# Finger sling - How tight?



## Viper1 (Aug 21, 2003)

bow - 

When I used finger slings, I wanted them as tight as possible on my fingers. Never really worried about the amount of bow jump, as long the the it wasn't enough to leave my hand.

I don't use finger slings any more. The plastic tubes that hold them together wear and after a while loosen to a point where the loop can slip your fingers and the bow fall. Unless you replace them on a regular basis, you'll only know they've loosened by the bow hitting the ground. Not fun. 

Anywho, I've been using a wrist sling for the last year or so and haven't had any problems. Unless the cord physically breaks - impossible for the bow to fall.

Viper1 out.


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## engtee (Oct 2, 2003)

I think the question hinges upon how large your knuckles are in relation to the rest of your fingers. If you have large knuckles, you can get away from having to make the sling tight.
Like Viper, I use a wrist sling. I feel that it is more secure and simply more comfortable. With a finger sling, I always had the feeling and was always worried that the sling would slip off my thumb, and did not like to strangle my fingers.


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## archeryal (Apr 16, 2005)

*sling*

I adapted the design from one K-1 has on their website: the advantage is that it self-tightens, so I pre-tension it (pushing it forward so it tightens on my fingers.) I don't worry about it sliding off my fingers, since the harder I pull, the tighter it gets, and the plastic sleeve (I use beads from a craft store) only serve to keep it from unraveling. It's essentially like the shoestring slings used by the Koreans and others, but you don't have to re-tie them every time. 
I just tied a knot in a piece of about 22" cord, leaving the knot in the middle between the fingers. I slide the bead/plastic tube on each end (through both strands of cord), then spread each end into two pieces, one on each side of the main string and slide the bead around up against the main part of the cord. This keeps the finger loop in place.
See the K-1 website if this doesn't make sense. Maybe I'll post a "how to" photo if I get a chance.


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## bownarra (Aug 31, 2008)

Viper1 said:


> I don't use finger slings any more. The plastic tubes that hold them together wear and after a while loosen to a point where the loop can slip your fingers and the bow fall.


Thanks Viper, yeah, I wondered about that on the simple ones that are just a straight loop with a few bits of tube slipped on. 



engtee said:


> I think the question hinges upon how large your knuckles are in relation to the rest of your fingers.


Hehe, I have skinny fingers and knobby knuckles, a bit like a tree frog 



archeryal said:


> I adapted the design from one K-1 has on their website: the advantage is that it self-tightens


Thanks Al, that's a nice design because it appears that it doesn't depend on the the tubing or beads for strength, they just hold the shape when your fingers aren't in it.

I've made one like that and a wrist sling, I'll try them both tomorrow and see which one inspires more confidence. 

Thanks for the replies guys.


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## LoveMyHoyt (Nov 29, 2008)

I make my finger sling with a piece of cord (about 15-16 inches to start) and tie a slip knot in each end. The loops can be make big enough to fit over any finger and then tightened down more securely than the kind with the plastic tubing. As the bow jumps forward - the slip knots tighten even more making it even more secure. Very simple and it works. I have pictures of how to make one if anyone is interested.


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## Greg Bouras (Nov 17, 2006)

In my experience I have found that the finger loops if synched snug give me a conscious confidence that the bow will not meet Mr. Ground; resulting in the ability to learn to shoot with a totally relaxed hand. Synching the finger loops tight is part of my shot sequence.

Visual inspection and yanking the _ _ _ _ out the sling loops Put the thing in tension should be part of your equipment check if you use one of the para-cord/ plastic tube finger sling.

Sling length does make a difference. When the bow falls forward it extends the moment arm that puts tension on the upper forearm tendons. Limiting bow travel to extended finger length was necessary shooting my 6lb+ Aero-Tec set-up.
Tendonitis I have found is unbearable at times and simple steps can be taken to minimize causes.


