Primitive Archer
Main Discussion Area => Arrows => Topic started by: marcelslot on May 11, 2015, 06:31:49 pm
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Hi all
Have been making wooden arrow for Some years now, bit last month found out a new wat to make self nocks. Took a steel nail, heated it in gas flame until bright hot, then let it 'sink' (burn) sideways its way into the back of cedar wooden shafts. Took about 3x re-heating the nail and pushing it slowly into the 'burned in' groove until the groove was deep enough. Nice thing: when at the end (deepest point) of the nock groove, leave it there a little longer and move a tiny bit... You'll end up with just about the perfect geometry for self nocks.
Takes about 2 minutes per arrow, delivers very consistent nock dimensions, and I think the heat hardens the wood on the inside of the self nocks.
Worked outdoor perfectly for the last feb dozens of arrows I made.
As I have not read this method on the forum nor anywhere else on the web: thought of posting it here.
Let me know your thoughts, maybe after giving it a quick try yourself?
Be Well,
Marcel
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Now that you have our attention, how 'bout some pics? ;)
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Now that you have our attention, how 'bout some pics? ;)
Yeah, I can't read! PICS!
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I always start a fire when I use hot steel on wood... :(
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I'm gonna have to give that a shot. I always use a 12" tile saw blade attached to a hacksaw. Cuts them nicely in about 10 seconds but gives a little looser nock fit (my preference). The nail seems like a great idea though!
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Hi all
Upon request: here are some pictures of arrow nocks made in the way described. As said, they're cedar shafts. A red hot steel nail slides through this wood like a knife through butter. I never started a fire ;)
The tile saw method: also used that before. One needs to clamp the arrow tightly somehow, and positioning and straight sawing is needed. Also I always needed to do some filing/sanding of the inside of the nocks after sawing.
With the 'burning in' method described here, I usually only very quickly run through the nock slits with a piece of folded over sandpaper, and the nocks are ready.
If anyone tries this and if it also works for you: let me know. As said, I could not find this method anywhere online...
Since it works so well, this is somewhat strange.
Be well,
Marcel
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Marcel, I'd be sure to put a wrap below each nock for safety sake.
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Marcel, I'd be sure to put a wrap below each nock for safety sake.
Pat: I do put a wrap below each nock. The arrows on the pictures that have none, are not yet finished. Thought to show some without wrapping to give a better view of the shape and surface of these nocks.
Thanks for the advice anyhow.
Best,
Marcel
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I am surprised like you. It seems to be a method that would have appealed to primitive man. Have you tried it with other woods? Again, in the words of Jimmy Buffet " it's so simple like the booga loo it plum evaded me."
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Primitive man didn't have nails. ;) Depending on your definition of primitive of course. If you class your grandfather as primitive, well then maybe >:D
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Interesting idea. Thanks for posting!
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I am surprised like you. It seems to be a method that would have appealed to primitive man. Have you tried it with other woods? Again, in the words of Jimmy Buffet " it's so simple like the booga loo it plum evaded me."
Only tried this with cedar schafts so far. Interested to know if it also works with other woods.
Best,
Marcel
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I've done this before and it works great. Mostly done with ash shafts though. Never tried with cedar myself. Glad that someone else is doing this now!! :)
G
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Good point DC. It is good to know someone else has done this, warpath. Do you remember what spurred your use of this technique?
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What size nail do you use? Do you just find a nail that matches your string diameter?
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Thanks for posting. I will give this a try.
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I have a old bent screw driver grinded down I've been useing for a good dozzen years ago.
The handle will save your hand from the heat and you can put a lot more pressure with a handle.
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It also occurs to me that this technique would replicate the benefits done by "primitives" on the OTHER END OF THE ARROW!!!! Can anyone guess what I am talking about? Heheheh. So easy a cave man could do it!
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It also occurs to me that this technique would replicate the benefits done by "primitives" on the OTHER END OF THE ARROW!!!! Can anyone guess what I am talking about? Heheheh. So easy a cave man could do it!
Wow, great idea! Just guessing: heating a stone point, then let it 'sink and burn' itself into an automatic 'perfect fit' in the wooden arrow ... Then apply pine pitch/other glue and wrapping... Done!
Must be really fast and I see no reason why it would not work
Thx
Marcel
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Marcel, that might work with stone that is not affected by heat (like rhyolite). Otherwise the stone becomes more brittle (heat treatment) or might even blow up. :)
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Slick trick or what eh? Now why didn't we think of that? :) I'll be giving this a try real soon with some shoot shafts I cut last month. Thanks for sharing this buddy! 8) bg
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Bushguy,
I see you're fairly new to the forum so I thought I'd offer a quick tip:
It's not a general practice to revive a thread that has been dead for a year, or even six months for that matter. Notice how the last post was a few days shy of one year ago. It just clutters things up and mixes a bunch of old threads in with the new material. It's a fantastic tip, the red hot nail thing... But it's probably better to observe, admire, take note, and move onto the next thread without a comment.
No harm done! And no hard feelings by anyone I'm sure, but just wanted to give you a heads up on general forum etiquette.