A little archery "snag"

[Gaius Julius Caesar]

Hmmm, that would throw a spanner in the works, now wouldn't it.

[Iagoba]

As others have said, callouses will form if you practice regularly and hence solve the problem. One way of helping this is to get some pure alcohol from a chemists (either in a bottle or impregnated wipes), and swab the hand in the affected area several times a day. This will toughen the skin but may leave you smelling like an alcoholic. Make sure you have an understanding boss at work.

A more "period" but smelly way is using pee on the hand. 100% Natural urea, the same thing as in the pharmacy creams...and if I remember well, used until not so long ago by rugby players (I may be wrong).

Your boss wouldn´t be more happy if you use it, I´m sure.

[P. Clodius Secundus]

A more "period" but smelly way is using pee on the hand. 100% Natural urea, the same thing as in the pharmacy creams...and if I remember well, used until not so long ago by rugby players (I may be wrong).

Your boss wouldn´t be more happy if you use it, I´m sure.

At work I regularly process thousands of kilos of pelletized urea, and hundreds of liters of alcohol. Who would notice? That stuff is downright fragrant compared to nasties like Acetic Acid and Sodium Butyrate!

[Dan D'Silva]

Hmmm... Luckily the office is nearly empty, so it'd probably go unnoticed either way. I'll consider the rubbing alcohol.

I think I've figured out a partial solution -- rotating the hand so the top of the thumb, and not the space between thumb and forefinger, is in the path of the fletching. It still stings a bit, but it's nowhere near as bad. Come to think of it, that's probably the right way to begin with.

Should mention that I'm doing a Persian impression, not a Roman, so specifically Roman solutions might not be any more accurate.

[Maximio]

Dan if you're doing a Persian impression then you really should be shooting using the "Mongolian draw". Don't be fooled by the name, this method of release is something that was a feature of the middle eastern archers.

[AuxArcher]

The thumb ring release is a lot of fun, but painful to learn. Your thumb will actually swell a bit after a few shots. It feels strange shooting the arrows off the thumb (on the right side of the bow, not the left), rather than the top of the index finger, if you are used to only three finger draw. Release is totally clean, too, much more so than the three finger technique (at least for me). You simply open your hand, and off goes the arrow.

If you do try this out, DO NOT take the advice of Panyne-Gallway. The little tab does NOT hook under the string, but faces toward the target. Ghastly, terrible things will happen if you try that.

[Orlirva]

The so called 'roman draw' - the phrase from the late antique to byzantine period, is with the thumb ring, and there are lots of metal and bone thumb rings in the archeological record in the roman world, and apparently a leather "ring" was also used that would not have survived. However, I have not had any luck finding a reproduction roman style thumb ring... anyone know of a source?

For a while, in my brief horse archery days, I liked to use a thumb glove... not the heavy Japanese kake super thumb but a thin glove that covered the base of the thumb and had a thong to the wrist. Because I did not shoot a thousand arrows per day, I did not have the knack to properly orient the horn thumb ring with the string on a fast blind nock.... I could do it right with some fussing but fussing did not work out well with the horseback experience. with the thumb glove it was always 'right' however I did it. (Without doubt, with more *serious* practice I would have developed the knack; or, maybe the ring was not a perfect fit and that gave some problems)
-Rick

[Caballo]

and apparently a leather "ring" was also used that would not have survived.

Vindolanda excavators found a leather archers thumb guard- does anyone have a picture?

Cheers

caballo

[Gaius Julius Caesar]

No, do you? Is it for the draw hand or the bow hand?

[Lucius Duccius Rufinus]

No, do you? Is it for the draw hand or the bow hand?

Draw hand byron i belive, Grant mentioned thumb rings when he was showing me how to use our bows..

Does anyone know any suppliers of period archers thumb rings? as i'm very curious!

[Gaius Julius Caesar]

No, do you? Is it for the draw hand or the bow hand?

Draw hand byron i belive, Grant mentioned thumb rings when he was showing me how to use our bows..

Does anyone know any suppliers of period archers thumb rings? as i'm very curious!

Yes, I have thumb rings too Kevin, but Caballo is talking about a thumb guard. From what I understand about the use of thumb rings, the arrow
is held on the opposite side of the bow, and the thumb would be exposed to the fletchings alone, which is why I am asking.
I could be wrong of course, and totally misunderstand what I have read about thumb-ring archery though.

[sacoharry]

Vindolanda excavators found a leather archers thumb guard- does anyone have a picture?
Cheers
caballo

Here is a pic:

This comes from Birley, Robin, "Vindolanda's Treasures: An extraordinary record of life on Rome's northern frontier," (Vindolanda Trust 2008). From the text it appears that this picture shows the genuine article, not a reproduction.

Hope that helps!

- Harry
www.wedigvindolanda.com

[Gaius Julius Caesar]

Thanks for the photo.
From that, I would guess it is for the bow hand. You couldn't wear a thumb ring on the same thumb I think.

[Orlirva]

double thanks for the picture!
I posted above about my experience with thumb gloves for horse archery, and this is much like I used, except mine was a tube (tip of thumb was open). I might also add that I practiced Kyudo archery for many years and the whole thumb glove (kake) idea is very natural to me.

About the suggestion that this could have been used on the left (bow) hand.... hm, yes using a glove for that is possible. the arrow is on the right side of the bow and rests on your left thumb, and every so often one says 'OW' when the fletching rips over it. However, regular practice would build a callus there and the OW factor, never exactly brutal, would much diminish. So, my feeling is that it would not be necessary, normally, and so is somewhat unlikely. I think what make me think its most unlikely is that the fletching mostly rips at the base 'webbing' of the thumb, and this is too short to protect that.

Also, that would take only the thinest of glove leathers to help ease the OW...If I could feel it and its thickness I would have a better guess.

I therefore consider this to be a leather thumb ring. If moderatly heavy, it would give substantial and sufficent protection. However, you might again have an OW factor at peak draw of a heavy (military) bow. The sort of ow you could and would ignore, like as not, in battle.

Theory 3: For that matter, yu can get an OW just from the ring. It is not impossible that a light glove would be worn under a bone or metal ring for padding and protection.
you can't have a glove that covers all of your other fingers because 'blind nocking' requires a lot of dexterity.
-Rick