Right wing vs. left wing; a pragmatic thought

[Escoffier1974]

Good morning;

As I would tell my students, "what you are about to read is a convenient explanation that happens to fit the facts".

While I was shooting this morning, I got to thinking about the reasons for using left or right wing feathers, and the fact that left wing is more traditional.  It's the whole superstition of not having an arrow rotate towards the (right handed; this will be important later) archer, so left wing feathers were used.

I think that while that might be part of the answer, the basis of using predominantly left wing feathers is more practical, money.

The archer was the long range and precision battlefield weapon up until about 1800 (more or less).  In the same period of history, those that were literate and could write favored right wing quills, because they curve away from the eye of a right-handed writer.  So, they were prized, and hence more expensive (and also the basis for referring to a political party as being either "left or right wing", but that is a post for someplace else).  Left wing feathers were cheap, since only people of poor standing would use them to write with (and risk getting poked in the eye).

So, if you are a fletcher, and trying to make a little profit supplying the army with arrows, using the cheaper and less desirable left wing feathers is a good way to increase profit margin.

Just a thought.

D

[ishoot4thrills]

    :p

[sledge]

interesting.

my longbow mentor, when i asked him why he only used rightwing feathers, said " i just couldn't associate myself with anything called "left wing".

works for me.

right wing joe

[Traxx]

On more modern bows with shelves and or elevated rest,there is no advantage to either side.NOW...

Shoot an arrow across the hand and see the difference of how the quill rides over the hand.

[monterey]

Ok, I'll go ahead and disagree!    

First off, where is your documentation for the use of left/right wing feathers during the days of the english war bow?  Not saying it is not there, but just wondering where to find this documentation?

As far as the 20th century goes, the left wing feather seems to have been prevalent because turky farmers would clip one wing of their turkys to prevent them from flying.  Since most people are right handed, the clipper was held in the right hand on a longish handle and another pole with a hoop on the end was held in the left hand.  The hoop held the turkey while the right hand clipped the wing.  Therefore creating a larger number of left wing as opposed to right wing feathers.

[old_goat2]

They both(monterey and Esscoffier's arguments) might make since for their respective time frames, I just like how the clamp goes into my right handed bitz better than my left hand one, just seems easier.

[JamesV]

I fletch my arrows straight offset so I can use either, sometimes even on the same arrow with good results. (usually the wife's arrows)

[7 Lakes]

Here is my understanding from the Turkey capital, NC.  

Most of the guys that are hired to go out and cage up turkeys from the house are right handed.  They can drag out more turkeys by grabbing & holding them by the right wing, thus destroying more right wing feathers. You will also find more broken bones in the right wings at Bojangles and KFC.

The abundunce of left wing feathers made them cheaper at one time.