My young son stepped into the workshop with a smile on his freckled face as big as the dawn. In his trembling hands he held his first homemade arrow. A simple dowel served as an arrow shaft, the whittled point hardened over the gas stove, two guineafowl feathers had been bound on for fletches, and for a nock, he had cut a simple yet effective self nock into the shaft with his own handsaw. A crude little work of art indeed, but for my boy's big world a resounding success!
How many of us can reflect back on those sun-filled carefree days of youth, making our own bows and fashioning arrows from "Khaki boss" stems? And we were all on the Indian's side, right? It also didn't take much imagination for a tree to take on the convincing appearance of a cowboy. Those were the days when boys were men, and rock pigeons were nervous...
In the well-lit avenues of life today our tackle can still be simple. It needn't change much, but it needs to become a true extension of ourselves. By making some of our own tackle we blend in a personal touch, therefore making it somewhat special.
Over the last 10 to 12 000 years man has engineered many different arrow designs, all with a common objective: to match the bow length and weight, be straight and well-fletched, have the correct degree of flexibility and have a tip or point of the correct design to defeat the intended target.
Virtually all arrows, past and present and regardless of materials used, have one common feature and an area often overlooked: the simple but all-important nock. We know that the purpose of the nock is to receive the bowstring, keeping the arrow in place up to the point where the energy of the bow is transferred into the arrow when the archer releases the bowstring.
We also know that making conventional style nocks for wooden arrows can be a quick effortless stroll in the park. Merely taper the ends, glue on your plastic nocks, make sure the alignment is correct and off you go.
Making your own reinforced self-nocks can seem like climbing a mountain compared to the formal method, but trying and becoming familiar with the technique will merely broaden your horizons and expand your options; and options are what traditional archery is all about, isn't it? Otherwise you wouldn't have picked up that bent stick in the first place!
To help you make reinforced self-nocks, you will need the following:- Arrow shaft of 11/32 inch (8,5 mm) or 23/64 inch (9 mm) thickness
- Rulers
- 3 hacksaw blades, taped together
- Small flat file and needle file
- 100-grit, 180-grit, 220-grit sandpaper
- Thin strips of 25 mm x 12 mm x 2mm hardwood
- Washing line peg
- Good quality glue
- Bench
To begin with, make sure your bench vice has some leather strips glued to the clamps. This prevents the arrow shaft from denting.
Lightly clamp the shaft vertically into your vice, leaving about 60 mm protruding. Measure off 25 mm from the end and cut a slot down the centre along the grain, 25 mm deep (Fig.l). The slot should match the thickness of the hardwood strip, i.e. 2mm. If the slot is somewhat narrow, use the small flat file and sandpaper to ensure the strip fits snugly into the slot. Next, glue the inside of the slot using a piece of folded paper to ensure an even spread. Also apply glue to the hardwood strip.
Note: Glue the hardwood strip into the slot with the side of the grain facing upward (Fig. 1 b). In other words, the strips you have cut from a block of hardwood should be cut across the grain to the given dimensions. This prevents the reinforcing strip from splitting with the grain as the arrow is shot.
With the hardwood strip in place, clamp the glued areas in place with the clothing peg (Fig.2). After the glue has dried, remove the peg and file away all surplus wood of the now secured hardwood strip, saving one side that will be later fashioned into a nocking index.
Secure the shaft into the bench vice. Measure off and cut a second slot at right angles to the reinforcing strip, also down the centre, but only 12 mm deep. This cut is done with the three hacksaw blades that have been taped together, yielding a nock slot of the correct width (Fig.3).
Start finishing off the nock by using the needle file and sandpaper to round off the bottom of the nock as well as the edges of the cut slot. Check the fit to the string often, and adjust accordingly with the sandpaper. Round off the tips of the nock with 100 grit sandpaper wrapped over a wooden block.
The protruding side of the reinforcing strip can now be rounded at the ends, serving as a cock feather indicator, or nock index (Fig.4).
When the whole works is nicely sanded, polish the inside of the slot as follows: secure the shaft once again into the bench vice. Using a leather thong, rapidly pull the thong to and from within the nock-slot. This creates friction, hardening the nock's inside and bottom, and smartly finishing off your self-nock to leave a smooth, polished surface.
Finally, varnish the shaft and finish the rest of the arrow. You now have a piece of work with your mark on it.
Making reinforced self-nocks is certainly time consuming, but so is climbing mountains, because we're curious to see what's on the other side.
Maybe part of the reflection of our childhood days awaits us or maybe at least part of our archery tackle can too be like the dawn on a young boy's face.
