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Bulbous Nocks

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meanewood:
Who has any insight or thoughts on the bulbous nocks seen on arrows in various illustrations?
I wonder if they were wider than the shaft at the end or was the shaft grooved just below the nock to give a grip for the fingers!
Maybe the artist gives the impression that it is bigger unintentionally, he may be just trying to highlight the groove.
What do you guys think?

adb:
I think many medieval illustrations are loaded with artistic misinterpretation. Arrows shooting off the wrong side of the fist, unevenly tillered bows, one limb with a reflexed tip the other not. I don't think they're accuracy is sufficient to adopt certainty. Certainly none of the arrows recovered from the Mary Rose had anything even close to a bulbous nock. The only bulbous nocks I've seen are on Native American arrows, as they used a pinch type grip for release.

meanewood:
Hi adb
Yes, some of those illustrations can be hard to read. On one hand, the detail is good but some of the things shown seem strange!
I'm still working on photos of the Beech bow / arrow set, maybe this weekend.

Thesquirrelslinger:
I thought some Asian composite bow arrows had rather large nocks(that were a little bulb shaped)... and that were able to withstand the shock of the bow.

adb:

--- Quote from: meanewood on September 06, 2013, 02:17:16 pm ---Hi adb
Yes, some of those illustrations can be hard to read. On one hand, the detail is good but some of the things shown seem strange!
I'm still working on photos of the Beech bow / arrow set, maybe this weekend.

--- End quote ---

I just don't think the illustrators where archers, or knew much about archery gear.

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