Part 3 (2/2)

It is undeniable that permanently successful shooting depends mostly upon an even, certain, and unvarying loose, and such a loose can only be attained by the help of the most suitable glove, tips, tab, or other protection for the fingers. The archer must have the perfect command of the string, and of the exact 'how' and 'when' it shall be allowed to quit the fingers. If the glove &c. be too loose or too tight, this necessary command is lost. In the first case, the feeling of insecurity gives a hesitating uncertainty to the loose; and in the second, the power of the fingers is so cramped that a sensation of distortion cripples their best efforts. Further, too thick a glove &c. interferes with the proper 'feel' of the string; whilst one that is too thin, by hurting the fingers, causes them to flinch from the proper degree of crisp sharpness requisite for a perfect loose. Still further, with too hard a substance--metal, for instance: finger-tips have been occasionally made of silver--the string cannot be with certainty retained till the proper instant of loosing, whilst with leather that is too soft and sodden, the string cannot be quitted without a jerk that staggers the bow-arm.

It will be seen, therefore, that positive rules cannot be laid down as to either the size, make, shape, or material of the finger-guards; as each individual must be suited according to the peculiar nature of his own fingers, be they callous or tender, strong or weak, clumsy or dexterous.

In 1859 it may have been good advice to archers to manufacture their own finger-guards, though Mr. Ford candidly confessed 'that the endeavours of ten years have hardly succeeded in producing finger-stalls perfectly to my satisfaction.' It may be safely a.s.serted, however, that it is better to use the thinner leather (provided it be thick enough to protect the fingers from pain), and the stalls must be constructed so as to confine the hand and cramp the knuckles as little as possible.

The 'Mason' finger-stall, described by Mr. Ford, consisted of a piece of leather partly surrounding the tip of the finger, and connected over the nail with vulcanised india-rubber, and kept in place by a ring, also of india-rubber, or preferably of silver, pa.s.sing over both joints of the finger, and connected inside the hand with the stall by means of a thin tongue of india-rubber about an inch or an inch and a half long; a guard or stop is placed upon each stall, about half an inch from the top, by which (stop) the line of the fingers and position of the string is regulated, &c. A very similar finger-guard, produced by Mr. Buchanan of 215 Piccadilly, was made, closed at the finger-end, so as to protect the top of the finger from possible injury.

In these finger-guards the stop or catch of leather on the inside of the finger first makes its public appearance, but the contrivance in its entirety has completely gone out of favour--probably owing to the untrustworthiness of india-rubber, even though it be vulcanised. The connecting ring removed the objection to these separate tips that, unless they were glued on or too tight (both undesirable), they were sadly liable to slip off at the loose. Also the connecting tongue of india-rubber might enable the lower part of the finger to contribute some trifle of support to the tip of the finger at its fullest strain, and certainly it would a.s.sist to catch the finger-tip back from the sprawled position (much objected to by some instructors in this craft) sometimes a.s.sumed after a dead loose.

[Ill.u.s.tration: FIG. 28.]

Mr. James Spedding and Mr. H. C. Mules, about the same time that Mr. H.

A. Ford and others were making experiments in the construction of their own finger-tips, contrived a little bra.s.s nutted screw-bolt for securing the finger-tips safely upon the fingers without the uncertain action of india-rubber, or in any way cramping the action of the finger-joints.

This little contrivance is three-quarters of an inch long. The nut A is fixed, but the nut B can be moved to any position on the screw-bolt.

[Ill.u.s.tration: FIG. 29.]

This contrivance is pa.s.sed through the holes at _a_ and _b_ (see fig.

29) of a finger-tip shaped thus. Of course the end of the screw-bolt over which the nut B is pa.s.sed after the screw-bolt has been pa.s.sed through _a_ and _b_ must be clinched afterwards to prevent nut B coming off again. The lacing together of the six corresponding holes on each side of the guard at the back of the finger over the nail can be tight or loose, according to taste; but it should be laced with fine strong cord, not elastic, as generally supplied by the makers. The bra.s.s bolt pa.s.ses over the top joint of the finger when the guard is put on the finger, and may then be tightened so as to keep the guard in its place and to prevent it escaping at the loose. Leather catches may easily be added of any shape or in any position that is preferred.

[Ill.u.s.tration: FIG. 30.]

[Ill.u.s.tration: FIG. 31.]

The elementary tip, that anybody may cut out of a piece of pigskin (fig.

30), further sophisticated, became the tip registered by Messrs. Aldred in 1868 (fig. 31) as the 'Paragon,' with the Mules-Spedding contrivance added, and also a catch, and a strap over the nail, for keeping it in position.

[Ill.u.s.tration: FIG. 32.]

The _parrot-beak_ (fig. 32) is a further development of the Mules-Spedding tip, with the bra.s.s bolt omitted. This is not an improvement, as the sewing, if it suddenly failed, could not be readily replaced.

Mr. J. Spedding had a further contrivance which brought the little finger in to the a.s.sistance of the third finger. This was managed by securing a loop to the guard for the third finger. This loop was pa.s.sed over the little finger, which was tightly curled up towards the palm of the hand, thus supporting the third during the strain of the aim. The little finger was, of course, uncurled at the instant of loose.

Soon after 1859 Mr. H. A. Ford began to lose the almost perfect command which he had, during about ten years, possessed over the bow. Whether this failure arose from the use of bows that were too strong, causing actual physical injury to some of the muscles engaged in the action of pulling up or loosing; or whether it arose from shooting too much; or whether it arose from loss of nerve and confidence, through over-anxiety to excel, and keep in front of all the opponents who, profiting by his instruction, began to tread close upon his heels, will never be known; but certain it is that before he reappeared as Champion at Brighton in 1867, with his fourth best Grand National score of 1,037 (his better scores being, 1,251 at Cheltenham in 1857, 1,076 at Exeter in 1858, and 1,074 at Shrewsbury in 1854), he had taken to weak bows and light arrows, and had tried several different combinations of fingers for loosing. Thus he contrived a finger-tip for the little finger, to the back of which he attached the third finger, so that these two might combine to do the work of one finger. This did not prove successful; but he was satisfied with his final experiment, which consisted of a tip for the first finger, on to the back of which his second finger was also applied; and he has been heard to declare his belief that if he could have tried this loose in his best days he might have improved upon his best scores.

Occasionally the second and third fingers are furnished with a double-cell tip for the parallel action of these two fingers; but as contrivances of this sort are but the playthings of broken-down archers--of whom, alas, there are too many--they are not mentioned with any view of recommending them until, after patient trial, the other simpler finger-guards have failed.

A piece of strong quill is sometimes sewn upon the inside of the tip with the leather catch so as to prevent the string from getting embedded in the leather, and to quicken the loose; but its interference with the 'feel' of the string argues against its employment.

It is even doubtful whether anything but the most cautious use of the leather catch to the finger-tip may not be most dangerous. Many of the best shots do not use it; and though no doubt the certainty of the one best position for the string on the fingers, when the archer is at his best, will produce most excellent results, yet, the possibility that a permanent breakdown may be the result of the use of the same catch when the archer is out of condition or practice, or perhaps tired, should make every archer careful to avoid the loss of liberty of hold that may be found advisable under varying circ.u.mstances.

CHAPTER V.

_OF THE GREASE-BOX, Ta.s.sEL, BELT, ETC_

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