12 mm diameter on the lower (ground) side. Almost every piece of them allows to produce a shaft with 9-10 mm diameter at the upper end (assuming 90 cm - 36" shaft lenght).
The problem is: I tried to measure them for a spine (raw material) according to AMO standards (29 inch shaft and 1,94 pound weight applied at the center). The result was terrible for most of them. The stakes appeared to be rather weak - in comparison to my carbon arrows ( my Easton X10 arrows for compound 60" are spined 410).
Please advice: What is the proper spine for bamboo arrows? I own two "modern replicas" of Korean bow ("Windfighter" - very popular bow in Europe) They are 30# and 60# DW respectively. I draw each of them for 34-35 inches. Using carbon arrows I was not able to utilize full draw so I decided to make my own bamboo arrows.
Please advice if I should try to make at least couple of decent arrows from such material or - it would be better to utilize my 100 stakes for "gardening" purposes.
And if the second is true (do not to even start) - what spine factor is required for bamboo arrows. The link from beginning of the thread doesn't work.
And finally: is it possible to buy a proper material for shafts at "decent" price? $20 for a finished arrow is way too much...(customs and VAT apply).

Thanks in advance
Maciek

Cześć Maciek

For the beginning funny story. My friends 2 yrs ago bought 60 bamboo shafts from 3rivers for 11$ each. One of them found in his mailbox letter that parcel is ready to pick up from post customs office. Customs took the tax table, found “wood” from outside EU and …. they paid almost 20 $ per each shaft extra for tax and VAT (VAT was calculated net price + PP) so they are owners of premium of premiums bamboo shafing in the world :) which was 6mm parallel and too short to shoot :) . Imagine how happy they were…

Bamboo for gardening purposes is probably one of the bamboo species which are only for gardening purposes :) But one of my friends after long hours with sand paper and electric heater used for removing paint made nice arrows with light forged points, 34” long and he is satisfied. He shot 50# TRH Turk drawn 34” with thumb ring.

Maciek, PM me for phone number

All the best from Warsaw
Janek

Pseudosasa japonica, commonly called 'Japanese arrow bamboo'
This species is very common in most garden centres, it is one of the less ornamental, cheaper varieties. This is superior material for arrow making, I made some myself from the many clumps I have growing in my garden.
http://198.170.108.27/phpBB2/viewtopic. ... 8&start=90

Maybe you could find one of these plants? In a few years you will be growing your own arrows.
I don't believe bamboo shafts are spined, I think they are simply weight matched. That is all I did and their performance was great.

Hello!

I don't believe bamboo shafts are spined, I think they are simply weight matched

That sounds promising! I was worried about archer's paradox. I realise, that on longer distances it is not a big issue, but on shorter ones (up to 40 meters - e.g. 3D archery) it may cause some problems.
This is how my pile of bamboo looks like:
[external image]
The first 40 stakes (bottom) I consider as worth of trying (to make shafts). Rest - another 40 still can be used, they will wait for better times...

Regards
Maciek

Maciek
I haven't realized before. You can buy Pseudosasa japonica in Poland via internet, one plant costs 15.00 PLN, So here we are!
I think if I will get hold of some I will plant it for myself, I'm really curious
about this stuff.

Orda Khan
I've have two questions. Do you treat somehow the plants prior to cutting them for shafts and what time of the year do you cut them, winter perhaps?
Any advice appreciated.

Regards

Mine are very mature plants, they have been in place over twenty years and each clump is large, as you can imagine, about 6ft in diameter. I can thin these out at any time of the year without harming the plants. With younger plants I would harvest in late spring/early summer, as the new culms begin to appear. The culms you are looking for are older ones, a couple of years old or more; these are identified easily from newer culms as the husky, sheath at each node begins to dry and crumble with age.
Many culms will be too large, some will be over 15mm in diameter. There are those that are around 8mm and these are the ones to cut.
Once they are cut, they should be dried for a few months. The colour will change from dark olive green to something resembling a wooden shaft. At this point I weigh each one and try to find a matching set (from over fifty shafts I found five that matched :shock: ) Preparation then is to straighten over heat, do not allow them to scorch, a grassy smell and the outer skin sweating slightly is a sign that it is hot enough to straighten. The nodes are then sanded flush with the rest of the shaft and then the entire shaft is sanded lengthways until the outer skin is removed. Going down in grades with sand paper will leave a glass like smoothness. Further straightening and then cutting the nock and binding before the nock with silk twine.
A fairly mature plant will produce good sized new culms within a year of planting. In five years it will be established enough to benefit from a good thinning of about a quarter of its size.

