Here's some pictures of my first thumb ring. Now I can work on my thumb draw and not rely on a mechanical release (It didn't make me feel very traditional let alone primitive). I made it from pine and stained it with dark stain, then finished with polyurethane. I didn't want to use bone, horn, etc for my first since I never made one before. I wanted something I could more easily work and less sad if it broke. I was a little worried about its strength but tried to make it so the weight bearing portion's grain was perpendicular to the load. I also left the walls of the actual ring thick for more support as I could see them being the most likely to break. Turns out it's strong enough. I haven't had any problems and loosed 50 arrows so far. Works like a charm. The angle is a little too steep for my liking but is easily enough accounted for. I actually like the look of the wood. When I make another I want to make it from a real hard exotic wood like ipe, bulletwood, ebony, bloodwood, or what have you.
