[Archers] Vermil Period-style Nocks

Fri Jun 29 22:24:58 PDT 2018

 I might also point out that while the arrow in the painting does appear to have a bulbous nock, it is not clear whether it is an applied nock, or the bulbousity is   resulting from the material removed below the nock for barrelling.  The Turks did do 3 piece bulbous nocks on their flight arrows, and self nocks that were bulbous from the barrelling below them. as well as some applied nocks similar to modern glue ons. 

May Your Herds Increase

Naran Numuchi

-----Original Message-----
From: Garth Groff and Sally Sanford <mallardlodge1000 at gmail.com>
To: archers <archers at seahorse.atlantia.sca.org>
Sent: Fri, Jun 29, 2018 9:00 am
Subject: [Archers] Vermil Period-style Nocks

Noble Friends of the Bow,

We often think that period-style arrows have to be self-nocked. Not so among archers from the far east. Applied nocks have a long history with the Chinese and some steppe tribes. But applied nocks also show up in middle ages Europe. Note the nock in this painting of Antoine, Bastard of Burgundy: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anthony,_bastard_of_Burgundy#/media/File:Antoine_de_Bourgogne.jpg . This Rogier van der Weyden portrait was likely painted in 1463 after Antoine won the prestigious archery tournament at Bruges, and possibly shows one his personal arrows used in the tournament.

With Antoine in mind, I decided a few months ago to try the new Vermil "V" nocks from 3Rivers on some of my period arrows. I bought several packages and mounted them on 50/55 pound shafts to use with my 45-pound yew longbow. Since the yew bow died, I have been shooting the same arrows from a 43-pound hickory longbow (with less power and accuracy--poop!). 

The Vermil "V" nocks are said to be based those used by Asian horse archers. They have a rather wide mouth for easy string gather and thus faster nocking. The nocks are made of a creamy-colored polycarbonate plastic that imitates horn or bone. They are available to fit 5/16 or 11/32-inch shafts and are to be glued in place (insert nocks for carbon shafts are also available in both the "V" and "Y" series and might work with bamboo shafts).

The nocks performed admirably, though the nock slot is rather small at the bottom. Since most of us use 14-strand strings with serving at the nocking point, the nock slot is a bit tight for a clean release. I chucked a fine rat-tail file in my electric drill and reamed out the bottoms of the slots just a bit. This made the fit perfect for my strings. If you shoot with an unserved string, or one with less strands, the nocks should work fine as-is.

My only criticism is that horns of the "V" nocks stick out more to the side than most nocks. This makes them easier to break with a subsequent arrow in the same spot. I've Robin Hooded several of my arrows because of this. Polycarbonate might be tough, but it won't stand up to an arrow hit.

While researching for this review, I went to Vermil's web site ( https://www.vermilarchery.com ) and found that they also make an "M" series with shorter horns. These are based on Manchu nocks, and should be a bit less likely to be hit by another arrow.

3Rivers ( https://www.3riversarchery.com/vermil-arrow-nocks.html ) offers the Vermil "V" series in packs of six for $5.99. I noted that the list price from the manufacturer is $9.00 for a pack of twelve, with small quantity discounts for packs of 50 or 100. 3Rivers does not currently offer the "M" nocks, nor do they offer the "V" nocks in large-quantity packages. 

I'm still making self-nocked arrows, but like the "V" nocks very much. I will be trying the "M" nocks next, and you can be sure I will order from the manufacturer (remember, I'm a penurious Scot). I'm planning on shooting my "V" nock arrows at Kings Assessment in July, and might have arrows with "M" nocks at WoW this fall. I will be pleased show them to any of you who are interested.

Yours Aye,

Mungo Napier, Laird of Mallard Lodge  🦆

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