Wear and tear on fingers

There was a recent blog post (Charles’ Archery Blog) on finger injuries and finger tabs, here’s a  Link to it
For that reason I thought I would post this observation about my own shooting and finger damage. I know it may not look much but believe me it hurts lots and I’ve found I can only shoot about 20 arrows before it becomes a serious problem.
finger wear and tear

Finger wear and tear

As you can see a callous has developed on the tip with the skin being very rough with it splitting and bruising developed.
I’ve avoided shooting for a couple of weeks to give it more time to heal, with the photo above showing what it was like after a week.

So what is causing it?

I think this was  something that developed after the Lyme valley shoot (Shoot report) where most people got soaked. This resulted in my hand got very wet and the skin cracking on the ring finger. The dye from my tab leached into the skin and it looked more like an open wound then cracked skin.

The effect of this on my draw is in an uneven draw and bruising on the ring finger and pain in the fingertip on the draw up and release. I’ve tried applying tape to the finger tip for protection but this doesn’t help.
I have found that Savlon intensive healing skin cream has helped the healing process too and is now an addition to my kit.
I think part of the problem is I’ve developed bad form in my draw which results in an uneven distribution of pressure across the three fingers. I think I’m going to have to work on my consistency of draw to ensure even draw weight on all fingers.
In addition, rather than going for a deep anchor into the first joint of the finger I’ve overtime let it slip to the finger tips. 
I’m also going to spend some time looking at my tab and wear patterns. I might look at adding another layer to it.
So guess it will be coach coach thy self. Hope this helps
Thanks for reading.

Literature review – Wooden Arrow Making – a Presentation by John Marshall

Recently a friend of mine and fellow Severn Valley club member posted a link on our club private Facebook site to a hand-out for those interested in making wooden arrows. It was originally written in 2005 by John Marshall of Brixham Archers.

I’ve included the link he posted here http://savagearcher.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/02/Arrow-Workshop.pdf

I’ve also managed to find the original site

http://www.brixhamarchers.co.uk/web/pages/info/setup_homepage.html

It is a really good beginners resource, with clear instructions and lots of useful information which is easy to read.

Well worth a look and good starting point.

Thanks for reading

Archery is more than just competitions

With all the run up to the 3d championships, the Sunday competitions round the country and week night practice, it can be easy to forget we do this this archery lark for fun.
The ladies having a chat

The ladies having a chat

Sure its nice to do well at shoots but at the end of the day if you have to enjoy the hobby too. For the last couple of weekends we haven’t booked onto any shoots and instead headed down the woods to have a shoot round.

Nigel being used as a seat

Nigel being used as a seat

We knew there would be a few people down the club enjoying the lovely weather so we took a few cakes too. This results in lots of conversations about the champs, recent shoots, how people are making up new arrows, along with life and non archery topics. Normally there is a heated debate about where to buy the best Jaffa cakes.

Some of the club having a chat

Some of the club having a chat

So I thought I would take a few photos, not so much of the shots but of the chatting and social aspect that is sometimes forgotten in the hobby.
Sunny day in the archery wood

Sunny day in the archery wood

So if you get a chance to go down to your practice ground or woods and just have a social shoot round then do it.
Me down at the wood, thanks to Nigel for photo

Me down at the wood, thanks to Nigel for photo

Thanks for reading