Everything Mac Posted April 22, 2014 Share Posted April 22, 2014 I was just reading an interesting article which suggests a number of Viking age smiths were left handed. This seems a tad speculative but it is interesting seeing as left handed people are supposed to often be quite creative. So are you left or right handed? (In terms of the hand you hold your hammer in) I'm guessing the vast majority are right handed, but it would be interesting to see what portion of folk are left handed. All the best Andy Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Steve Sells Posted April 22, 2014 Share Posted April 22, 2014 handedness is more cultural than physiological. middle eastern are predominantly lefty. while Europeans are predominantly right. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Glenn Posted April 22, 2014 Share Posted April 22, 2014 Mac, I have edited your poll to include Primary Left handed and Ambidextrous, and Primary Right handed and Ambidextrous. This should help help get better results. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Everything Mac Posted April 22, 2014 Author Share Posted April 22, 2014 Cheers for the edit Glenn. I'm certainly interested to see some results. I had no idea "handedness" was also a cultural thing. Andy Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DSW Posted April 22, 2014 Share Posted April 22, 2014 While I'm a righty, most of the people who I've learned from were all lefties in smithing. It took me quite a bit of time at 1st to recognize this. My 1st instructor made me a template for tongs and I had one heck of a time learning to do them correctly. Then one day I realized he was a lefty and his demo piece was "backwards". Every time I instinctively rolled the piece, I rolled the metal the opposite way he did and messed up what I'd been working on trying to exactly duplicate his work. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
notownkid Posted April 22, 2014 Share Posted April 22, 2014 Certainly is cultural. my X spent a number of years as a small girl in a Catholic Orphanage, she was going to be a lefty but the Nuns made her learn right handed only by tying her left arm to her side for months while she learned to write, even while playing in the school yard. They told her it was shameful to be left handed! She did end up being Ambidextrous. Her dominate eye was left. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rashelle Posted April 22, 2014 Share Posted April 22, 2014 I'm another one who in grade school used to use either hand. Until teachers started making me use right hand only. I now tend to use either hand mainly specializing in certain tasks but then switch off as the first hand gets tired. Though I hammer primarily right handed, every once in awhile I use the left for a short period of time as it'd be the more convenient hand. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nobody Special Posted April 22, 2014 Share Posted April 22, 2014 Righty, and not ambidexterous exactly........but some things I can only do well with the left hand. More like righty for most things, and lefty for a few. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rustyanchor Posted April 22, 2014 Share Posted April 22, 2014 Left handed and left eye dominant. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ironwolfforgeca Posted April 22, 2014 Share Posted April 22, 2014 generally right handed but VERY ambidextrous, more than likely do to my job welding, other than Tig welding it doesn't matter on Tig I have to really think when I change hands LOL & again the foot pedal doesn't mater on smithing every so offen I will work left handed its good brain training & come the day I can't use right hand then I have a back up Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jacques Posted April 22, 2014 Share Posted April 22, 2014 Right handed, but since I write left handed it took me a while to realize I am not a lefty. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ianinsa Posted April 22, 2014 Share Posted April 22, 2014 I'm a leftie(cac handed as my father put it) but once had a friend ask me , '' Do you tilt your mouth to the left or the right whilst threading a needle?'' it's surprising what all is affected by handedness, and just how many tools and implements are made to suit right handed people. ian Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ThomasPowers Posted April 22, 2014 Share Posted April 22, 2014 I tilt so my best eye is at the best angle; not based on my handedness at all. Weren't the Kerr's of Scotland known for their lefthandedness as a clan? (ah yes Wikipedia!) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Charles R. Stevens Posted April 22, 2014 Share Posted April 22, 2014 Righthanded. Cross dominate. But after working as a mechanic and riding and driving I use my left in conjunction. My sparing partner in highschool was a lefty so I learned to fight either way. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Everything Mac Posted April 22, 2014 Author Share Posted April 22, 2014 Very interesting indeed. Oddly enough I should be a lefty but this was "corrected" by my folks at a young age. So now I write, hammer and throw with my right hand. But I am left eye and left foot dominant. I shoot and play snooker left handed. I guess in the grand scheme of things it doesn't mean a jot. I am not surprised the right handers are more common but it is interesting to see a certain amount of ambidexterity. All the best gents Andy Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John McPherson Posted April 22, 2014 Share Posted April 22, 2014 Primarily right handed, but I have trained myself over time to use my left hand more. Breaking my right arm playing sports in junior high school taught me that. Also a measure of humility, zippers and buttons being on the wrong side. Later on, breaking my left arm, then getting my leg dislocated, all before graduation, cemented the deal. I now can get in a welding booth with a student, ask "Righty or Lefty?" and then proceed to demonstrate that way, so that they get it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Frosty Posted April 22, 2014 Share Posted April 22, 2014 Right hand right eye, not a clutze left handed. Frosty The Lucky. