Nocks Points Glues Bone

I had an E-mail asking about self nocks, I said how I did it, but here's a pic of one anyway. There is tons of stuff if you do an image search for self nocks, all sorts of jigs and stuff, but basically it's down to sawing a slot and opening it and adjusting it with a needle file or similar. I go for a slight keyhole effect which will click the arrow onto the string. A few turns of linen thread whipped on below the nock and sealed with a wipe of epoxy or a drop of low viscosity superglue will seal and secure it.
Talking of Epoxy, I usually use Araldite Precision (AP) for gluing on points, but it is getting stupidly expensive and difficult to find without paying postage. My usual 10 minute epoxy is great for most jobs but doesn't seem to hold on the points, maybe a tad brittle. Anyhow, being a cheapskate I'm trying some EvoStik Control which I suspect may actually be the same stuff as AP and it's less than half the price (£3 on offer in Wilkinsons) It looks, feel and smells like AP, the curing times are the same too. They do it in the tube and the double syringe.

Anyhow, I've been refurbishing a few arrows for the shoot tomorrow. I'd run out of points so I ordered a load of stuff from Merlin Archery. The points look pretty good, the internal taper doesn't go quite as deep as the point I was using, but that can be handy as it effectively lengthens the arrow about 1/4" (handy when re-pointing a load with broken tips). I usually use white and yellow fletchings, they didn't have any white in stock so I've ended up with lime green and sky blue... hmmmm a bit lurid, but wha'eva'. At least they will visible in the leaf litter. I haven't made up any arrows with 'em yet, I'll probably wait and do the full dozen.


I'm taking it easy today, I got out all those fence posts yesterday and I'm walking like a duck today, hopefully I'll have loosened up for the shoot.

While I was doing the fencing I noticed a length of bone on the garden, probably dropped by a fox. I'm guessing its maybe sheep/lamb? I thought it fell to hand nicely and might make a nice handle for an arrow digging knife or some such once it's cleaned up. It's a usefull raw material anyway.