The theory and practice of archery

by Horace A. Ford; W. Butt

Fig. 24.

In the commencement of lapping the end is passed under, and the wrapping is tightly bound over it five or six times, till it is considered sufficiently secure. To finish off, the same operation is reversed, thus: arrest the lapping by passing the filoselle, or whatever the material in use may be, over the thumb of the left hand, interposed between the lapping-material and the string. Wrap the lapping material upon the string the reverse way to that in which it has been previously wrapped about five or six times (see fig. 22). Keep the material a b tight-drawn with the left thumb whilst this is being done. Now draw the end c (fig. 24) close to the string, and along its length, so that it may lie close between part a and the string. Now take the piece a b from off the left thumb, and draw the part a up to the lapping already applied. Bind part a on to the string. This binding will unwind the part b. Continue this till all b is unwound from the string and wound on again. Now hold tight the remainder unwound of a b with the left hand. Draw it through under the lapping with the right hand; but the surplus portion of a b to be drawn through must be kept tight to the last by the insertion of the left little finger to prevent kinking and cockling, which would spoil the finish. With the same object in view, keep the waste part a b as short as possible. Filoselle, being a loosely wound material, easily passes through this finish, but the kinking of some of the other tight-wound materials renders this finish troublesome if it have to be drawn under many wraps.

The Bracer or Armguard.

The object of the armguard or bracer is to protect the left arm and wrist from the blow of the string in the event of this striking upon it when loosed. The expression 'in the event of' is especially meant to imply that in most cases no need exists for the string's striking the arm at all; but if the bow be low-strung—or follow the string, as it is called—it is impossible to avoid an occasional smart blow in the neighbourhood of the left wrist, and this must be guarded against. For this purpose a short armguard, covering the wrist and that half of the forearm, will be all-sufficient. As regards the blow of the string upon this limited sort of armguard, it may be observed that it cannot injuriously affect the flight of the arrow, as it occurs most probably after the arrow has left the string. This protection for the wrist should extend up the arm, but very little beyond the point where the bowstring would touch the arm when the properly-braced bow is extended at arm's length. For this armguard a piece of thin leather, laced closely at the back of the forearm, answers very well. Should this be too thin to save the arm from the blow of the string, let a piece of stiff card be slipped between the sleeve and the wrist. The sleeve about the wrist should be made to fit as closely as possible, and all other materials—cuffs, shirt-sleeves, &c.—discarded, or rolled up above the elbow. Care must also be taken to avoid all wrinkles and folds in the sleeve between the guard and the elbow. This can be best managed by having the sleeve no atom too long, and drawing it as far down the hand as possible whilst the guard is being fixed. It is unfortunate that the seam along the inside of almost every sleeve occurs just where it helps to manufacture folds and projections ready to act as impediments to the passage of the string. Some archers use stout elastic webbing, and others wrap round the wrist strong braid, &c. The main object of all these guards is to avoid the blow of the string until the string shall have advanced so far in its course to rest as to be unable to interfere with the direction of a properly aimed arrow. Some archers, shooting with the bow in the left hand, aim with the left (not with the right) eye, and this peculiarity makes it rather more difficult to avoid hitting the forearm at some point between the elbow and the short guard. With others, when the left arm, holding the bow, is extended straight out, and stiffened at the elbow, it will be found to bend inwards—knock-kneed, as it were. In such cases it would probably be better to widen the handle of the bow, so as to remove the inner outline of the arm farther from the plane in which the string acts, than to increase the certainty of an aim-disturbing blow by adding the thickness of an armguard to the already existing impediment; or—but this is only mentioned as an alternative, not recommended for general adoption—the arm may be slightly bent outwards at the elbow. Some try to avoid this unnecessary hitting of the arm by keeping their bows very high-strung; but this should be avoided, as it is very trying to both the bow and the string, and it is generally believed that by keeping a bow high-strung some of its cast is lost.

The old-fashioned bracer, of which there are still many modern representatives—although Mr. Ford, in his book, successfully demolished the 'armguard-hitting theory,' which was upheld by most previous writers on the subject—was, and is, certainly admirably calculated to be hit as much as possible, being often made of very thick leather, and lined and padded as well. If something of this sort, failing other expedients to avoid hurting the arm, must be used, let it be as thin and close-fitting as possible, and in particular close-fitting for the four inches or so next to the wrist, where the reckless old armguards used to project as much as half an inch, ready to welcome the blow of the string several inches sooner than need be. And, to avoid the worst blow of all—that delivered upon the top of the armguard where it is shaped to the bend of the elbow—let the upper strap be carried round above the elbow so that it draws the front of the guard tight as the arm is straightened. In spite of all that has been said above, it cannot be denied that, such is the persistent determination of arrows well aimed and well loosed to reach the target, they will certainly very often succeed, notwithstanding frequent interruptions from an armguard in addition to the natural difficulties. Too much care cannot be taken to see that when fastened no edge or corner of the armguard protrudes that can by possibility obstruct the free passage of the string. In spite of good old Ascham's statement that 'the string, gliding quickly and sharply off it' [the bracer], 'may make a sharper shoot' (he also advised that the bow be high-strung, so that this hitting may be avoided), the guard should be made of moderately soft and yielding but perfectly smooth leather, and not of any hard material. The silver armguard, which may be fitting enough as a trophy for the Field Captain of the Royal Toxophilite Society, would be about as much out of place during the shooting of the York Round as the ancient Scorton arrow would be amongst the shafts in use during one of the annual Yorkshire meetings.

The Shooting-Glove, and other Protections for the Fingers.

The old-fashioned archer's glove—still in use in Scotland, and perhaps occasionally elsewhere—resembles a boxing-glove, being made of thick buckskin, and calculated to protect the hand from some of the accidents of war. It was provided with a pocket for extra strings, wax, and other necessaries on its back; and no doubt owned a companion glove for the bow hand, also calculated to protect it from injury. This glove has pieces of hard leather sewn on to the ends of the fingers as a further protection against the string; and leather straps, passing round the roots of the fingers and along the back of the hand, are tied tightly round the wrist to prevent the finger-guards from being dragged forward out of place at the loose.

Fig. 25.

The protection for the fingers, which is probably best known to beginners and old-fashioned archers, consists of three conical tips or thimbles of leather, each sewn up at the back of the finger, and attached—also at the back—to long strips of leather, connected at the back of the hand so as to form one piece, which is fixed upon a strap which passes round the wrist and is fastened securely by a buckle (fig. 25). There is nothing to be said against this description of shooting-glove if a thimble can be got to fit each of the fingers accurately; but, as it can seldom happen that in a ready-made article a perfect fit can be found, this form of finger-guard has become unfashionable, and has gone out of favour. It was probably never made with the thimbles of the right sort of leather (horse-butt), as the softer and more pliable sorts of leather would be more suitable to fit all comers. It effectually obviates one of the difficulties which occurs to most beginners—that of recovering their tips when they have been scattered all over the shooting-lawn.