knock fitting to string

[codger]

#7214

I have found that filing my knocks so they dont hold the bowstring too tight appears to make my arrows fly better and possibly faster i have not confirmed that with a chronograph though. Ive experimented with this generally when i whip up a new dozen arrows and they just seem to shoot better for me could just be me once i flei the knock out a bit. I have installed strings made by the same manufacturer on the majority of my bows so the fit is very close on the bowstring from bow to bow. it also seems to make the spine weight of the shaft less critical switching from bow to bow of various weights and i shoot Cedar from all my longbows just curious. And actually i had this pocket on my quiver made to hold a file so I figured if im going to carry it around i might as well put it to work. i realize the diea was too use the file to sharpen broadheads but i very seldom shoot broadheads and usualy use a sharpener on them.

[Doc Nock]

#59370

You shoot wood and I recall those nocks being far more substantial that for Carbon, so filing should work.

Over the years, several top shooters have told me repeatedly that more tuning problems come from tight fitting nocks on the string than other issue.

[David Coulter]

#59458

I hear mine up for a count of 10-15 in boiling water and then shove a flat piece of steel the width of my string into the nock. I might even work it back and forth a little to open it up a bit. It works fine and I never had trouble with a nock failing after being heated like that. dwc

[Stephen Graf]

#59625

I usually have the opposite problem.

After shooting the bow a bunch, the serving wears down so that the nock won’t stay on the string. Then I have to break out the dental floss and build the serving back up…

[Doc Nock]

#61008

Steve,

I just went thru a bunch of correspondence and back and forth with a top string maker around this very issue.

What I learned thru his experiences and my challenges was that it would seem the tighter a string is stretched when serving, the more stable the serving.

Additionally, the tighter the serving is wound (tension) the more stable and smaller diameter the serving will be.

I’ve always ended up serving my own strings… to get good nock fit… and served them pretty TIGHTLY. (ie, lots of tension on the serving string/tool)

I did a few backwards to the way the string was twisted which resulted in the serving opening up until I learned that was just dumb! 😯

Since then, I’ve found that my serving NEVER compressed to create a looser nock fit over time.

Watch- now that I posted that, it will happen on my 2 new strings I just served! 😀

I’m really beginning to believe that this tension on the string and on the serving, really is important, fwiw.

Oh…fwiw, too, this string maker shared he took a dozen new popular brand nocks, and measure the “throat” he found variance over several thousands among the 12! Talk about challenges to nock fit!:shock::roll:

[Stephen Graf]

#61437

Thanks for the tips. I serve strings after they are on the bow, so that’s all the tension I can give ’em. It aught to be enough as the string will never see more tension than that.

And I quit using serving tools because I found I could serve it tighter by just wrapping by hand. It is a pain, but it gives a better wrap in the end.

But I’ve had the problem even before I gave up the serving tool. And I am sure it is the serving actually wearing and here’s why: If I nock the arrow 90 degrees to how you normally nock the arrow (meaning sideways), it clicks on like you would expect it to. That tells me the serving hasn’t warn on the front and back, just the sides.

I used to buy strings, and they did it too… I figured everyone had this problem.

[Doc Nock]

#61497

I don’t want to get in trouble here being new so I won’t mention the string builder by name to avoid advertiser conflicts…

This guy uses hydraulic stretcher and has recorded how much poundage before a given strand of a given material will take before it blows… he knows how much his chosen type string material stretches so builds them that much shorter, stretches the blazes outa the string, then uses vibration harmonics to settle the strands…then he serves.

I don’t shoot heavy bows, but want a “light tap” to drop the arrow off the string when pointed at the ground.

I admire anyone who can maintain the amount of tension I use on my serving tool, while serving… but hey, I’m old! 🙂

I use BCY #62, I think… not as hard a finish as the stuff my string maker builds, but his servings are thicker diameter material, with teflon tape wrapped under and it was just too tight on my nocks. He uses the same nocks and goes to the throat (hole at bottom) fit and I go for the “ears” to fit.

At release, I NOW learned (where does Trad technique learning ever stop?)that if the throat is loose, the arrow can slip down at the moment of release and totally change where the arrow will hit or how it will fly—naturally.

3 very good shots and one bowyer now told me to use 2 tied on nocks so that can’t happen since I like a looser nock fit on my string. Arrow stays on pointed down, but just a light tap and it comes off.

Just some stuff in the front of my mind after a few weeks of constant questioning and learning new stuff. Sorry to go on… :shock::roll:

[Ralph]

#61790

Hey Doc, I make my own strings and I too pre-stretch only I have a rig I made using chains and a turnbuckle. Think it was on here once upon a time. I know for my strings of various materials and #’s of strands I’m using as to how many strands of synthetic sinew to use under my serving in order to fit my nocks. I serve the sinew for about an inch on either side of where the nockset will be (so my bow square will not be going on string cockeyed) and then serve normally over that.. I have a happy medium of “snugness”, snugger for ‘classic’ nocks than for the nocks on carbon arrows. The throat on the carbon nocks allows the arrow to move up and down on the string and I also discovered that the second nock set under is a cure for that problem. Works for me. Hope this is as clear as mud.

I only make strings for 2-3 friends and they know how to and prefer to serve the string themselves so that takes a chore away from me. The third “don’t know nothin’ ” so I just go to his place and set it up for him. Easier than doing it twice.

Ralph

[Doc Nock]

#61809

Thanks for that bit of insight!

I know the old Mercury Nocks freaked me out when I shot wood as they’d often come off and cause near dry fire… went to Nirk (?) I think…

Been into carbon since and not looked back.

My string maker emailed me the following in terms of a comment I made about trad archery might seem like a simple stick n string, but there is a lot of variables. His reply:

Actually, there is nothing simple about the physics of traditional archery. The mechanics are very simple, but the physics require quite a bit of knowledge to get it right.

I thought that was rather profound!:wink:

[Ralph]

#61818

Reese Field was the mentor of many here in the panhandle, teacher of the makers of both Great Plains and Yellowjacket Longbows, a dear friend to my wife and I and teacher to me, put the same thing in not so eloquent words but saying same, “Shootin a longbow is simple but nobody said it was easy”. That has stuck with me for many, many years.

[Doc Nock]

#61838

Ilike that one, too… he nailed it in simple “trad” language! 😀

Thanks for sharing your input. Every time I turn around, there is a new “wrinkle” to this tuning and getting top performance out of a simple stick n string that just amazes me.

Other day, ruminating on the past weeks’ lessons, I started to thing that those guys with wheel bows, gizmos galore, tools to the hilt, actually might have it easier… LOL

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