[English Longbow] Longbow Left & Right hand difference?

R

rgsphoto

Guest
OK I have narrowed down the longbow I want. I have seen one in my local archery shop. It has the arrow plate on the left side, designed for a right hand archer. I shoot left hand, does this matter? If I want one with the plate on the right I will have to order one. What do you recomend? The bow I'm looking at is a "Gary Evans" bow bamboo backed. Is there anything else about a longbow that is handed other than the arrow plate?
 

clickerati

The American
Fonz Awardee
Ironman
American Shoot
I shot provins' right hand longbow left handed at SoCo. No problems. But someone who actually knows something about longbows better answer this question.

Rich, you need a "I'm switching to longbow tell me everything" forum. ;)
 

ben tarrow

Well-known member
left or right

some longbows are designed to be shot just left handed (or just right handed) in that the string is offset to the appropriate side so as to make the arrow closer to centreshot. (so I am told by my longbow touting buddy)
 

English Bowman

Well-known member
It depends on the bow. Bickerstaffe makes his bows handed, Ron Palmer makes them ambidextrous. I'd personally stick with shooting a bow the way it's been made unless I know it's ambidextrous. The arrow-plate isn't just there for show, and if you shoot a bow wrong handed without putting something to protect the wood it will (over time) damage the bow

Daniel
 
R

rgsphoto

Guest
provins said:
If you like Gary Evans's bows then go direct to him and get one made specificaly for you,it'll cost you no extra.
In my experience you can shoot a longbow either handed but if there is no arrowplate then you may spoil the finish on the bow by the arrow rubbing against it.
Longbows are always made so the the string aligns with the centre of the bow,how Bickerstaffe make their bows handed I don't know and for the life of me cant understand how they do, or why.
Anyway I hope your search is succesful and you get what you want.
If your going to SoCo social tomorrow pm me and I'll bring along an ambidextrous Ron Palmer for you to borrow/try ok.
Can't go direct to him Provins, the chap only deals exclusivly with Wales archery now. I will have to excersise a little patience and order one I guess.

Not doing soco unfortunatly so can't take you up on your kind offer. Good shooting all, looks like nice weather.:cheerful:
 

Bald Eagle

New member
Surely a new longbow, if unshot, will take left or right handed archers? Just put an insert of horn on the side of the bow you want to shoot off!
 

English Bowman

Well-known member
Bald Eagle said:
Surely a new longbow, if unshot, will take left or right handed archers? Just put an insert of horn on the side of the bow you want to shoot off!
Nope, as I said earlier it depends on who makes the bow. Pip Bickerstaffe's bows do not have the sting dead centre. For a right handed bow the string will lie slightly to the left of centre, which gives better arrow clearance. So you need to know how the bow was made before you can decide if it can be shot "wong" handed

Daniel
 

jeduffey

New member
I shoot a Welchman Longbow. So does a good friend of mine. Recently, I discovered that my right handed, right shooting friend is actually left eye dominant. He was unsure if he could shoot his bow as a lefty. I called up the bowyer, Gerald Welch, to ask. He replied that his bows are centered and to shoot off the other side, just unwrap the leather handle cover, move the rest and plate, recover. My experience is that any bow that does not have a cut-out site window, can be shot from either side. Of course he also said that he and HH both shoot right handed with dominant left eyes, so go figure.
 

Marquis

New member
I have a Gary Evans Marquis, the sweetest shooting bow I've ever had. a friend of mine has a Corinthian with which he has won several comps his bow has an arrowplate on both sides. He shoots left handed, I shoot right handed. I've fired his bow which is 81lb at 27# and believe me, it shoots good either way!
 

blakey

Active member
OK I have narrowed down the longbow I want. I have seen one in my local archery shop. It has the arrow plate on the left side, designed for a right hand archer. I shoot left hand, does this matter? If I want one with the plate on the right I will have to order one. What do you recomend? The bow I'm looking at is a "Gary Evans" bow bamboo backed. Is there anything else about a longbow that is handed other than the arrow plate?
I'm ambidextrous and if I have a bow that I want to shoot with the other hand a bow I just drop a dab of araldite on the opposite hand to the existing arrow pass. This is a simple way of protecting the wood without going to the trouble of letting in another pass. It will effect the tune of the arrows slightly if the bow is a handed bow, usually meaning they will be slightly too stiff when shot off the wrong hand. I myself am not good enough to notice the difference, but I'm sure at 100 yds an expert would know. Cheers
 

tinkerer

New member
It's got to be best to buy a bow with the arrow pass already in the the right place as adding one would probably invalidate the guarantee, unless Blakey's advice is followed.

As to Pip's bows being 'handed' either left or right, he's probably mistaken and the effect is likely illusory. I think the plane of string travel goes through the centre of his handles just as they do with other bows but the bow twists slightly to accomadate this.

To check this I attached a cotton thread to the top nock of a very 'handed' bow and allowed the other end to pass freely through the bowstring's bottom loop. A light weight ensured the thread was kept taut. I could pull the bowstring and, by lining up the arrow nock and thread, did indeed see that the plane passed centrally through the bow and not by the side of the bow as had seemed to be the case.

