Some months ago I made a post asking about denim finger tabs, and said I’d try it out and make an update. I ended up forgetting, especially because I’ve been spending less time online (humblebrag, because I’m proud of it). Also, I only went to the club about once per week, and had to skip a few weeks.
Anyway, here’s my experience.
My club also had some old/used leather tabs that you can borrow, and I used them a few times to compare. The thing about the denim tabs is that they are kinda thin by default. Even if you double layer (which is easy to do with most denim materials by just bending it in half), they are still much thinner. Another issue with denim is that if you just cut it, it starts fraying at the edges and falling apart very easily. An easy way to solve this would be stitch/sow the edges; however, the stitch also adds an imperfection (becomes less smooth) to the tab. I’m too inexperienced to say how much it affects the release, but it’s worth mentioning.
In short, they are viable but require more craft work than just cutting a piece in the right shape (layering, and stitching). Someone also mentioned canvas, and I’m thinking of trying that sometime later. For now, I’ll just keep borrowing the old tabs.
Edit: Also, for some context, I’ve been shooting recurves in the 25-32lbs range.
Did you flip the denim tab inside out after stitching? Or wear it with the stitching on the outside? Do you happen to have a pic?
I think I did take a picture at the time, but I can’t find it (it was too long ago), but the stitching was on the outside.
Edit: I guess in this case there was no “inside or outside” because since I bent the material in half to make it double layer, they had the same texture and everything. But I did use the stitching side as the outside. Maybe not very smart in hindsight, but I think I did it because it was just more comfortable to hold.