custom or home made glove?

[AkDan]

Anyone built there own?  I want something with reinforced stalls.  

I have a hill style (from hill archery) and it doesnt fit at all!  

I also have an old super thick kinda gawdy at the tips cordovan glove thats works well though it's just gawdy and irreplaceable (came with a box of old 40's footed shafts)

The reason I'm asking is for years I've shot a cordovan tab now...originally started with a damascus glove.   Having had a sort of lay off (though not completely), for some reason the joints in my fingers hurt quite bad after a couple of shots.   I usually end up putting the bow down for a couple days then shoot a few more arrows.   Well I tried my old reinforced gloves tonight....and I also tried a deerskin glove with my normal cordovan tab OVER it and it worked well though I dont think I want to do something like this for hunting.  The stiffer gloves seemed to give my finger joints some support, enough shooting didnt hurt.

So the question.....

I do have some OLD archery books I need to dig up and start going through for some plans for gloves......in the mean time I thought maybe someone came up with a home made glove that fits very well, or knows of someone who can custom build one?

[AkDan]

I say reinforced stalls thinking nylon pieces in the stalls or an overlay like cordovan, something stiffer.

Was sitting here thinking, what about buying intentionally large and seweing it to size for fit?   Normally a large will fit 2 of my fingers but not the third and an xlarge is to big on 2 fingers.  

I've tried wetting and stretching the hill style glove out to fit that third finger with no luck.

[onewhohasfun]

I have had good luck by adding something to the inside of my glove. Oval shaped pcs. of leather or plastic from a milk jug or a margarine tub has worked well. They stay in there on their own or a dab of rubber cement will hold them. I can pull and shoot up to 10 lbs. more bow weight if my fingers don't hurt. Tom

[vermonster13]

American Leathers Big Shot works well for me.

[AkDan]

I've been eyeing the bigshots....cant get on their website from the work computer ugg!  

Thanks for the idea of gluing things inside, never thought of that one.

[Drakho]

With leather gloves a little bit too small, you can put them in water and then, let them dry completely on hand.

The leather will have a perfect fit (I did this with my BigShot glove and others)

[va]

I sewed up my own using an outline of my shooting hand.  It took a couple of tries before I got the size just right - just a wee bit small.  Then i did like Drakho said.  Got it wet and wore it to bed.  Yes, my wife knows I am certifiably nuts.

va

[LBR]

I tried several things--putting my own stalls in, sending in a trace of my hand (tried it twice--neither glove fit--the second was worse than the first), and a Bateman glove that had laces on the fingers so you could tighten them up for a "custom" fit.

Long story short, I would only buy a glove when I could try it on first.  I'm picky about the fit.  I've finally gone to a Cavalier tab.

If the tab over the deerskin glove is working for you, I'd stick with it.  Probably save yourself a lot of aggravation, and money too.

[tecum-tha]

I build my own hybrid design. I armor mine with little stainless steel plates.
I use kangeroo leather for the body and normally thick cordovan for the fingertip overlays. There are two seams on the back of each finger, so there are no seams between the bowstring and your fingers. All seams are accessible, so an exchange of an overlay is easy. I can mail you pictures, if you want. Let me know your e-mail via PM.
I recommend doing it yourself to get a perfect fit. The first one is always a pain, then for a second one you have your personal pattern...

[Grant Young]

I make my own gloves and use pretty heavy leather for the stalls. I have built a couple with the nylon webbing overlays but found them bulky. I use a very heavy dry tanned cowhide for the stalls and dye them and then soak them in vegetable oil. I build them to fit very tightly initially and shoot them into size after oiling. The fit is critical because I like open ended stalls- you can have a bit more play with closed tips. This is one of mine. GY

[AkDan]

Man Chad, I've been shooting the cordovan tab for a long time now...well it seems that way anyways.  

For some reason it just hurts the joints...getting old sucks LOL!   I can shoot my hill glove (Which fits one finger GREAT, and terrible on the other two LOL!), without any pain what so ever...if I could only get my fingers in farther on the last two stalls.  I've tried the soaking and stretching....even tried over stretching it, it didnt work so well on this glove....the nylon or plastic reinforcement between the leather is no popping out on one LOL!...might have soaked it a weeeee bit tooooo long.

I've thought about the bigshot quite a bit over the years.   Lots of money for a glove I cant try, like Chad I am pretty anal about how a glove fits.  It's the main reason I went to a tab.   I could never find one that fit liked I wanted them too.   I started 20 years ago now (shew I am getting old) with a damascus glove, shot every day, if you saw a kid riding around on a bike with a new at the time howatt hunter recurve around phalen lake MN that was me lol.   I tore glove after glove up on the brass nocks, and I also tore my fingers up.  I did like the feel of it though.  So I'm going to try a super glove hopefully I can track down Ed (ABS) when I'm down his way this weekend.  Atleast it'll get me through the hunting season without destroying my hands.  

How about a source for a small piece of cordovan to use for overlays?  I really like my hill style glove if I could get my middle and ring fingers all the way in.  I've seen some in cordovan but am hesitant as stated above to buy without trying them on..ugg!

Roland,
my email is [email protected]  It's been a long time (2005) since we've chatted.....footed arrow stuff, I still have that email of the jig you sent....You dont by chance have any color pics of one do you?  I dropped the idear shortly afterwards...finally trying to get back into the swing of things as far as building them is concerned.

Again thanks