This is just one bow and not one of Pip's. If anyone has one of his, or anyone else's, handed bows and feels like doing this quick check the results shouild be useful. Any takers?

David
 

JohnK

Well-known member
Wow. Resurrecting a thread after 5 years and 8 months. Impressive.

Thought I'd contribute anyway, especially as Bickerstaffe bows have been mentioned.

I heard about these left and right handed longbows, tillered so the string was slightly offset one way or the other. A bowyer friend of mine was shown one by the manufacturer, and voiced the opinion that the bow would twist in the hand when drawn and therefore was a bad idea.

A couple of years ago, some other friends of mine went to a talk given by the manufacturer. During this talk he talked about these longbows, explaining that there were a joke on his part.

However, I seem to remember these bows being advertised for some time, so presumably he sold some.

This either means he's covering up a mistake, or he did make these bows as a joke. If the latter, I think I'd be bloody annoyed if I were one of the people who'd bought one.
 
D

Deleted member 7654

Guest
As a bowyer, I'll chip in.
If you are making a bow from a stave, sometimes the natural wiggles will favour it being made left or right handed, in the same way as one limb will seem more naturally suited to the upper or lower limb. Again sometimes the string may tend to sit slightly to one side, this can either be corrected or utilised to suit a right or left handed archer.
The difference is generally pretty minimal and unlikely to make any difference to the bow, it will just shoot smoother from the correct side or maybe need a softer spined arrow when shooting from the wrong side.
The amount of error could generally be corrected by a little judicious filing of the nocks.
Bear in mind the Mary Rose bows had side nocks with the string running diagonally across the bow.
A long bow is so long and so narrow the angles involved are unlikely to effect the bow, just the smoothness of shooting.
Del
 

backinblack

Active member
I've seen the diagonal string thing that Del refers to on a Japanese Yumi that a guy brought down to the club. He seemed to be able to shoot straight enough with it.
 

Yew Selfbow

Active member
I've just taken a look at 3 of my bows that are "handed". One is a Bickerstaffe, one is by the late Roy King and the third is a Buchanan. All three of the bows have the string off set toward the arrow plate on left of the bow by about 4-5mm.
 
D

Deleted member 7654

Guest
I've just taken a look at 3 of my bows that are "handed". One is a Bickerstaffe, one is by the late Roy King and the third is a Buchanan. All three of the bows have the string off set toward the arrow plate on left of the bow by about 4-5mm.
Sounds reasonable to me...
The angle subtended by 4-5mm at 28" inches isn't going to make much difference in terms of twisting in the hand at full draw, but during the loose as the string approaches brace height, it will certainly ease the passage of the arrow around the bow.
Pretty much case proven I'd say, a longbow can be handed.
I don't think shooting it wrong handed will harm the bow, but it won't be as smooth
Del
 

tinkerer

New member
Sounds reasonable to me...
The angle subtended by 4-5mm at 28" inches isn't going to make much difference in terms of twisting in the hand at full draw, but during the loose as the string approaches brace height, it will certainly ease the passage of the arrow around the bow.
Pretty much case proven I'd say, a longbow can be handed.
I don't think shooting it wrong handed will harm the bow, but it won't be as smooth
Del
Hardly proven, Del. In these bows the string appears displaced at brace. There are two explanations; Either the string is indeed displaced to the side, or there is no displacement but the bow rotates slightly about a vertical axis to achieve a balance of forces. If the bow's flat back is pressed against a table then there is a clear impression of a displacement but this depends on the assumption that the string plane is perpendicular to the bow's back (and table). If this is false, then in an English longbow the string plane always goes through the bow's centre(more or less), the bow always rotating to achieve balance and there never is such a thing as handedness. The point of the thread test was to show which idea is right, if you agree that the triangle formed from the two bow nocks and the arrow nock must lie in the plane of string travel. (Leaving aside any sideways movement associated with paradox).

I'm not too sure what happens in flatbows or snaky bows but perhaps you can help me out here, YS as you have three perfect candidates with which to give a verdict. I agree it's not a big deal, practically, but this point comes up from time to time and it would be worthwhile to know if Bickerstaffe, King and Buchanan and plenty of other bowyers had spent their time wisely, or not. David
 
D

Deleted member 7654

Guest
Good point about frames of reference Tinkerer. I always wonder what is a sensible reference plane.
Here's a very 'handed' character bow I made. No torque in the hand as the tips and arrow pass all line up.

I've tested for twist during draw before now by taping a couple of thin spills sticking out from the bow and then observed them as the bow is winched back on the tiller.
Below, a different bow.
Here are spills being used to show the twist on a stave which needed very carefull tillering to get it to draw back on plane, I also used the spills during tillering. It turned out to be arguably my sweetest shooting bow (It's got me my 2 highest field scores)!

I could have taken out the twist with heat, but I enjoyed the challenge of using it in it's natural state.
Del
 
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