Turkish Archery : Use of Thumb Ring

This is Dr. Ozveri displaying the correct use of a thumb ring in Traditional Turkish Archery.

Category:

Sports

Tags:

• Traditional
• Turkish
• Archery
• thumb
• ring

[yellowfellow]

so is this the original use of a ring?

[adyona]

This is the Turkish way. There are other asian schools of thumb release too...

[crazychris0003]

My fletchings leave red paint specks on my handle...

[faisalkfpm]

what the use of it

[ugcsred2011]

where can you buy one?

[5tonyvvvv]

this is a very old style,ive read that thumb rings have been found in turkey that are over 5,000 years old.made of bone and copper.have u ever used linen strings?

[sgsawant]

Thanks!

[adyona]

Unless you have a long thumb, it is most likely that your index will touch the nock or the feathers. If you apply to much pressure at that point, it is possible that you will push the back of the arrow towards the bow (center of the draw) which will cause the arrow to bend. Hope that makes sense...

[sgsawant]

Your comments encouraging application of slight pressure using forefinger (without locking) made a lot of sense. Without that, I guess, one needs to have exceptionally strong thumb to pull the string without hooking it with the thumb itself.

Also I did not understand why in the comment above you said that the arrow will bend at full draw. There's hardly anything other than the string which is in contact with the arrow nock.

Please explain. Thank you!

[Ashbow2]

Ok, two days ago I tried to draw a 55# bow without locking the forefinger over the thumb. Without the forefinger giving sufficient preasure keeping the thumb in place no way I could draw the bow, thumb alone was giving up early during the draw.

[Ashbow2]

Nope, I'm just courious of every piece of advice as I find that any subtle change in the technique can make a huge difference in the outcome, it's exaclty like learning to ride a horse ; )

[adyona]

OK, after talking with Murat, it appears that intenionally applying too much pressure with the index finger may cause the arrow to bend at full draw. That will affect the dynamic spine, which is unwanted. So forget what I said. Sorry...

[adyona]

When you apply slight pressure on the tip of your thumb with your index finger it will help spreading the pressure over the pad. Thus you wont hurt your knuckles of your thumb. It is also better leverage for pulling. I didnt mean you should lock your finger over your thumb.

[adyona]

Hi Ashbow2,

Found this on Atarn by Bede today: "Instead of using the ring to spread the pressure over the pad of the thumb, [most people] are using the hoop of the ring to transfer the pressure to the sides and back of the thumb. This can cause problems with long term use. The commonest are calluses on the thumb. With strong bows you would feel pressure and perhaps pain on the sides of the distal knuckles of the thumb."

[Ashbow2]

"try also to apply pressure with your index finger"

Dear Adyona, that's new to me, what I was taught and what manuals stress is that the draw comes form pressing the thumb into the middle finger and the forefinger should be loose, giving little pressure. I rather though forefinger's function is rather to stop the thumb in case it slips during the draw, was I wrong then or it's sometihng different coming to play here?

[adyona]

I sent a mail to Joshua regarding that comment. No harm done...

[33justjoshin]

I didn't want to litter your page with comments. Anyway I hope the comment regarding Chrisitans in Turkey did not offend. I think it was just an honest question from one of the ML guys.

[adyona]

Why did you remove your previous comment? The best resources to the way I shoot are these youtube videos and our website (Its on my profile). You may also want to check gokmenpasha and abdulkabza ' s profiles. We intend to make slow motion film of the release soon. I'll let you know.

[33justjoshin]

What do you mean by move your hand back? How did you learn? Can you direct me to any good info on the internet?

Thanks for helping me.

[adyona]

Make a video of yourself and I' ll try to guide you further or I'll find someone who can...

[adyona]

You are supposed to move your thumb and finger backwards. If you relax your fingers and let go, its called "dead release", if you flick and consequently move your hand sideways its called "plucking"; both are undiserable. During dead release your not using the bow's potential and during plucking you are causing deviation to the arrows trajectory. Your hand must move backwards. When pulling the string, dont just pull with your thumb, try also to apply pressure with your index finger.

[adyona]

We have several ringmakers within our group.

[SonofBenevolence]

Where do you buy archery thumbrings? I have searched the internet but to no real avail.

[szuku76]

Hi, you can visit my site, we are hungarian archers, we do have in 2009. juli.4-5 an really nice event in Hungary. any videos are on my playlist..thx