New Book - The Art of Shooting a Short Reflexed Bow

[perry]

A couple of weeks ago I ordered a copy of Adam Swoboda's book The Art of Shooting a Short Reflexed Bow with a Thumb Ring after a tip off in another Thread.

http://www.thumbringarchery.org/

I have only read a few Chapters and Flicked a few more pages but I am very impressed with the Book. It is a beatifully presented little Book 171 pages, numerous Photographs and clear easy to read text. It needs a Dust Cover but I will cover it with Clear Film. It gets right into exploding Myths, explaning Mindset, Form etc. As the Title suggests it deals with short Composites such as the Turks used and it goes so far as to list and Translate Arabic, Turkish and other Terminology that surrounds the subject matter.

I have sought peoples advice and opinions on this and other Forums, researched on the Web and never really read detailed explanations of the differences between shooting with a Mediteranian Loose and a Thumb Ring. This Book in a couple of dozen pages has opened my Eyes and intrigued me no end. I had no idea that you need a different Bowhand Grip, Stance, all sorts of things that to my Western Archer Mindset are just plain wrong.

This is the sort of Book where I need to read a Chapter or 2, put it down, think a little and go back and re Read it. Looking forward to finishing the Book.

For the sake of $60 including Postage buy it as a worthy addition to your Archery Library

regards Jacko

[Buranurra]

Thanks mate, I will defo pick up a copy!

Cheers

Jase

[Dennis La Varenne]

This looks to be an interesting book indeed.

What I have never been able to work out is on which side of the bow is the arrow laid for shooting. The only pics I have seen close up were Far Eastern archers who seemed to lay the arrow on the opposite side to us, resting it on the thumb of their bowhand. Do these central European archers do the same?

[perry]

From their thumbs Dennis. He states early in the Book he is mainly talking of the Short Turkish Style Bow but there are references of Asian, Arab and Eastern Europe.

The more I read of this Book the more the information intrigues me. He really explains the Benefits and Pitfalls of each Style of Thumbring, each Stance for each Bodytype, on and on. I've reached saturation point and am going back to re read the chapters I've read and write notes so I'm not constantly flicking back to references until the new Terminology sinks in

regards Jacko

[GrahameA]

Hi Perry.

... the Benefits and Pitfalls of each Style of Thumbring,

Thumbrings are a long, steep learning curve. An old thread that reminds me of the pain of learning http://www.ozbow.net/phpBB3/viewtopic.php?f=3&t=5290

[perry]

Thanks for that Link Grahame, very interesting. You and others talked of a few errors that I have read descriptions of in the Book

I took a trip down to North Albert this Morning and experimented for a couple of Hundred Arrows on the practice Range. I tried several of the Grips and the Straight Bow Arm recommended in this Book, some did not work, all felt strange. A Grip Mr Swoboda called the Falcons Talon that I had to adapt to suit the dexterity of my Hand and Fingers was most comfortable and when I got it right resulted in a noticable increase in Arrow Speed and the Arrow hitting exactly where I was looking. But again this type of Grip goes against what I was taught and have grown to believe was the correct way to hold a Bow. I have only known Western Archery, it's a great thing discovering this Eastern Europe / Asian Archery

regards Perry