nocksandpoints

Things a marching along now... even if I wasn't. I got held up for a matter of a couple of weeks due to various doctor appointments and other stuff. However, here we go with the next step... installing the nocks and points.

First a comment on my approach to things. I don't like dealing with too many variables. When I decided to try arrow making, I opted to use only 11/32" shafts, then bought a large supply of my favorite nocks and a large supply of both 125 gr. and 145 gr. field point tips in that size. In future, I may vary the spine and/or material of the arrows I make, but at least for now, I don't plan to vary shaft size. That way, I have my own supplies on hand and don't have to reorder.

When you dip the arrows and hang them, you will end up with paint blops, blips or whatever you want to call them at the nock end. These must be trimmed off before installing the nocks.	Here I've used a sharp knive to trim off a couple of the paint blips.
Now, think way back to when we were spine checking the shafts. I marked the orientation of the strongest spine for each shaft by making a pencil mark on the tip end. Obvioiusly, you couldn't do that on the nock end if you were going to dip. The mark is still visible on the tips as shown here, even under four layers of poly wipe.	I really like two things in my nocks... one is a physical finger reference or ridge, the other is that it be the right size for the shaft. Here I've installed the nock on the first shaft. The fringer reference is aligned with the reference mark on the tip, and will also determine where I mount the cock feather.
Here's my remaining ten arrows, all nocked.	Ooops... I think I moved beyond you briefly... As I mentioned, life got in the way and interfered with the smooth completion of this project. I did want to keep myself involved, and during the delays, I moved ahead and finished one arrow, just to see it done. I proceeded to shoot it six times, and got six straight bulleyes at 14 yards, with no particular tuning or anything. I was thrilled... so much so, I put that arrow in clips above my bow rack and intend to save it, rather than use it. After having broken one shaft earlier, that left me with ten arrows to finish.

Here are the arrows with some points installed, some shafts ready to receive points. It was a bit difficult getting photos of all the steps here, bucause some of the activity involved getting shafts and/or points close to an actively burning torch. Anyway, what I did was use a Bernzomatic torch to melt hot glue and spin a bit on the tips of the shafts. I did all the shafts at once, then moved on to the next step.	Next step, heat the point. As delivered to you, the points are oiled. You must get the oil out. You can clean the inside with acetone or you can heat until the oil burns out, or both. I chose to just heat. Next time i will clean first. I got several of the points too hot. Another good idea is to use a small cone of sandpaper to rough up th inside of the point, which is very smooth. This will give the hot glue a better grip.
I couldn't show all of the next step because it happens fast. Try to get the point hot enough to melt the glue that is stuck on the tip of the shaft, but not so hot it scorches the shaft. Still holding the point in the pliers, start the tip of the shaft into the point, then press it firmly against something. I used my handy piece of board, clamped to the bench top. I had a few of the points too hot, and the burned a nice little hole that I then used to push them into. As you push, hot glue is going to come out. Count to ten or so to give it a chance to cool a bit, then...	cool it for real... plunge the tip into a bottle of water. Now set the arrow aside and proceed to the next one.
I told you not to get the tips too hot... here's why. I don't expect this arrow will last too long before the point breaks off... but now I know better.	Once the points are on, I checked each for alignment, using the little alignment tool I made earlier on. Since I apparently had made good tapers and had seated the points firmly, I didn't have to reheat and reseat any of them.
Final step is to trip the excess glue off with a sharp knife or safety razor blade. Do this carefully so you don't nick the shaft wood!

Okay... you now have a set of bare shafts, ready to fletch. But! Let's do something first...

I didn't get any pictures of this, but I have always wondered about bare shaft tuning. Previously, all my arrows had arrived fletched, so I had never tried it. Now, here I was with ten bare shafts and a wall full of bows of different weights. What an opportunity! I decided to conduct an experiment. It was an interesting experiment, but did it prove a lot? Hmmm..I sent the "results" to the Howard Hill Shooters email list as follows:

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I was going to really get onto the arrows today, but got a late start and have a dentist appointment and just didn't feel like starting the whole fletching job if I was going to have to stop in the middle. so, I decided to take the bare shafts and try some bare shaft shooting, to see what if anything I could learn.

So, what did I learn? First, that the arrows I normally shoot, and the ones I'm building, which, based on the one I finished, shoot about the same as my 1916's, are probably a pretty good match for most of my bows. I have Hills from 60# down to quite light at 27#, but most of the ones I shoot the most are from 48 to 52. The Black Bear at 55 and the Big Five at 60 are exceptions, but I am using much heavier arrows, 2217's in them.

I started out with a 51# Halfbreed and got strong nock right. By moving down in weight to as light as my 41# Wesley, I got nock left. At the extremes of weight, the group would move right and left, but for most of the bows, most of my shots were in the big red center dot. The movement of the nock in relation to weight is very sensitive. I think you could drive yourself nuts trying to really finely tune a Hill this way. Also, the movement varied by bow, even at the same weight... As we know, Hills aren't center cut, and the degree of not being center cut may vary. I can't pin it down, but length seems to also factor in... as does the power curve. For instance, the Wolf and my Tembo are both 48#. The Wolf is clearly faster, and this shows up in the nock orientation in bare shaft shooting. I'm sure that some of the bows I tested, which were tillered for higher poundage at 28" and which I underdraw, hence not getting the same speed out of them as on similar draw weight bows tillered for me, are also performing differently based on where in the power curve I'm hitting. It's all interesting, but I'm glad I didn't dedicate myself to this method of tuning and arrow selection when I started. I'd be on the funny farm by now.

Basically, a year and half of shooting lots of bows and lots of arrows established for me that in aluminums, at the weight of the majority of my bows, I can do pretty well with 1916's... maybe edging higher to 2018's or 2117's for heavier, and lower, like 1716 and 1816 for lighter. In wood, 50 - 55# spine and a large feather area seems to work about the same... at least, the arrow goes into the same group as the 1916's when shot from the same bow. These choices are based on a 28" arrow with a 125 gr. tip, being shot at a 25" draw.

Perhaps as I get more experience and begin to take more long shots, I'll find I need to get more precise arrow matching. I hope not... I shoot too many different bows.
One other thing I confirmed is that I absolutely must design a new arm guard that is full length, soft on top and firm on the wrist. I've mentioned before that my arms are a bit abnormal... very short upper arm bones. Hence, any shirt, sweatshirt, jacket, etc that I buy tends to be very blousey and loose. I've had a heck of a time with string slap on the loose shirt or whatever. I was wearing a soft shirt was especially bad today. I kept trying to open my stance more but it was getting exaggerated. I think an arm guard that confines the fabric on the upper arm, is flexible at the elbow and becomes thicker at the wrist like a normal guard will be the answer. I just have to develop such. I tried the full length guard I bought Ann, but it just isn't the answer.