INSCRIPTIONS

Some inscriptions found on bows, arrows and quivers, taken from the book, Arab Archery.

ON BOWS

More dreaded by the dauntless foe

Than any other warlike blow,

Come the wooden shafts which are

Shot with bows that send them far.

They fell his ranks, line after line,

And shower them with death divine.

Piercing through the shield and mail,

They cause the breath of life to fail.

* * *

It falls to me to wield the bow and bend its limbs,

Though in the act of death my arrow far excels it;

For if to slay the foeman marks a weapon's rank,

What can surpass that one which pierces through him?

* * *

Elegant in form and wonderful in structure!

When such a thing is sought, the Arab bow is found.

If enemies approach, it welcomes them with arrows,

Laden with death and bearing fear and awe.

Such is the Arab bow, with victory bound of God;

His holy writ and revelation with its arrows spreading.

ON ARROWS

An arrow from a warrior,

Shot at an unbeliever,

Counts more than many prayers

Said by a pious hermit.

ON QUIVERS

I am full of fatal arrows;

My merchandise is death and pain.

Learn by what thou hast seen of me.

I am the blight of the wide world.

THE TEN STRENGTHS BOW

Most people do not think of archery as a sport for which one must be in shape, but the reality is that in addition to target practice, there is a need also for continuous training to build or maintain strength. Archery requires the use of back muscles which most people do not engage in other activities. If one is not practising archery very frequently, an archer easily falls out of shape. Many archers use training bands to practice their form and to keep their strength and technique honed for real shooting. This is particularly important when one wishes to acquire the strength to build up to bows with higher draw weights.

In ancient times, such strength was acquired simply by pulling a bow over and over again, until one was able to hold the bow at full draw and shoot with accuracy, and steadily progress to a series of higher poundage bows. Alas, to do this nowadays with traditional bows is a rather costly affair. If one wishes to build to a higher poundage, he must acquire a whole new bow, and not just new limbs as one would do with a modern take-down recurve bow. 

In connection with this ancient method of building strength in archery, a friend of mine recently visited a museum where he saw this "ten strengths training bow".

If your eyes are failing you, the text from the exhibit reads thus: 

This test bow was used to assess the strength of candidates in military examinations during the Qing Dynasty (AD 1644-1911). Candidates drew a series of bows up to 18 "strengths". This is a "ten strengths bow", requiring the ability to lift about 130 pounds. Excellence in military exams was one way an officer could rise through the ranks. The other was to show great courage in battle. Archery was an important skill throughout Chinese history, used in hunting, warfare, and physical training. The Manchus, who invaded China and founded the Qing (ching) Dynasty, also valued skill in archery and promoted it in their army.

130 ibs was the weight of a 10 strength bow, yet they went up to 18! Alas, there is no indication of what the poundage of these strengths were - whether each strength was measured by 2 ibs or 5 ibs, or how long it took to build from one strength to the next. Whatever the case, it is quite difficult to imagine the strength of these archers! I think I would probably burst a blood vessel and cause myself some serious spinal damage trying to pull half that weight!

So there you have it: a fascinating piece of archery history for traditional archery geeks. I hope to learn more about it in the future.

THE DARKFIN TACTICAL ARCHERY GLOVE

A shooting glove is a necessary armor or defense for the hand, to preserve it from hurting or galling, so that a man may be able in his fingers to bear the sharpness of the string to the uttermost of his strength.

 (The Art of Archerie, Gervase Markham, 1634)

It was fortuitous that, as I was leaving home for to go shooting in the forest with my brother, I found upon my doormat the Darkfin ambidextrous three-finger shooting glove which Dark Archer Tactical Archery kindly sent to me in exchange for an honest review. 

Before I proffer my opinion on this very unique shooting glove, I feel the need to state that I have never liked finger tabs. Somehow, they feel like an obstacle. I shoot with leather gloves with extra padding on the shooting fingers. However, they too leave me feeling somehow detached from my bow string. I like to be able to feel the string as much as possible in order to have greater control and to feel connected with my bow. However, shooting for any extended period of time without sufficient protection does create discomfort due to the friction from pulling and releasing the string over and over again. Enter the Darkfin Tactical Archery glove. 

I must admit, when I first saw and felt the glove, my knee-jerk reaction was disappointment. It did not look attractive, and it felt very strange. I have never worn anything made of latex rubber (stop sniggering!), and, being a traditional archer, it is not the kind of glove I find aesthetically appealing.

My size is large (again, stop sniggering!) and so that is the size glove I was given. Yet it felt quite tight, particularly around the wrist. However, before you all jump to the conclusion that you might want to get a size larger than what you normally wear, the discomfort was short-lived, as though this glove, by some strange witchery, soon adjusted itself to fit the wearer. It was a matter of minutes, if not less, until I forgot I was wearing a glove at all.

As for performance, this is by far the best shooting aid I have ever used. Though I barely notice I am wearing it, I feel absolutely no friction on my fingers whatsoever, providing maximum protection and maximum control at the same time. 

But there is yet more that is great about this glove. It is ambidextrous, so it can be used by left and right-handed archers. I put this quality to the test and offered it to my brother to try, for he is a left handed archer. His opinion of the glove was exactly the same as mine. Furthermore, the glove is easy to store in one's pocket or bag, and it can be scrunched up without losing its shape. A very handy quality for any glove (pun intended).

