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Post by Riv Re on Mar 27, 2012 3:12:48 GMT
Hey SBG, Quick question; if you guys can help me out, I would be forever indebted. Is it possible to get blisters on your finger pads from shooting for a long time? I know that longbow shooting is really strenuous and pretty difficult to keep up for too long, but that detail aside, would you get sores, blisters, or even small cuts from the string? And is there any sort of cream or powder that you can rub on your fingers beforehand that will protect them a bit without making your grip slippery? The bow would be older, medieval-ish, so there's no fancy string. (Forgive my ignorance on the topic of bow strings, please. I'm just uneducated. ) (I ask because I'm writing a fantasy story, in another world, and it involves a highly skilled archer. There's no magic or anything like that, but imagination-stretching is allowed, hence having this talented archer.) Thanks so much!!
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Aaron
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Post by Aaron on Mar 27, 2012 3:22:59 GMT
If you shoot infrequently, yes your fingertips will get very sore and bruised from shooting for longer periods of time. After time you will build up callouses that will prevent this for the most part. Otherwise the only solution is to wear a finger glove, which covers the tips of the three fingers you hold the string with. I have never gotten blisters from it, but I can see how the friction could cause them so it would not be an unrealistic assumption. Cuts would only come if the blisters were torn open, the string itself would not cut an archer.
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Post by Artelmis on Mar 27, 2012 3:32:14 GMT
oh god... the blisters...
if you have computer hands like i do, get a glove.
reason i got a shooting glove this time around
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Post by Deleted on Mar 27, 2012 4:33:18 GMT
Use a shooting glove or finger tab, which is what everyone else does! A bare string is too hard on anyone's hands, and it messes up your accuracy when you know the released string will hurt your fingers and you try to 'adjust' rather than letting the arrow off cleanly. Finger tabs are under $10!!!
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Post by Riv Re on Mar 27, 2012 4:44:37 GMT
Thanks! I've never heard of finger tabs before. They never mess up your accuracy, even a bit? And are they "new" inventions, or was there some sort of finger covering around for a long time? Aaron: That's a good point, about the calluses. I totally skipped over that fact. Would finger calluses like that hold up, even against intense use, or would he eventually start getting sore?
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Post by ineffableone on Mar 27, 2012 4:48:50 GMT
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Post by Ceebs on Mar 27, 2012 4:51:47 GMT
Riv Re, they won't mess up your accuracy if you are shooting correctly Tabs have been around for centuries and I'm almost certain the were used by English Archers in the hayday of the Warbow. Gloves were also used I believe. As for calluses they may get sore after longer periods of shooting than the Archer is used to.
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Post by ineffableone on Mar 27, 2012 4:52:53 GMT
Don't believe in Hollywood hype,. archers used gloves, finger tabs, or thumb rings for about as long as bows have been around. It took about a week of shooting a bow before primitive man decided to make protection for his fingers from the string.
Especially for hight pound bows, you would have a hard time pulling the sting back with out protection. Imagine 60-90 lbs pulling on your fingers though a thin string. Ouch!
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Post by Riv Re on Mar 27, 2012 5:04:50 GMT
So working with medieval gloves, would he just be using a regular leather glove? (Would he need two gloves? Or just one, for the string hand.) (He's already wearing an arm-guard, don't worry.)
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Aaron
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Post by Aaron on Mar 27, 2012 5:05:46 GMT
It's really not that bad. I can get in decent practice before I start worrying about how my fingers feel, and I don't have any callouses on my fingers. I would be more worried about string follow hitting my forearm than my fingers...
As for finger tabs, they're more trouble than they're worth IMO. The gloves work great but I have always found tabs to be fettering and uncooperative. Never tried a thumb ring, I'm just going to three-finger the horsebow I ordered. Thumb rings would be inaccurate for what Riv Re wants, though.
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Post by ineffableone on Mar 27, 2012 5:07:31 GMT
Yes gloves, tabs, and thumb rings effect accuracy. When releasing you will drag against the string with what ever part your holding the string with. This causes the string to turn/twist and deflect slightly. This can cause some irregularity in shooting and inaccuracy in unskilled archers, though skilled archers learn to adjust even if they don't realise that their release is doing this. It is this reason that compound bow shooting developed a trigger style release that pinches into a loop in the string and is released by a simple trigger pull. compound bow trigger release vs typical archers 3 finger glove
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Post by ineffableone on Mar 27, 2012 5:14:26 GMT
He would probably be wearing something like one of these Easy to get your fingers out if needed to use them for fine detail easy to slip your fingers back in. Typically the pads of the archers gloves are more than one layer of leather, Usually a think harder leather inside, covered with a smooth soft leather outside. Tabs and gloves these days use a calf skin (or similar) outer layer with the fur still on, to add in a smooth surface to release from. For the bow hand if the bow does not have a shelf your archer would probably use a glove/bracer like this To protect the hand from the fetching as you shoot, as you use your had as the shelf and fetching can hurt and cut if not careful
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Post by Riv Re on Mar 27, 2012 5:33:45 GMT
And those are easy to shoot with? I'm assuming they were pretty much the same a few hundred year ago, right?
Just two quick questions to clarify: The strips connecting the wrist strap and the finger caps go along the back of the hand, right? And I've never heard of a "shelf" before. (Alas, Google has failed me.) Is that the little mount-thing on the side of the arc of the bow that you rest your arrow on?
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Aaron
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Post by Aaron on Mar 27, 2012 5:39:22 GMT
This is a shelf: They were not present on English longbows.
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Post by Riv Re on Mar 27, 2012 5:41:31 GMT
Ah. That explains it. Thanks. =D
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Post by ineffableone on Mar 27, 2012 5:43:18 GMT
yes, they were around pretty much the same, though they were more hand made back in the day.
yes, they are pretty easy to shoot with and the straps go on the back of the hand.
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Post by Riv Re on Mar 27, 2012 5:49:43 GMT
Thank you all so much! I think I've got it all figured out, and I just learned more than I ever needed to know about protection in archery. (And to think, all of this amounted to around 35 in the story I'm working on. Now I feel factual!) I appreciate all the help, inneffableone, Aaron, Ceebs, Blackthorn, and Artelmis. Thanks so, so much! (I know, I'm getting repeatedly repetitious over here.)
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Post by Deleted on Mar 27, 2012 5:50:30 GMT
In archery we all use finger tabs or gloves on the right hand (if you're right handed) to ease pressure on the fingers and release the string smoothly, with the strips running along the back of your fingers and hand. You wear a forearm guard on the other arm, on the left (if you're right handed) to stop 'string slap', in case the bow string slaps the inside your forearm, which can really sting. You need both of these to shoot with, otherwise you'll end up with red raw skin on your left forarm and right hand fingers, and once it gets that way, your accuracy will become terrible because it will hurt to shhoot each arrow from then on! They're very easy to shoot with, more comfortable than bare hands! If you want to go traditional, take a look at the traditional shooting glove and traditional armguard here, this is a basic example: www.cabelas.com/catalog/browse.c ... Rprd743739 A 'shelf' is a cut-out in the bow, like a small rectangular section, cut out of one side of the bow, that creates a ledge for the arrow to sit on.
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Post by Deleted on Mar 27, 2012 5:52:29 GMT
you're welcome, and you posted your comment a few seconds before my last reply, which is why it's sitting where it is!
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Post by Ceebs on Mar 27, 2012 7:34:10 GMT
Glad to help Rive Re
A quick tip: If you are shooting off the knuckle and find that your fletching is cutting you, it may be because your nocking point is too low.
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