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BlackKnight0739 Posted April 23, 2014 Share Posted April 23, 2014 Left handed, right eye dominant. This leads to some interesting situations, like it's more comfortable to hold a gun left-handed, but I can't shoot worth anything unless I do it right handed. I've since learned to be more comfortable shooting righty (not that I can hit anything smaller than a skyscraper either way lol) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RogueRugger Posted April 23, 2014 Share Posted April 23, 2014 Very much not suggesting a change in the survey, but here is a link to the handedness survey used in my other life: http://www.brainmapping.org/shared/Edinburgh.php Just thought it might be of interest to see the variation in how handedness can vary across a wide range of tasks. Personally, nothing is more frightening than changing hands when shaving with a straight razor. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chris john Posted April 23, 2014 Share Posted April 23, 2014 Right hand right eye, not a clutze left handed. Frosty The Lucky. Ono of those lefty clutze too LOL Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gergely Posted April 23, 2014 Share Posted April 23, 2014 Clutze here too. with some level of ambidextrous-ness: pen, knife, hammer, grinder, hacksaw only with left but throwing objects, heavy bags mainly, mouse, scissors only with right hand Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Geoff Keyes Posted April 23, 2014 Share Posted April 23, 2014 I can't find any evidence that handedness is cultural, except in societies that have taboos over eating hands, and to some extent, the horror stories out of the educational system about forcing lefties not to use their natural dominate hand. There is some evidence that the incidence of left dominance in the human population world wide is rising. 1 in 10 is the number usually quoted, but current stats suggest 3 in 10 is closer to reality. There is a simple test for eye dominance. Put your hands together at arms length so that you are looking through a small hole between your thumbs and fore fingers. With both eyes open, focus on a small spot (I used the logo of my monitor). Now close one eye, and then the other, while looking at the spot. Your dominant eye will center the spot, non-dominant will move the spot out of the aperture. I am strongly right handed, my left is useless except for added power. Trying to do martial arts forms first right lead and then left lead, for me, is like having a stroke! I have a friend who is right handed for most things, but left eye dominate, trying to teach her to shoot was really a challenge. My wife is ambidextrous, she can do complex things like spinning and knitting with either hand, and do them well. Geoff Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Steve Sells Posted April 23, 2014 Share Posted April 23, 2014 Geoff, It seems you have a different definition of cultural influences than I do, Your statement of no evidence for cultural effects was followed by 2 examples of such cultural effects, like your statement about taboos of handedness and the educational system. I define that as examples of cultural. We can also learn by example. if we are in a place such as the middle east I already mentioned, where left hand dominance is the norm, then we would have had a higher chance of being lefties than being raised in the western world becuse of such taboos/norms Also a baby learning to eat where surrounded by mostly people eating with their left hands, we would copy their example as they also do with speech. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
horse Posted April 23, 2014 Share Posted April 23, 2014 I am right handed and left eye dominant. I learned this at a relatively early age but paid little attention to how it might affect me. Recently I have blamed this for most of the "misses" in my life I.E. blacksmithing (when I miss my mark) pool, horseshoes, baseball etc. I was interested in Thomas Powers comment about angling for his dominate eye. I never really think about it but seems I might improve if I were to focus on the stronger eye. Have played hours and hours of pool and still get beat all the time. Must be the opposite hand eye phenomenon. Right?? Or I just cant shoot pool more likely Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chinobi Posted April 23, 2014 Share Posted April 23, 2014 Very much not suggesting a change in the survey, but here is a link to the handedness survey used in my other life:http://www.brainmapping.org/shared/Edinburgh.php Just thought it might be of interest to see the variation in how handedness can vary across a wide range of tasks. Personally, nothing is more frightening than changing hands when shaving with a straight razor. I always thought about trying to learn to do the left side with my left hand, but I never felt it was really worth the risk :P so I do the left side backhand and haven't hurt myself yet! I miss having enough time to actually use my straight razor :'( im right handed, but my handwriting is so bad in general, that writing lefty doesn't leap out as being totally out of place! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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