The subject of compensating for loose nocks, i.e. strings that weren't as thick as the nock needed, came up this morning and I offered to do some photos of wrapping the string with dental tape to get a good fit. I did an example in kind of a hurry and neither the job nor the photos are as good as I would like, but I think they'll work. Putting some dental tape (wide waxed floss) on the string is an old gimmick and generally well known, but the information should be useful to anyone who hasn't dealt with the problem before.
When I do this, I use the tape not only to adjust the string thickness, but to build up the nock itself. The technique works equally well to just do a wrap below a standard brass nock... just takes less tape :^)
I have to admit that the dental floss approach is not elegant... the floss gets dirty and compacts and you will have to replace it from time to time. Since I started making my own strings, i use a different appoach. The bow weights I shoot use a 12 strand flemish string. That ends up too thin for my favorite indexed nocks. Since I'm making the string, I now use 14 strands and my nocks are a perfect fit to the served string. However, I don't really like brass nocks, so I still wrap a nock, except that I use some serving string, wrap a small nock "lump" and then apply a dab of string glue or duco cement. This looks a bit better and lasts longer.
OK... here we go:
Step one is to be sure to have a place to work. I have my archery work table set up with a large "set out" to the front, so I can C clamp stuff to the edge when arrow making. Here I've set the bow on the table edge.
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If you're going to put on a nock, you need to mark where. Use a standard bow square. Where you put your mark depends on how you shoot... for three under I like 5/8" to 7/8". For split, 1/2" is generally a good starting point. You may have to move the nock point as you tune a bow or particular arrows. This is one of the reasons I don't like brass nocks. If you put them on and off a few times, they start to damage the serving. On light colored serving, I generally use a magic marker to mark my spot. This serving is black, so I used a dress makers chalk, which is a handy item to have around, incidentally. You can see it upper right.
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I've marked the 1/2" spot with chalk.
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I want to have the string firm to work on, so I have clamped the bow to the table edge. This is easy with Hills, less so with recurves that have elaborately shaped risers.
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The dental tape.. this is just floss that is wide and flat rather than round, available at any drug store. Be sure to get the waxed kind.
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Pull out and cut off a length of tape. Loop one end. This will go toward the top of the bow. Lay the tail out down the string and get a wrap or two around it to hold it in place. What you are going to do is wrap up toward the loop, wrapping one thickness on the string for the area where the nock will fit, then wrapping two or three layers above that to make a "lump" to serve as your nock point.
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Having gotten a start on my wrap, I stop, holding the wrap firmly, and fit a nock to the wrap to make sure I have an adequate thickness and that the wrap is long enough to accomodate the width of the nock. Note how my thumb is holding the pressure on the wrap. You don't want it spiraling loose.
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I have wrapped a couple of extra thicknesses of tape above the nock... |
I now feed the end through the loop... |
I hope this step becomes clear. I couldn't do it and take a photo at the same time. What I have done is take the tail in my left hand and pull it until the other end that is through the loop is snugged up against the top of the wrapping. Then I apply more pressure and pull the loop and end down into the wrap, burying it. Here you see the point at which that has been done and both the tail and the working end are still there...
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Using a sharp knife or razor blade, pull each tail back toward the center of the wrap, and carefully cut it off, cutting away from the wrap. Be careful not to cut the wrap itself, or the string serving. Work slowly and, oh, yes, did I say carefully?
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Here is a finished wrap. i wish my close up focus was better, but this is what you get... a wrap that is thin at the bottom, to adjust the string diameter to the nock, and thick at the top, to serve as a nock point. An interesting variation on this if you usually shoot three under, use a longer wrap with two "bumps"... one as shown here, at 1/"2, and then, after wrapping on up further from this one to thicknen the string, another up further at 7/8". You can then use the bottom nock for shooting split and the upper one for shooting 3 under to provide a further out point of aim for longer distances... in effect, doing a little string walking.
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I commented that since I can now make my strings the diameter I need, I don't really need dental tape assistance for nocking. However, I still like a wrapped string nock better than brass. Here I have taken a bit of serving string and wrapped 5 wraps wide, then 4 back, then 3 back again to make a nice little nylong nock point. The same techique was used, but, since there is so much less length of wrap to hold the buried tails, I put a dab of glue on. This is actually quite durable.
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This operation took a good length of time due to
the photography. Normally, if I get a new bow or string, I can put a
nock on this way in about 4 minutes. |
NOTE: There is another system for doing this same thing, demonstrated on the 3 Rivers string making dvd, and used by many for handling serving a string. It involves starting the same way, wrapping down to almost the end, and then pulling out more string, moving further out and counter wrapping back to the rest of the serving. What it does is effectively do an overwrap at the end without having to pull the loop back in with the tail. For a wrap as short as we're dealing with here, I much prefer my method. In fact, I don't use the back wrap method on serving either. A string serving is too long to leave a tail clear back to the starting point, so what I do is start the serving wrap, wrap over the tail till it runs out, wrap up the rest of the serving, then, about ten wraps before I reach the end, I slip a looped length of bow string material in and wrap up that until I reach its end, slip the serving end through the loop I have provided and then pull back to bury the serving end. Why do I do this? I don't feel that the backwrap system wraps the ends as tightly as I can do it my way. When I pull a serving end in to bury it, I have to wrap the bowstring tails from the loop I put in around a dowel rod to get purchase to pull them under the serviing. It isn't going to unravel!
Dick