I really enjoy Pow Wow and have been posting here frequently as of late. As some of you may be aware, I have been cleaning out my "archery closet" and came across a box(es) of new arrow nocks for wood arrows that were my Dads from the 1960's and some maybe early 70's. These are in various sizes. I remember reading somewhere that these should not be used because of potential of getting bridle with time.
What do you all think?
Nocks ................. A few cents.
Bow .................. A few hundred dollars.
Broken nock 'may' result in a broken bow.
New retro style nocks are available.
Murphy's Law states; "What can go wrong, will go wrong, at the worst possible time."
My thought........ When in doubt, throw it out.
X2 Kokopelli.....too risky
I agree with the recommendations made above. However, in a broader sense, it has been my experience that if i shoot a bow long enough, I will eventually have a dry fire, either from a nock where a crack went unnoticed and later broke under the stress of being shot, or from a nock that slipped out of the string at full draw. There are a couple of things that can help prevent an unwelcome surprise from turning into a disaster.
Inquire about a bow before you buy it. Has it been constructed sturdily enough to withstand a few dry fires without breaking? My experience is that a bowyer who has built a bow with this eventuality in mind will proudly state that, whereas one who has not given much thought to it will hem and haw. Probably it takes a little bit away from performance to build in the extra durability, and if you are willing to accept this tradeoff, then fine.
Obviously, examine all your nocks from time to time and discard any that have incipient cracks. I quit using pin micro-nocks for this reason; cracks were occurring too frequently, but at least I saw this problem coming and managed to avoid having a dry fire because of it.
Don't grip your bow so lightly that it will fly out of your hand if there is a dry fire. The one time I had any obvious damage from a dry fire, the bow flew out of my hand and the riser cracked when it landed on my concrete patio. I have had a few other dry fires when there wasn't any obvious damage, but you always wonder if there was some structural damage that you didn't notice, sort of like old football injuries that don't start causing problems until 20 years later.
I have had some acquire a white powder like substance on the surface. I tossed them. I live in AZ. very dry year round. I have had issues with nocks more than a couple years old breaking on the shot.
...and another negative about old nocks that have been stored for a long time. They usually have a god awful smell that is just about impossible to wash off your fingers when you mess with them. I a'int kiddin'!!! :biglaugh:
I would think it would depend on how they were stored. Ozone damage seems to affect white nocks the worst for some reason.