Primitive Archer
Main Discussion Area => Arrows => Topic started by: CherokeeKC on February 25, 2011, 12:37:07 pm
-
Does anyone know which end of a shoot Native Americans used for the nock end? Also, which way do you all put the taper direction on your shoot shafts(skinny end for nock?)?
I know for cane/bamboo the fat end is the point end and the skinny is the nock.
-
When I make shoot and cane arrows I use the butt(big) end for the point. This give you a weight forward arrow plus the taper going back to the nock makes the the arrow more spine tolerant.
I believe some native cultures used their shafting this way also but others used the butt end for the nock and carved a bulbous nock for their pinch type grip.
-
In the majority of cases, the fat end of the shoot was the nock end. Native American arrows are barrel tapered with a bulbous or expaning nock. You can't easily carve a bulbous nock from the skinny end of the shoot. Some people like to think that some NA nocks were expanded by splitting the nock and then bending the wood out to form a Y shape. It works, but all the nocks I've seen on NA arrows were carved.
Also, there is a bit of folklore behind NA arrow design. Many believed that an arrow "likes" to be shot with the skinny end pointed toward the target, similar to the way it grows (and points to the sky). The same concept applied to bows: the bow's top end was the end growing toward the sky. Some cultures added hair or facial carvings to the top end of the bow as well.
-
I have made them both ways. I refer the butt end (grew loser to the ground) to get the point. I've made them the other way if the nock end is too narrow for a self nock. Jawge
-
Thanks guys!