Thanks Orda!

I was asking because pictures of your fine arrows encouraged me to give a try at bamboo.
Your advice is very helpful.

So is there a table for arrow weight and draw weight somewhere? I got a pile of bamboo shafts that I am sorting by weight and I was wondering where to start making arrows.

Thanks,
Daniel

Daniel; What kind of bamboo? What draw length? What pound bow?

Because of arrow harmonics, I use the Korean format for the node placement. There are three marks on my layout table, one at the nock extremity, one at 8 inches from that mark where the uppermost node will occur and a third at 32 inches, the point extremity.

Rolling the shaft under a sharp butcher knife makes a good clean cut. This is the preferred cutting method.

Make a sample. Lay a shaft with the upper most node on the node mark and cut off the shaft at the nock. The node will be exactly 8 inches below the nock. Then cut the shaft off at the 32" mark where the point will be. I figure that a shaft length of 32" will be a good maximum necessary length. (Of course there could be a debate about this but I shoot 27" so some reference is needed)

Weigh the shaft. What is the weight? Answer the first three questions.

all comments welcome. -j-

It is supposed to be Tonkin, although the nodes are quite flat compared to the Tonkin that I saw at garden centers.
I don't know the draw weight yet, because I am still working on the bows. I'd like to get 60# to 70# for a start. One is going to be about 112cm/45" long for a 28" draw and the other one about 130cm/51" long and I plan to draw to 32". I know it'll make a difference though. I assume a 32" draw requires a bit higher weight than a 28" draw.

I sorted the shafts yesterday and I got about 20 of each gram between 30 and 50 at a length of 35". Judging by the bending, I suppose around 35 grams could work.

I would not do any processing of the shafts until you have a bow. The first arrow will be a trial arrow to shoot and see how it works before proceeding further.

The bamboo shaft for a #60-70 bow, 32" draw would be approximately 411-440 grains. Nock and point about 87 grains.

Thanks for your advice! I won't, I was just curious in advance.

Alright, I have the bow now. Here it is:

http://itp.tugraz.at/~skerm/Bilder/overlay.jpg

I don't have fixed camera position, please excuse the blur. The bow is asymmetric because I failed to glue in the setback proberly, but I still tried to get a reasonable tiller. The next one will be better.
When I first drew the bow I thought that it is stacking, because it was hard to get the last few inches. But then I measured the force-draw curve and I'd say it only stacks slightly, so I must have become weak after spending the last year mainly with making bown instead of shooting them.

http://itp.tugraz.at/~skerm/Bilder/force-draw.png

I was afraid to draw the bow any further than 28". I will do some more scraping to reduce the weight a bit but I am not sure I really want to draw further.
What would be the shaft weight for about 55# at a 28" draw?

Daniel; This bow should do quite nicely. Congratulations, I know it is a lot of work. I have not done my homework and others have asked for a graph also. This will come.

For you; make one arrow 26 or 28 grams total weight. Keep the point to about 50 grains. Try it out and you will see what you prefer.

You can shoot the 28 for moderate distances but will find it fading out at 100m. The 26 or 24 will opperate well at greater distance. Keep the craftsmanship tight and the fletches low for 120-150m. Even lower weight will work but will be harder to manage. Experiment.

Being required to shoot at Korean competition type targets has taught many archers that their arrows are overweight and not streamline enough.

Koreans spin arrows on their fingernails to determine straightness. Push the thumb nail lightly against the ring finger near the tip. This makes a V. Balance the arrow in this cradle and flick the nock or point like clicking your fingers. A perfectly true arrow will make a hissing sound. Not so perfect will make a vibrating sound. Mongolians also use this technique. -j-

Thank you, Jack!

I will shoot the bow at a tournament next weekend. This is 3d shooting, distances will probably be between 5m and 40m. Unfortunately for me, there is virtually no long distance shooting in my country. For now I don't have to worry about the distance.

