Lesson 1 - Handedness and Bows

The handedness check is important as the bows we start learning with are also handed, as is much of the other equipment. One of the smallest but most important bits of kit is the tab. This is a piece of thin leather with two holes, shaped to fit over the index, middle and third fingers of the hand. They come in a variety of sizes and Martin fitted me with a large size, which is sufficiently large to cover my fingertips. Middle and third fingers go through the holes and there is a cut that separates the third from the index and middle fingers. The purpose of he tab is to prevent abrasion injury to your fingers. As well as the tab I was also fitted with an arm guard to prevent injury should the bowstring catch the forearm after release. It is secured to the left forearm with Velcro-fastened elastic straps. The third piece of personal equipment is a sling, which is a length of cord with adjustable loops at each end. One loop is attached to the forefinger of the left hand above the largest knuckle, and the other is passed around the handle of the bow and slipped over the thumb. Clearly you need to remove one end (thumb end because it is easier) to put the bow down, but the other usually stays on the forefinger during an archery session. Finally we were given an rubber exercise band, which we can use at home in place of a bow to practice drawing technique in front of the mirror.

The bows we were using for the session were ready to use and resting on their bow stands, but B gave us a demonstration of how to string a bow using a bow stringer, which is a length of cord with a loop at each end. We are using recurve bows, which are constructed from a number of parts. The riser is the part that is held with the left hand while shooting, and is usually made of plastic, wood or cast metal. Into each end of the riser fit the limbs, which keep the string under tension and bend further when the string is drawn. On the string are one or two nocking points to help the archer load the arrow at the same place every time. When the bow is loaded the string should never be drawn an released unless shooting an arrow. If an arrow is not loaded all of the energy that would have gone into propelling it towards the target gets dissipated in the bow instead, possibly causing damage. The other main part of the recurve bow is the sight, which helps the archer with aiming.