newbie mistake with arrow nocks- split

[richpierce]

Today I tried out some shafts of honeysuckle, unfinished, no head opr feathers to see if spine was going to be OK.  I roughed in a nock quickly.  When I shot the arrow, it never cleared the handle and went off to the right.  I did another thinking the nock must have slipped.  3 of them did this then I inspected.  The shafts had split at the nocks.

Must remember to reinforce nocks with thread or something even when testing shafts.

[DanaM]

The School of Hard Knocks eh (pun intended)

[Justin Snyder]

 Its great you learned.  There are several ways to reinforce self nocks.  One is to wrap with thread or sinew. Another is to cut a slice in the back of the arrow, similar to the nock but narrower and glue a piece of hardwood or horn in to reinforce. Then cut your nock the other way. I'm sure there are more ways, but all take a little time. 

If you are just estimating the spine, get a few with known spine. Put them in a clamp or something that will hold them out along a wall.  Hang something that weighs a pound or two from them and mark how far they bend.  (the exact weight don't matter as long as you use the same weight each time.) Now do the same with the unknown shaft and see which mark it comes closest to.  This will get you close enough to know if you want to put the work in to nocks.  Justin

[richpierce]

Good tip, Justin.  I made a primitive spine tester with a 2 pound weight, 2 nails 26" apart, and a few lines drawn on the board with the nails, and got 6 shafts of about the same spine as my previous good shooters of the same material.  Now 3 are split.  Back to the drying/drawing board.
rp

[Pat B]

As Justin said, a simple wrap just below the nock with sinew, thread or artificial sinew will prevent the nocks from splitting. If they aren't split too badly, you can glue them back and add a wrap and they should be fine.     Pat