How to tell a Right Handed Bow from a Left Handed Bow

How to tell a Right-Handed Bow from a

 Left-Handed Bow
 by Larry Vienneau

never trust a seller, they often know nothing about archery. This photo shows that both the model and photographer are clueless when it comes to using a bow. 

Most sellers are clueless about the bows they are selling. Above is an example I found on eBay, and it is being used by many archery sellers from Asia, the mistakes are numerous, but the biggest is she is holding the bow upside down and if she loosed her arrow then she would hurt herself. The photographer also posed the model as if she was a left-handed shooter.
Roughly 10% of the population is naturally left-handed and about 18% of the right-handed population is left-eye dominant (my situation). However, archery manufacturers have never kept up with this trend. During the 1950s many manufacturers made dual shelf bows that accommodated dexterity, but some manufacturers ignored the left-handed archer completely making only right-hand models.  In the late 50s and early 60s, manufacturers began producing both right-hand and left-hand bows, sometimes charging more for the left-hand version or requiring the left-hand bow to be in a special order. As a result, there are far fewer good vintage or used left-handed bows available today. A typical search on eBay for used recurves results in approximately 300 auctions of which 25 are for used left-handed bows, less than 10%. A search of new recurves on eBay results in about 1,700 auctions and a search for new left-handed bow results in 160, again less than 10%
So when I do a search for used left-hand bows and 4 out of the 25 available turn out to be mislabeled, I get frustrated. One of my pet peeves is a bow seller on eBay who can’t tell the difference between a right-handed bow and a lefty. What is even more aggravating is an ignorant seller who is too to stubborn take suggestions or comments. Then there are the sellers who have been shooting their bows backward for years. One seller actually said, "What difference does it make?" The important issue is safety. A bow strung backward is much more likely to break because the backward limbs are not designed to take stress. There is also the likelihood that the string will slip off during the full draw. Both of these are dangerous to the shooter and spectators. 

this bow could break or the string slip and injure the child

 

If you go online there is no shortage of examples of people shooting backward strung bows. 

 http://torontoarchery.blogspot.com/2013/12/funny-photos-of-people-with-bows-strung.html

this fellow is supposed to be an archery instructor, he has his bow strung backward

here he is instructing his student, please note that all of the bows are strung backward

shooting incorrectly strung bows is dangerous.

 Hollywood has added to the confusion about what is a properly strung bow. Here is promotional material widely distributed for the epic movie "Exodus. Gods and Kings" Christian Bale is holding a horsebow strung backward.

 

how a horse bow should look when strung

The Disney movie "Brave" was a wonderful children's movie about a young girl who challenges the traditional role of girls in medieval England. It also generated a lot of interest in the sport of archery for young girls. Unfortunately, at the film's premiere, a red-haired girl was posed with a backward-strung bow. I guess they thought no one would notice!

this is a properly strung bow

And of course, there are plenty of photographers who pose their models shooting bows incorrectly.

she has no idea what she is doing.

I guess they thought no one would be looking at the bow.

ditto

 

the onlooker is waiting for the string to pop off and wondering why does she not have an arrow on the string??

no caption needed

When searching through the many bows for sale online I often see bows strung backwards.

two backward-strung right-handed bows, they appear to be left-handed

 Some people do this internationally believing it is a safe way to store a bow, while other people do not know any better, thinking this is how a strung bow is supposed to look. I guess if this was 1965 that excuse would work but today anyone with the slightest interest in archery can go online and look up how a recurve is supposed to be stored or strung. So today there is absolutely no excuse for ignorance, it just takes a little initiative to do a little research. 
 

Shooting Right handed, bow held with left-hand                                         shooting left-handed, bow held with the right hand

The biggest misconception people have is they believe a right-handed bow is held in the right hand. A right-hand bow is actually held in the LEFT hand and drawn back with the right hand. Likewise, a left-hand bow is held in the RIGHT hand and drawn back with the left hand.  The drawing hand is the factor that dictates whether a bow is right-handed or left-handed. 

two nearly identical Ocala 14A bows. One is left-handed and the other is righthanded

The problem is that ignorant sellers often have their bows strung backward so that a right-handed bow appears to be left-handed. I once had a long exchange with a seller who insisted he was selling a left-handed bow (right-hand bow strung backward) I sent him a photo of a guy shooting a bow strung backward and he responded that is how he shoots. 

lefty strung backward.

I photographed one of my son’s right-handed bows strung backward (lefty) then I strung it correctly (righty). Needless to say, he sheepishly admitted he had been shooting his bow wrong for years.

I usually send these sellers the 3Rivers Archery YouTube video; https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B4pHS_4EU7g

left-handed bowstrung, rest on the right side of the bow                                                right-hand bowstrung, rest on the left side of the bow

Most sellers are very thankful for the help and will change their listing to correct the dexterity.

If you find a seller who insists that the listing is correct, send them this link.  
http://shakespearearchery.blogspot.com/p/blog-page_24.html

© Copyright, Larry Vienneau Jr.

All rights reserved.