I'll make a couple of arrows then, starting with the weight you suggested. I'll have to turn the points myself. A friend offered to show me how to do it.

Interesting technique with the arrow straightness, I will try it!

I grind my points from the screw in type points for aluminum arrows. When ground by hand they are always of different weight. I match the heaviest point with the lightest arrow in the set. Note that shafts must be pre matched because a heavier point on a lighter arrow does not exactly equal a heavy shaft with a light point.

If you make bamboo arrows by the Korean layout there is a hollow below the nock of about 7 inches. In a pinch this can be filled with a bamboo shishkabob skewer and glue to help with balance before inserting the nock.

Once you find a 120 meter range it becomes very addictive. It is just a whole new game. =j=

I'll do that if the turning doesn't work out. I certainly won't manage to make them all equal weight, but hopefully I can adjust it a bit by the length of the tang.

I have shot at a distant target that last summer on an untilled field. It was at about 80 to 90m. It was great fun, I really enjoyed it! But I didn't hit much because I was used to looking at the target and at the angle for 80m my arm obstructed the view.

So, say bamboo arrows for a 50lb bow, would weigh how much in grams?
And what about 60-65?
Does it count how long the shaft is, and how heavy the points are?
The shafts are either 34" or 38" long.

A longer arrow of the same weight has less spine. this is obvoius. But a heavier point reduces spine also. Also a heavier point, I believe, resists a side wind better.

Species affects spine. The pseudo sasas have slightly less spine per weight than the mountain bamboos sold in garden shops. But mountain bamboos have tapering to each node returning to a larger diameter at the next node, let us say tear drop shaped internodes. These do not make perfectly tapered shafts like the pseudo sasas. They will not spin test on the thumb nail as well.

But Mughals used mountain bamboos exclusively, I think, so they are also perfect, in a different way than say Korean or Japanese arrows.

I often shoot a 45 pound bow. 24 gram arrows, 27-28 inches with 1/2 by 4 inch balloon fletches work well to 80 meters. For a greater distance, a 20 gram arrow with 1/4 inch fletches is better. My osage bow does not conveniently reach 120 meters. But the Korean synthetic does easily. I need a horn bow for long distance. -j-

Perhaps I need to look out for other "garden bamboo" than the Tonkin I got because it is rather heavy. Shafts with about 8mm diameter weigh 30 grams or more, the lighter ones are thinner, about 6mm. I am afraid that the 20 grams shafts would buckle because of their low diameter.

jack farrell wrote:

A longer arrow of the same weight has less spine. this is obvoius. But a heavier point reduces spine also. Also a heavier point, I believe, resists a side wind better.

Species affects spine. The pseudo sasas have slightly less spine per weight than the mountain bamboos sold in garden shops. But mountain bamboos have tapering to each node returning to a larger diameter at the next node, let us say tear drop shaped internodes. These do not make perfectly tapered shafts like the pseudo sasas. They will not spin test on the thumb nail as well.

But Mughals used mountain bamboos exclusively, I think, so they are also perfect, in a different way than say Korean or Japanese arrows.

I often shoot a 45 pound bow. 24 gram arrows, 27-28 inches with 1/2 by 4 inch balloon fletches work well to 80 meters. For a greater distance, a 20 gram arrow with 1/4 inch fletches is better. My osage bow does not conveniently reach 120 meters. But the Korean synthetic does easily. I need a horn bow for long distance. -j-

So a wise choice for the 50# 34 inches long, they should be 25 grams, with a combined head weight (ferules+points) of around 100 grains,

and for the 38 inches long, for 60#-65#, they should be around 30 grams with 100grain head weights.

What do you think?

Also, so the home depot sticks are mountain bamboo like what the mughals used? And what do you think are their reasons for taking advantage of tear drop shaped internodes by using the mountain bamboo?

Lucas; 100 grain points are heavy and affect spine adversely. Start with combined point and ferule of 50 or so. Mughals, like others, used what they had. Mountain bamboos are much thinner than pseudo sasas by weight. the shafts you are looking for appear too thin, in actuality are perfect.

My #45 bow can shoot a 28 1/2 " bamboo, 14 grams with no problem. The point is a brass tack. Aiming is the problem. -j-

That is slightly less than 5 grain per pound, impressive. How low can you go with the diameter?

