The answer to the "What Is This?" post of a couple of days ago is that it's a thumb ring. Well done, those of you who guessed a thimble or archery finger-protector, both surprisingly good guesses. I was rather disappointed by the lack of people making dubious kinky guesses though, since that's what I was really hoping for.
Depicted here is the thumb ring in use (the one on the thumb), albeit not at full draw because my thumb is knackered after a day's archery doing a thumb-draw for the first time with a bow that's a bit stronger than I'm used to. On the up-side, it feels like a conditioning pain, rather than a now you've given yourself arthritis pain.
The finger-guard also in the picture is much the same pattern, but worn the other way up and with fewer layers since it's just protecting against friction, not pressure. The arrow would be resting on the string just beneath that metal nodule.
I did get a brass thumb-ring from the same place I got the bow, but I found it much more uncomfortable and unwieldy than the home-made leather one. The thumb-draw, on the other hand, seems more intuitive, comfortable, and (given practice) probably also more accurate than the common mediterranean draw. Also, an aching thumb interferes with my typing much less than aching fingers would.
[09:04]
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