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## CxT (Oct 31, 2007)

shoelace is a great material for finger slings... I made 3, and currently using the 3rd version (they're fancier than the normal shoestring slings, I had a lot of time last summer...). Obviously made to my dimensions, the loops are large enough to allow my fingers to fit through easily, but when pulled from the front (like how a bow does after its shot) the angle at which they pull at prevents it from coming off. Benefit of making your own is you can size it perfectly to what you want. I like it loose enough to slip off easily with assistance from the other hand, but tight enough that it will hold itself on under shooting conditions. 

Other shooters in my club also use shoestring, but they just tie it off to the right length, attach to wrist and just fold a loop over for their thumb. Tension will shrink the loop over the thumb and prevent it from slipping off.

here's a pic of my first version:








byproduct of this one is, since it is one string, the loops are kind of slaved together, so if one gets bigger the other one shrinks. Still used at home sometimes!

2nd and 3rd attach to my wrist, and go to the thumb like this one (although it no longer goes around both sides in the 3rd version). the pic is the second version:








third version runs on two separate shoe strings, allowed better length control (and I preferred the wrist attachment) since i was running a little short on the 2nd version.

versions 1 and 3 have about 2 grip depths of loop space (so in theory it can hold two grips when put on), I liked this length as it gives enough jump room and is somewhat sufficient at preventing the bow from slipping down after the shot (although sometimes i do find myself gripping the shelf area afterwards...). the 2nd one i made was shoelace length restricted, so it had a little less jump depth... I found it made me grip the bow more often so I stuck with the wider spacing.


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## bownarra (Aug 31, 2008)

Wow, very spiffy sling there CxT!

Well I shot today with a finger sling (the K-1 design) and then a wrist sling and I'm not sure which I prefer. 

What I didn't expect was that the underside of my TT2 arrow rest smacks the top of my hand as the bow (PSE mojo) jumps forward and down. I have a really sore knob on my hand after 100 or so arrows even though I ended up hooking my index finder around the front of the riser.

The bow sling I was using previously prevented the rest from hitting my hand but I never shot it with a fully relaxed hand because it felt really awkward as the bow rotated forward. The finger and wrist slings feel better during rotation but this rest contact is a pain (literally).


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## CxT (Oct 31, 2007)

that's interesting, that happens with me when i shoot a rightie compound (I'm leftie if the pictures above didn't imply it xD)... the rest smacks me right on a vein too to it bruises rather nicely. 

thought about padding your rest?


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## archeryal (Apr 16, 2005)

CXT- I've seen some photos showing some of the Koreans using a a hybrid wrist/finger sling a few years ago. This looks pretty slick.
I tried to simulate this Korean design with a showlace and didn't quite make it work - I dropped the bow on the ground on the first shot - ouch. (My doing - nothing inherent in the design.) Yours looks pretty tight (though the photo does not show how much slack you have under the hand): I prefer mine to let the bow jump forward freely for an inch or so before the sling catches it. This may be personal preference and/or recurve vs. compound technique.


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## CxT (Oct 31, 2007)

archeryal said:


> CXT- I've seen some photos showing some of the Koreans using a a hybrid wrist/finger sling a few years ago. This looks pretty slick.
> I tried to simulate this Korean design with a showlace and didn't quite make it work - I dropped the bow on the ground on the first shot - ouch. (My doing - nothing inherent in the design.) Yours looks pretty tight (though the photo does not show how much slack you have under the hand): I prefer mine to let the bow jump forward freely for an inch or so before the sling catches it. This may be personal preference and/or recurve vs. compound technique.


version 2 had under an inch or so of jump, which actually made me grip the bow due to the short jump. Current design's similar in looks to v2, but since i'm using two shoe laces, I extended it to about 1.5" of jump before catching (been shooting recurve since Jan 2008, switching into compound once it arrives xD might need to change the depth once that happens). Don't have my stuff on me so I can't take a photo of it...

Not sure exactly how the koreans do it, but it begins at the wrist, goes around the back of the hand, around the bow then it loops around the thumb for my clubmates. Haven't actually taken a look how they set it up... there's literally one knot in them to set length and they all go from there. I'll try to remember to take a look tomorrow and see how they do them.


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