I shot my bow with 10 grain per pound arrows yesterday and I achieved a reasonable accuracy given that I am a beginner with the thumb technique and have not shot since last autumn. I got cut on the bow hand between the thumb and index finger. I think I placed the nock point too low, but maybe it is also due to not sanding the nodes. My bamboo has rather bulbous nodes but I know from bow making that sanding the nodes can create a breaking point, so I was reluctant to sand them.

I also realized I made some arrows the wrong way round, making the overlap part at the nodes point towards the bow instead towards me. Maybe these arrows gradually removed the skin where the arrows rested. I am just mentioning because I think this might be something easily forgotten in an arrow making frenzy.

Daniel; I did not understand your last two sentences.

Do you mean that the eye of the fletch node should be at 90 degrees to the cock feather? This is more important as the draw weight increases.

Too much sanding especially at the nodes can cause arrow failure.

I hope this makes it clearer:

http://itp.tugraz.at/~skerm/Bilder/bamboo.jpg

The red arrows indicate the growth directions of the arrows. There is an edge where the lower part of the culm ends and the upper one begins. In the bottom arrow, this edge is pointing towards the bow hand.

Well Daniel, neither arrow is sufficiently prepared. First, all such kinks must be removed in the heating stage, usually with an arrow wrench. then the shaft should be smoothed.

Before anything else the shaft should look like a perfectly smooth, tapered dowel. This is the boring, difficult step which is the foundation for a quality arrow.

For me, the boring part is glueing the feathers. Straightening was ok, but sometimes I had trouble getting kinks out of the nodes. I ruined a couple of shafts when I heated the nodes and bent, causing an adjacent section of the bamboo to buckle.

The lower one isn't good, but what is wrong with the upper one? It looks pretty straight to me. Should I level the knob?

Do you think the weights of the arrows I proposed are good enough for target archery or...?

Lucas; Make a 25 gram arrow which includes a very light point for 34" total.

jack farrell wrote:

Lucas; Make a 25 gram arrow which includes a very light point for 34" total.

And a total weight of 30 grams with a light point for the 38"?

Lucas; i think that would be too heavy. I have one Kyudo arrow which is 24 grams without its hollow point weighing several grams; 38".

Speaking about my arrows, I found that a very light point work better, I am thinking about 70-80 grains.
I have 100 grain field point and a use a file to remove some material from the tip of the tip.
The bamboo have a natural taper and is heavier to the point, so is no need for heavy points for a good balance.
My arrows weight from 47 to 48 grams (I have only 5 now, but the natural selection was very good, those 5 are the best from all).
Korean arrows have very light points too.

47 to 48 grams? That is really heavy. What draw weight and draw length are you shooting?
For comparison, I put three 28" arrows, weighing between 30 and 31 grams, on a spine tester and they had spine values between 70 and 90. I shot much better with 55# pine arrows from my 50# bow, so the stiffness of the bamboo arrows may have been a problem. But maybe the bulbous nodes are the reason for their bad performance. I'll have to investigate with lighter, less stiff bamboo arrows.

Daniel, do you shoot with thumb ring? If not, I think you will need spine matched arrows. Bamboo have the reputation to be much tolerant with spine. But I didt see any archer shooting bamboo with three fingers and having good clean trajectories here in Romania, only few very experimented guys on WTAF.

Is hard to make good bamboo arrow, finding the right shaft being the hardest part. But if you have one that is going well, you will love it.

Bulbous nodes no matters, only bad looking.

From my experience I feel that heavy and stiff arrows are much easier to shoot with thumb ring technique than light arrow. Light arrows are going very fast and any mistake will be amplified.
Just my opinion.

Yes, I shot with the thumb technique.

I read about bamboo arrows being less sensitive to the spine value, but I have no idea why this should be the case. As the spine is a measure of the bending stiffness, this implies that there is a difference in the bow and arrow mechanics when shooting a bamboo arrow and a wooden arrow. I highly doubt that, instead I suppose it must be a consequence of the thumb release and an identical reduced sensitivity to spine should exist also for wooden arrows.

There is a difference between the bamboo and wooden arrows. I think is because the light wood when is bent is staking, bamboo is much elastic, can take much more bending before stacking. Nodes are rigid (that being more stiff, less elastic, but also the weaker point) points and have very much influence to arrow flight.
Koreans put the first node at about 19-20 cm from arrow nock and I think this placement is very important for a clean pass trough. Jack can tell more about this issue.

