I always researched the "thumb ring" upgrade for my archers in Age of Empires 2.

The main joint of the thumb does hurt in the beginning, but as you get used to it the pain fades. The thumb is actually very tough and the ring holds onto the joint rather than the pad. After a week of use or so, any discomfort has gone away even with heavier bows.

left side, right side, right or wrong, the most important thing is that this method works for him pretty well. nice shots

Turkish, Chinese, Korean, Mongolian and some İranian archery used this ring. also it name is Zihgir(zehgir)...

Finally - a useful, throughly clear demonstration of how to use the thumb ring! Thank you!

With the advent of the very popular Turkish TV series "Diriliş Ertuğrul" over the past few years, countless styles of the "archers thumb ring" have been flying off the shelves all over Turkey :)

Thank you! very informative. I am used to shoot traditional with a glove, but I just recently bought a thumbring. It fits very nicely. Will give it a try soon.

I love your video here. What I love is how you explained it and demonstrated it. Plus, your form is great with your follow through!!! I’m a seasoned competitive archer and a coach and always

Love the way you demonstrate technique

I made a thumb ring from one of your tutorials, and found I didn't care to use it. After watching this tutorial I will try the ring once more with hopes that it will allow more accuracy. Thank you for your reflections regarding how to improve archery and the love for life. Your friend, Carl Houck

Finally made a pvc recurve and thumb ring. It is a fun way to shoot but takes some getting used to still very awkward! I doubt I'd ever be as good at it as with my normal bow (60lb takedown recurve or my hickory longbow). But it is a neat thing to try, if anyone out there wants to try it give it a go! Nick, your suggestions about a heat gun made all the difference. Your vids and homemade pvc bows got me into archery in the first place but the heat gun allowed me to make a much better one! Thank you!

That style of thumb draw would be more up my alley. I have tried it with the arrow on the right side but was so clumsy with it. I thought about putting the arrow on the left side, but I did not want to mess with the authenticity of that style. But, now that I know they actually do it, I will have no problem trying it! Thanks for sharing, Nick!

Very good explanation. Thank you for the help. Think I will try this ring.

Actually the Turks, the Mongols, The Chinese and the Saracens all put the arrow on the right side. The arrow on the left side is the European way.

That's definitely given him 100% accuracy as an archer.

I still couldnt see close enough to see the action with the thumb ring used frontward or backward. Awesome. Thanks.

^hes got a point, ive heard that its usually shot on the outside of the bow...i heard that sighting is the reason, but ive been wanting to try this out myself...glad to see it can be done...

Thanks! Yes it is. I've been so busy that this is the first bow I've made in about a month. I should have the shooting video up tomorrow.

I did not know I should start archery until this video. Thanks man, great video!

It does. If you look at thumb rings, there are only a small handful of unique styles that show up all across Asia. This style, a slightly longer version, a solid ring and a ring with a tab seem to be the four major variations that can be found all across Asia.

You are the boyo nick! Always appreciated brother.

Great vid, thanks. I'm gonna check out more of your stuff now.

thanks I have shot re-curved, long and compound bows. I was never great but found the calmness and concentration beneficial. Think I'll go on Amazon and look for a Turkish bow.

This is the best description of ‘how to use the thumb ring ‘ to shoot with a thumb ring. How to determine the ‘draw’ for the arrows? And what length of bow ?

Pretty glad I came across your video man :) Ive recently had tendon damage to my middle and ring finger on my drawing hand so I cant draw the bow any more. Now watching this Im off out to buy a thumb ring :D

great stuff as always !! Blessings to you and yours !!

Great info on thumb ring draws..thanks my friend.

Glad the video helped!

good job mate, well explained.

All well and good if you are shooting from the ground in a stationary position but on horseback where the eastern draw is more commonly used, that moment you create with your finger will push the arrow out of place since you are not stationary. This is why the arrow is placed on the right side. It doesn't really matter when shooting stationary from the ground.

Thank you so much for this wonderful video!

It depends. If the arrows fly fine, I would leave them. If they seem to heavy, cut them to be about an inch or so longer than the length you are drawing to.

Thank you! Thank you very much for your teaching。

I have tried the last method with the thumbring the first way and works for me.

Thank you for letting me know. I appreciate it. Hope all is well. Take care.

thumb ring called zihgir in Turkish

Great video! Well done.

That was awesome, man. 👍🏼👍🏼 Thank you.

Thank you, that was very helpful!!!

Very nice dude, I honestly prefer the thumb draw due to it's smoothness but I have no thumb ring to speak of for the moment so it is used sparsely unfortunately.

Very well done sir, informative. Thanx for posting.......;)

I’m really impressed with your creative abilities! Awesome shooting too! Did you post a video about making a Turkish thumb ring? I skimmed through your videos, but, only found a video for making the longer style thumb ring with a PVC pipe. If you made a Turkish thumb ring video, can you post a link for quick access? You’re the best!

Did you make the bow as well? If so which of your tutorials is it?

I really like this style of release. I'm thinking about making a PVC bow like yours and a try to make a thumb ring. I've always been interested in this technique ever since getting into the history of the Byzantine Empire that fought the Huns and other tribes that came from the plains of Central Asia, i.e.: Gheghis Khan, Tamerlane, the Avars, the Parthians (the "Parting Shot" guys) and all of the other horse archers that conquered an area from China to the edge of Hungary.

Great video & shooting. Thanks

I guess I have to do one soon!

Great demonstration, thanks! The “zihgir” tumb ring would allow the archer to firmly grip the bowstring while protecting knuckles from callusing, because Turks rarely used bracers or armguards.

