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Korean Traditional Archery → Bows → Advice on Hwarang weight?
Hi everyone. My name is Peter and I am new to this world of Korean archery. Let me start by saying it's wonderful to read all of your involved and engaged comments. There's a lot of love in this forum. Love and respect for a centuries old, dignified and cultured tradition. I want to contribute in my modest capacity.
I currently own a 50#@28 Kaya Khan and shoot long distance (up to 145 meters) at a traditional target with 600 grain bamboo arrows. I must say it's liberating to shoot completely instinctively. Coming from a background of modern recurve with stabilisers and sights, I simply breathe and follow form. The air rushes into my lungs and out. Life is wonderful.
Usually I fail to hit the target but sometimes I come close.
Now, I would like to buy a bamboo core traditional Korean bow. Which draw weight should I choose? I never shot thumb ring but want to get into that. My intention is to draw to 33" (scapulae). Is it very different to use a thumb ring, because you seem to involve the back muscles a lot more?
At the moment I'm considering buying a 56# @ 31". That seems to make about 65 pounds at 33 inches? I'm 1m83 (6 foot) tall and average strength. Thank you for reading. Greetings from Norway.
Since you've got some experience with archery, I _guess_ a heavier bow wouldn't be much of a problem, except maybe when learning thumb draw. Drawing with a thumb ring does feel different. It didn't take me too long to learn. I just looked at instructional videos and pictures of thumb draw and started just drawing partially. Then it wasn't too hard to draw my 50# bow, and I was (and still am) a total noob.
For some people, thumb draw doesn't feel good at first, but for me it feels more natural than three fingers. If you're waiting for a ring/glove/etc, maybe you could try shooting the Kaya with your bare thumb to try it out? I didn't even try drawing bare thumbed until I borrowed someone's bow at a range when I didn't have a thumb ring with me... it was about 50# but the string was rather thick, so it didn't hurt much.
To learn to shoot well with thumb draw, you could just start by drawing partially, as demonstrated here https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cFPssNiSvOg#t=2m20s
Just in case... It's really important that you nock your arrow above where the top of your bow hand is to avoid being cut by the fletchings. Then you won't even need a glove in the bow hand.
Thanks for the very useful link. It is for traditional chinese archery. Mr. Selby uses a Quing bow which he says should be no more than 35# for beginners. May I take that as a guide in Korean archery 국궁?
Since you already shoot a 50lb kaya, I might go a little higher than 35lbs. Maybe 45@31". I would draw your Khan with your thumb and see how it feels. What part of Norway are you from? I just got back from there. I brought my bow and shot arrows on the banks of the fjords. It was beautiful.
I find the thumb glove to work better for me. I never got a feel for the ring. I recommend maybe trying to make a leather thumb ring as well.
yeah, I made a thumb tab as described here with faux leather and it's pretty good. I like it more than thumb rings, I just have to tighten it so it stops flying off my finger when I shoot
Thanks for responding. I live in Western Norway, about 1 hour in from the coast along the Nordfjord. The scenery is a breathtaking backdrop to my flight shooting but the walk uphill for the arrows, man, that's tough!
I suspect I might go for about 45# at 28". My home made thumb rings actually makes the draw feel lighter than with three fingers, guess it must be true what they say about the anatomy of it.
Actually with the 3 fingers one pulls more string, thas the heavier draw.
So I went ahead of myself and bought 33" bamboo arrows. I made a simple bow of no more than 15# to try thumb drawing and it's a real laugh and a half. My left hand thumb is scarred from the fletchings. Am I doing something wrong? Only thing I can think to do is fling the bow sideways in the shot, which is what you see in the videos. Comments?
Thumb drawing the 50# Kaya is no problem either, so now I'm actually thinking 54#@31" for my Hwarang. Should make it about 60 at 33 which is the length I aim towards.
Now I set my flatbow string height to 7" and will go ahead and flight shoot with these suckers. Should be fun...
Raise your nocking point
This
I just shot today with my Nomad and... I did cut my thumb a little, though I was keeping this in mind. I guess putting the arrow parallel to right on top of the arrow protector thing worked well enough, and I stopped getting cut. It just got noticeable marks from the friction because I didn't really do the "bow torque".. though it didn't really get damaged.
I don't think I like trying to do bow torque, it feels.. unstable/inconsistent. Not sure if I could learn to do it well.
Pretty sure that a janggung Hwarang would be more than enough draw length for me, and I'm about 185cm
Until you don't have the problem anymore. My bow's at 9mm right now
But if 9mm is not enough, you could always move up to .45 ACP...
I believe bluelake said that to find the nocking point, you balance the strung bow on the string with a knife hand, then bring your hand into the string and where your pinky is, is the nocking point. I'll try that out as soon as I get home..
I've found the advice given by bluelake to be invaluable!! 
Tried out the aforementioned method. Works for me. What a joy to use thumb release, it's like a primitive version of a high tech compound trigger. And don't the arrows just fly!
Korean Traditional Archery → Bows → Advice on Hwarang weight?
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