Lilhunter

Anyone use them? how to get them straight? I was going to make a jig tomorrow for a hard wood nock, never could get the blasted things cut straight. Was thinking of tryin a reinforced nock also.....dont have access to horn so figured I would use wood for now. Cant see any sense in doing it period if I cant get them straight though LOL!

Grey Taylor

I had someone loan me a Dremel table saw and the little thing is just the ticket for getting everything straight on self nocks.

For horn reinforced nocks I set the blade and fence up to cut slices of water buffalo knife handle slabs the same thickness as the saw kerf. Those will be the pieces I use for the reinforcement. To make the cut they'll go into I set the blade heighth to match the depth of the cut (about 1&quot and the fence so the cut is right in the middle of the shaft. The actual cut is made by plunging the end of the shaft down on the saw blade while holding it against the fence (did that make sense?). The shaft is held straight up and down and this cut is made in line with the wood grain.

After glueing with epoxy and clamping the horn I do the nock cut in a similiar maner but have the blade adjusted for the nock depth. The fence gets set so I plunge in one cut, turn the shaft 180 degrees and do another cut. This gives me a wider than kerf cut that gets adjusted to the proper dimensions and shape with small hand files and sand paper.

Using this method I get a nice uniform nock that looks and works great. If I'm not using the horn reinforcement I wrap the bottom of the nocks with fishing rod wrapping thread before I apply gasket lacquer. The lacquer builds up in the nocks but it's really easy to remove it with a toothpick after all the coats are done before it's really hard. After the rest of the finish sets up hard I finish clean the lacquer out of the nocks with the small files for the perfect string fit.

Sounds complicated but it's really not too difficult. But it is time consuming.

Edited by - Grey Taylor on 01/05/2002 09:25:54

Lilhunter

think I grasped it. Will have to fart around. Got a dremel but not a saw blade for it (I think LOL) I do however have a bandsaw and a table saw....I'll see what I can come up with..thanks!

Grey Taylor

A band saw would be even easier because you can lay the shaft on the table and get good uniform cuts rather than have most of the arrow waving around in the wind. I just don't have a band saw.

Because the blade on the band saw is so much thinner than the one I'm using you can make more than one cut to widen the slot as necesseary, just be sure to measure twice and cut once; that wood is horrible hard to put back on once it's cut out.

If you need links for buying the horn let me know. I got mine from a knife supply outfit. It comes in perfect slabs that were a breeze to cut up into what I needed. The buffalo horn looks way too cool when it's all polished up and the finish is on. One knife's worth will do a lot of arrows. They also have micarta and it may be even cheaper.

Lilhunter

thanks for the info. I am planning on using wood for now as I have some great looking stuff just for doing the reinforced and the hardwood nocks. Will see what I can get done this weekend....thanks again!

Grey Taylor

A good hardwood that constrasts with the shaft wood will look great. I made some ash shafts with the horn and just left the whole shaft natural color, no stain. They look incredible.

Good luck and see if you can post some pictures when you're all done. I'll try to get my pics scanned soon.

Lilhunter

will do!! Thanks again.

Lilhunter

Hey Greg, Here is one. Cant remember what the wood is. I was going to use it for footing practice, unfortunatly as of this second I am still making the dern jig, actually ordered a part and it hasnt arrived yet.

Anyways here is a reinforced self nock. I think I like the looks of the Hardwood/horn nocks better (I think thats what they called the ones with the V of hardwood/horn inserted to the nock end of the shaft) then taper it down to 11/32. I just might be taking ya up on that horn offer <img src=icon_smile_wink.gif border=0 align=middle>! Let me see if I can come up with that jig as per TBB #3 to do it. I got the band saw up and running although I think the blade is both a little loose and also a little 'rough cutting' for this kind of work. Man power tools are nice!

However as much fun as it was I sure need to make some kind of nock jig first cuz dawgnubit my stinking selfnocks STINK! LOL....talked to Lance Coleman on the issue and he returned my email...looks like the jig he explaind is similar to the one that Ted sells and also the one in TBB #3...well here is the pics. I dont have a fence for my bandsaw so I made due with my arra drying rack wood LOL! Whatever works right. It was a little crooked and I didnt catch it till after all was said and done...oh well, chalk it up to experience!

Grey Taylor

Heck, I think that's a perfectly respectable nock. You done good!

I hadn't thought of the band saw blade being flexible, you can tell I don't have one. For a fence can you clamp a piece of wood on the working surface? The inset does look like it's a wee bit crooked but it's certinly acceptable. I'd like to say all of mine are perfectly straight, but...

Doing these things with jigs and hand tools might make them more accurate, at least you don't have to worry about cutting what you didn't want to cut every time you burp.

Congratulations!

Lilhunter

I dont know if its the flex of if the bandsaw needs some adj..probably the latter as it is brand new (an xmas present for doing a cedar strip kayak and also footing arras). I did the clamp a piece o wood to the table and dawgnubit if it wasnt crooked LOL. My square wasnt big enuf to get it perfect....oh well it was a learning experience..maybe next time I will line it up with that slot in the table, it sure will be closer then what I did <img src=icon_smile_big.gif border=0 align=middle>! My nock still needs some help!!! I am thinking of making a jig to cut them out. Steve Hohensee had given some info on a type of 'round' file. It fits in your hacksaw and looks like it would tear really bad like on cedar. I did play with it but it cut so fast I couldnt get the dern nocks even close to straight!!! Need to do more experementing, in the near future hopefully I can get it tweaked out so I can start shootin some funky footed barrel tapered, hardwood self nocked, with some of Lance Colemans style paint job! That ought to get me pulling out what little hair I have left and keep me well busy past the tentative start date for that Kayak!!! (still not sure but I might do a cedar strip canoe first, got 3 guys all talking diff info, 2 on kayaks one on a canoe..go figure eh LOL).

Any tips to get that dang nock cut straight? I plan on trying a jig like the TBB #3 has but figured it wont hurt to ask...learned not to make the same mistakes others have, kinda saves the skin on my head from being ripped out <img src=icon_smile_big.gif border=0 align=middle>! I will post what I can when I get there....Thanks again

the crooked nock man
Dan <img src=icon_smile_wink.gif border=0 align=middle>