That’s a nice bow and detailed explanation! I just got my first horsebow recently, it’s the Freddy Archery Black Shadow Korean horsebow and it’s 60lbs in draw weight. It’s pretty strong for me, but today I’m going to the range to use it for the first time and what I’m going to be doing at first is the three fingers under draw I usually do (anchor point just under the eye) and resting the arrow on the same side of the bow with the arm that’s holding it (Western style). But what I might do is keep doing the three finger draw but work on switching the arrow to the side opposite the arm holding the bow (Eastern style) so it’s kind of like a half and half East and West style draw? Then one day when I feel strong and confident enough I might eventually buy a thumb ring and do the full on eastern style draw, but I’m relying on the strength of just my thumb and the ring as opposed to my three fingers, it’s a lot of pressure on a small surface, would the ring help reduce that in any way? Plus I get a bit nervous around rings, I used to wear them a lot as a kid and a bit as a teen, but not so much anymore. I’ve seen a lot of people lose fingers to rings, the last thing I need is the arrow whizzing down range at the target along with my severed thumb! 😅😅 EDIT: also btw are those vanes or feathers you’re shooting with? As far as I’m aware you can only shoot feathers with traditional bows right?

Hi, did you make any tutorial on how to build your bow in this video ? i love the shape, and it looks like it could be a takedown maybe ? I saw your video for the first time today ima make on straight on tomorrow ! You are great thanks for your teachings !

interesting way to use the thumb ring :) thanks for sharing

If you google thumb ring the fourth result is on a site called primitive ways. He shows how he uses right handed bows with a cut in shelf with a thumb ring by attaching a loop below the nock, similar to how people use d-loops with mechanical releases. Seems like a pretty good way to make it adaptable to any bow, but I haven't tried it.

Thumbs up for tutorial on how to make that kind of thumb ring.

Thank you for this. Very interesting. :)

Thanks, Nick! Great video, I remembered seeing Mongols shoot like this, it looked odd at first!

Thanks for watching!

That was very interesting, Thanks

you got a vid up where you make that bow as well, could not find one, sadly

really interesting and usefull. Thanks for sharing~~

Great tutorial. Thank you. I was wondering, after shooting a while, does anything hurt from its usage?

I highly recommend using thumb draws but I never use a ring. This looks extremely interesting to me because there seems to be very little resistance on the string at the moment of release.

I would love to see a how to make that ring!

Please share the video to make this same bow which u r using..... humble request

hhmm, cool design of the bow, how did you make the bow?

Where did you get that bow, or where is the vid that you made it? I have a hacksaw, and heat gun! :) I'd like to get into shooting a Turkish/Mongolian/Hunnic style recurve/horse bow for backyard recreation (the wifey says I need a hobby, and I'd get her involved too!)

I would like to see how to make the ring, and I am curious as to a couple of points as well regarding using this thumb ring. 1. What weight bow do you usually shoot using it? 2. How much of a strain do you feel with only a thumb and light finger vs three fingers?

did you end up making that video on how to make, would like to give it a try

The reason for putting the arrow on the RH side of the bow is so your index finger can push the arrow against the bow - necessary for shooting on horseback. it would simply fall off of the LH side due to the jogging of the horse. Shooting on foot is an entirely different matter.

Thank you bro!

Nice technic! Nice selfmade bow :-) How to make it fix the both end of the bow?

Thanks bro cool video

Odd and nice looking bow you have I have a hoyt dorado

Yes, please tell us how you made the thumbring.

Thanks! Don't worry about making too many bows. It's just part of the bowyer's curse.

Great and thank you.

good vid but whenever i tried to pull the string, it will hurt my thumb joint very much because of the ring part is trying to move out from my thumb pls renspond pls pls pls

Yes I am.

can I shoot the Martin Jaguar (right handed model), when im left eye dominant with the eastern technique?

I'm new to this sport. what kind of bow is that? and how much draw weight can that type of bow use?

Nice demo Nick - is that a sneak peek of a new bow? :)

I use a Panasonic HDC-TM10. It's a small camcorder I bought to make home movies of the kids.

awesome!

zihgir olum zihgir

where is your anchor?where can i purchase one that used in first part great info thanks

wouldn't you want to have the arrow on the right since using a thumb ring causes the string to turn a different way?

Awsome video! But i have one question. I have a 40 poudbow, its 5 feet when its "loaded" and 37 inch arrows. Are the arrows too long?

Is it better to use a ring rather than just your fingers? Would fingers hurt and/or get callused too much normally and that's why people use the ring?

do you experience any finger pinch with the 3 finger release with such a short bow, looking at buying a 48inch horse bow

Thx for the video, but I saw some mid Asia horse bow shooters use the thumb ring as a arrow rest on the right side of the bow riser, instead of using it as a release aid....so confusing....

what kind of bow is that? i like how compact it is. would love to get one. anybody know who makes that bow?

Enjoyed! Thank you.

Dude love the bow is it store bought or home made

if you use the 2nd style, doesnt the ring snap against your index finger? i tried to make something like that, and i noticed it always snaps against my index finger, probably because i used bone stitched to leather.

Much easier and less things to think of on drawing 😎I want one.

but what if my arrow cant just sit on the string but i need to hold it?

thanks for sharing. May sound like a stupid question but is there any discomfort on the thumb ?? and thanks again be safe

ouch, second method looks painful on the thumb. how well does the first method fair with accuracy? It seems like there would be an unwanted string flick to the right?

Which bow are you using? It looks tiny but sounds very fast

Is this less painfull in the wrist compared to the mediterranean draw?

Is there anyone explain to me what it makes difference that arrow on the left or right sight?

Speaking of Bows, where did you get your? It looks rather beautiful! did you make it out of PVC pipes or you bought it? If you bought it, can you please tell me where? Thanx.