Aside from a few friends and pittance of prospective new archers, interest in Asiatic archery isn’t too popular here locally. So far, the rings I’ve made for others have received positive feedback, but not yet by an experienced archer whose opinion might be more critical. While I’m pleasantly surprised and satisfied with some of my efforts, especially of the aluminum rings, it seemed time to reach out to someone who would have a strong and certain opinion. So I aimed high and into the distance and fired a small package toward Armin Hirmer somewhere in Austria. In my hastiness, I failed to photograph three of the rings, notably the Katalox version that, in the morning hours, I’d crafted specifically for Armin. I also bungled my description of the contents slightly. However, the parcel arrived and at some point may result in an evaluation hopefully free of snarling pejoratives or throbbing fingers.
I managed to stuff in a pocket quiver that I’m a bit embarrassed about, some cocobolo chopsticks and a knickknackery or two.
The rings photographed above are 1) an experimental cocobolo shallow hook style which I was very fond of, 2) two of Brazilian ebony and 3) a leather thumb glove. As I’ve mentioned, an optimally made thumb-glove has become my favorite, but as the leather used thickens proportionately for heavier poundages (easily up 65lbs), they can become a bit stiff. For the 30-50lb range, they work very well for me and a fairly supple leather can suffice. The one shown above may be a bit too supple.
The Brazilian ebony chunk was named simply “Brazilian ebony”, with no specific species noted. With these exotic hardwoods, names are sometimes used loosely and the actual species may vary. It’s a pretty wood with a respectable hardness and is a seemingly good material for wooden rings. It’s supposedly at least a few hundred points harder than cocobolo on the Janka system and it changes color, darkening with time. The ring above to the right was made the previous day whereas the one to the left was perhaps five days prior. I suspect they have both changed since mailing them.
The katalox ring (not photographed) will be the hardest and on average the most reliable. For anyone making wooden rings, katalox may be among the very best choice of wood, with its considerable hardness, nice appearance and tendency not to impart the hostile splinters and violent dust that, eg, ipe does. Cocobolo dust is certainly not a healthy staple, but the wood is one of the finest I’ve ever encountered. The hardness seems ample too, but it’s a rare and probably endangered wood, with limited availability. Thankfully, I have a nice little stack of scrap worth dozens of finished rings, if no errors.
Hopefully at least one of the rings works well.
And thanks to the handful of folks out there assisting others in the pursuit of Asiatic archery, an elusive subject that without such assistance would be annoyingly obscure. In the specific case of Armin, providing such a steady flow of relevant and quality material is a tremendous resource.