While I still find it aesthetically unappealing, in terms of performance, practicality and value for money I do not believe there is a better shooting glove out there. This is an excellent piece of archery equipment I would recommend to all archers but those who shoot using the thumb draw or those who care more about aesthetics than practicality and performance.

HORSE BOW REVIEW: A Comparison

The XL Scythian Recurve bow

Very soon after I knew that archery was going to become a long-term obsession, I became drawn to horse bows. They look beautiful, they do not require a stringer to set them up, they are relatively small and therefore easy to take around compared to other one-piece bows, they can be used by left or right handed archers, and they are easier to pull than other bows of equal power. That being said, it is not easy to become accurate with such a weapon. Therein lies the challenge and the fun of the horse bow, with or without a horse.

My Scythian horse bow with bow quiver,
bamboo arrows, and a cycle for a horse.

My first horse bow was the XL Scythian Recurve Bow from Merlin Archery, which pulls 30-35 ibs. An attractive fiberglass bow wrapped in leather, with a price tag just over £125, it is an excellent choice for a first horse bow. It is extremely easy to pull. 30-35 ibs feels like 20, and it is surprisingly powerful, at least up to 20 yards. One little niggle is the arrow pass on the left side of the bow handle. I am pleased this is there to prevent the leather being destroyed by the arrow, but 1) it assumes the archer is right-handed (I want to donate this bow to a left-handed archer), and 2) it assumes the archer, even if right-handed, will be placing his arrow on the left side of the bow. Considering some archers of the Eastern persuasion place the arrow on the right side, I do not see why they could not have placed an arrow pass on either side, as is the case with the Istvan Toth Tatar bow. 

Istvan Toth Tatar bow

My latest horse bow is a 45 ib horse bow which I acquired through Amazon. The price tag was around the same as the Scythian bow, only included in the price were six arrows (superb quality self-nocked wooden arrows with broad head tips), an arm bracer and a finger guard. The arrows alone are worth around £50. The cheap cost and the photos gave me doubts, but the glowing reviews gave me hope, so I took a risk, and I am glad I did. It is a beautiful bow and it performs extremely well. The wooden siyahs (limb tips) are excellently designed, keeping the string securely in place when strung, and making it very easy to keep the string from twisting when unstrung. While I have yet to use it enough to determine the durability of the leather wrapping, it looks attractive, and the handle is designed so as to proffer some indication of the position of the shooting hand while protecting the bow from the arrow when shooting. There is no arrow pass, and so it easily lends itself to shooting from either side and is equally usable for right and left handed archers. 

Mongolian pigskin bow

While there must be better horse bows out there, this combination set from Amazon is real value for money. If you are new to archery or to horse bows, I would suggest beginning with the Scythian bow from Merlin. When you are ready for a higher poundage, I can not recommend the Mongolian pig skin bow and matching arrows from Longbowmaker highly enough.

SHOOTING WITH A THUMB RING AND THE KAYA GLOVE

Finally, I got to put my thumb ring to the test, as well as my Kaya shooting glove. Here is my comparison of these two acquisitions for those interested in using the thumb draw, or Eastern-style release.

Before the comparison begins, a little information about what I was shooting with. My bow was a Mongolian horse bow which pulls 45 ibs at 28 inches. My arrows were 125 grain 31 inch Japanese bamboo arrows suited to bows between 45 and 70 ibs.

The Kaya shooting glove KTB from Merlin Archery

I began shooting with the Kaya shooting glove from Merlin Archery. It is a comfortable leather glove, and the leather tab which is added to the thumb sleeve makes it easy to pull even a 45 ib bow to full draw repeatedly. It was easy to keep the arrow in place and there was no strain or friction on the thumb after more than an hour of shooting.

My consistency was terrible, but I think that is far more to do with the idiot behind the bow than it has to do with the glove.

Thumb ring from Longbowmaker (Amazon)

I then put the glove away and donned my thumb ring, procured from Longbowmaker via Amazon. 

It was harder to keep the arrow in place due to the smoothness of the ring providing little grip, but my consistency was radically improved! Clearly, the point of the ring is the smooth material removes friction, meaning less torquing of the string, and therefore a cleaner release. However, it made my thumb quite sore. This is what my thumb looked like one hour after shooting only nine arrows.

Furthermore, it became increasingly difficult to keep the arrow secure in place and pull to full draw repeatedly without shaking, and I lost my new-found consistency as quickly as I had discovered it. That being said, I suspect the thumb ring is slightly too tight for my thumb. I can not properly review thumb rings in general until I have one custom-made to test. 

All that being said, the thumb ring from Amazon is considerably cheaper than the Kaya shooting glove from Merlin Archery. However, the Kaya shooting glove provides a great deal of comfortable shooting in return, while shooting with the thumb ring is just untenable for more than a few rounds.

If you want to shoot using the thumb release, I recommend the Kaya shooting glove, but if it is possible to get hold of an archer's ring that is just right for your thumb and will enable you to pull the bow you want to shoot time and again without discomfort, I suspect you will be getting a great deal of accuracy by comparison.