What I heard from Jack is that the ideal arrow should have 3 nodes, matched nodes, and 5 inches of space between nock and 1st node in order for fletchings.

jack farrell wrote:

Do you mean that the eye of the fletch node should be at 90 degrees to the cock feather? This is more important as the draw weight increases.

Jack, what do you exactly mean in terms of the configuration of the eye of the fletch node to the cock feather? I don't think I'm entirely sure about the meaning of the term 'eye of the fletch node' too. All that sounds courious.

Ash; My preferred layout these days is along the Korean model.

Measure the end of the shaft where the nock will be attached (the small diameter end of the shaft) to be 7 inches, about 18 cm, from the node. Daniel describes a ridge which is the sheath scar, where the sheath surrounded the internode during growth. Just above this is an eye, generally an eye shaped depression which cannot be sanded through. This eye- at the fletch node- is located at the exact weakest part of the arrow.

In standard fletching the arrow will bulge outward on release on an axis with the cock feather. So it will therefore be safest to position this eye straight up or straight down as the bow is held vertically, at 90 degree orientation to the cock feather.

The arrow can be made any style from here.

Thank you Jack, clear and helpful info.

Very interesting thread :)

I found it and immediately joined the forum.

I'm in the process of deciding on shaft weight for a set of arrows for my 55# Scythian bow.

My draw length is 28-29" so I will probably cut them to 30 or 31" for safety.

Would a 100 grain point be too much...?

After reading this and other threads on the subject, I was trying to aim for a total arrow weight of 450 grains (approx. 29 grams) so with a 100 grain point, I should be aiming for a shaft weight of 300-350 grains...does that sound somewhere in the ballpark...?

Thanks for the insight on this complex problem :?

Hello Genghis,
Do you use a thumb draw? Your draw length suggests not. Most of the bamboo shafts I have purchased weighed in the mid 400 gr mark. Adding a 100 gr pile would produce finished arrows somewhere around 520 or so. This is with shafts at 33" finished arrows 34". Cutting 2" off the shaft will reduce it a little.
If using a thumb draw you could try 50 gr, I did this to the Tiger shafts I bought. On these shafts I have used 125, 100 and now 50 with no appreciable difference over medium distance.
I currently have ten Pseudosasa Japonica shafts that I harvested last autumn. They are cut to length, heat treated and straightened and sanded. They will be lighter arrows.
I'll post a pic when they are complete.

Hi Orda - thanks for that.

At the moment I am using Mediterranean (three-finger) draw but I have a thumbring on order and I'm planning on trying to make a basic leather one myself so I can learn to thumb draw correctly.

If I use a thumb draw, I assume I will need a longer arrow...?

I should be able to order bamboo shafts by weight rather than spine (I understand that spine appears less important with bamboo).

In your experience, what do you you suggest would be a good arrow weight (in total) to use on a 55# Scythian, at least as a starting point...?

Any help is much appreciated as Asiatic bows are new to me :wink:

Genghis - which make/model of Scythian bow is it?

You will need stiffer arrows for thumb ring shooting. 450 grains sounds like too much. I use 500 grains with an 85@32 bow. But it depends on the bow. I have spoken to my bowyer (Grozer, TRH Mughal) and he recommended 27 gram arrows for regular practice. I imagine for a 55lb Scythian, you may be able to get away with 20 grams. But make sure they are stiff enough!

Hi daryush

It's a no-name triple composite wood/wood/glass (I didn't want to spend loads on my first Asiatic bow) :?

From your comments I'm guessing around 400 grains in total (including point, nock and fletchings) would be about right or do you mean 20 grams in total...?

Thanks

I'd argue there is no formula, only what you find works for you. My arrows are around 450 ish and used with a 42# Hwarang. Of course, it depends what archery you do, target, field, mounted. Most of the bamboo shafts you will find on offer are 33" and unfortunately they are being sold by spine. The weight of these shafts is generally 400+ no matter what the spine, so there are limitations unless you buy bulk and sort through.
Your suggestion should work fine for finger release.

Thumb ring draw length will depend where you find most comfortable for you and a leather thumbring is more than adequate.