Off hand Bow making

[Buggs]

I'm a righty and have always found it challenging making lefties. In fact I almost never make them because I don't feel like I'm able to test them throughly. I can swing draw left up to 50#, but my release is terrible.
Not being able to make a good comparison, leaves me wondering if they are substandard.
Anybody else have the same experience and figure out a good workaround?

[Appalachian Hillbilly]

I have a request for a dual shelf longbow.

Going to give it a try at 30lbs.

[Mad Max]

Shoot them right handed with a thumb ring or just your thumb .
Thumb ring shooting the arrow goes on the opposite side

[onetone]

I second Max’s thumb ring suggestion. Thumb release takes some getting used to after a lifetime of shooting fingers, but imo it is a superior release. Joel Turner seems to favor it. The point is it is a way for a righty to test a lefty bow. My wife is a lefty lady so I have been making backwards bows from early on.

[Buggs]

I've not tried a thumb ring. My main problem is less muscle coordination and control with my left arm. Learned something new today, did not know thumb release was an opposite side setup
It's a good day when you learn something!

Now I have a new project, making a thumb ring!

I have though about making all lefties dual shelf. Don't know how the lefties out there feel about that?

[jess stuart]

I also feel uncomfortable shooting left handed.  I can usually get close to the mark but it feels strange.  It's difficult to knock an arrow or put my tab on.

[Jeff tech]

I have made four lefties straight longbows. I've tried shooting left hand and it ain't pretty. The grip is not much different for my style of longbows. But I do have a couple friends. One it can shoot left or right and his damn good at it. And the other one could shoot either or it isn't too bad at it. Like I said I've tried it and an ain't pretty. Just can't do it. Now if it was building recurves with more of a high risk grip or something of the sort I would have to say no way. JF

[Buggs]

Same here, no way I could pull a recurve lefty. Not even with a swing draw!

[Stagmitis]

I think that if the tiller is right and the string is perfectly aligned down the middle of the limbs/handle there should be no difference-

[Jeff tech]

I think that if the tiller is right and the string is perfectly aligned down the middle of the limbs/handle there should be no difference-

you are correct. But it all comes down to the grip. That's why I only do longbows. With a straight or dish grip on my lefties. All four of my Lefty guys love them. 3 to the same guy. JF JF

[Kirkll]

Just for the sake of testing a bow while building it, I have no issues shooting left handed at all. But I haven’t spent enough time with it to get proper alignment at full draw. It seems really uncomfortable after shooting RH so long.

After that Avatar movie came out, I played around with flipping my string hand upside down on the string like they do on that film. Besides the fact I couldn’t keep the arrow on the shelf without holding it with a finger, I really liked the feel of the draw with my hand in a thumbs down position. It Reminded me of using a back tension rope release I spent a lot of time with years ago in competition.

I tried this upside down hook on a LH bow shooting RH just recently and it worked fine keeping the arrow on the shelf and it was easier to draw a 55-60 pound bow. That’s where I struggle most shooing left handed, is getting heavier draw weights back smoothly. I never got into a swing draw habit. I use the rotational draw technique.

Accuracy wise… I think with a bit more practice I could easily shoot left handed as well as I can right handed, but I seem to do better with a slight cant and an open stance shooting off hand LH.

Try that Avatar string hook on a lefty shooting right handed some time. It’s kind of fun.     Kirk

[Stagmitis]

Your'e correct too Jeff!

I only build Hills and with a properly shaped grip they can get scary accurate 

[Kirkll]

I've always had my best luck shooting a Hill style bow using somebody else's hand.


Couldn't resist that one guys.... all in fun.    Kirk

[mmattockx]

I only build Hills and with a properly shaped grip they can get scary accurate 

Pretty much every bow is scary accurate, unless seriously defective somehow. Put it in a shooting machine and it will put one arrow on top of the other all day. It's the loose nut holding onto the bow that causes all the problems.


Mark

[onetone]

That’s a good point to remember!