By Larry Wise hink back to the day after the first bow was invented. Can Tyou imagine that first ever Getting Hooked Up archer looking for some different method of holding the bowstring questions so you can give the best ser- ry’s first archer was also figuring out because his fingers were sore? I can vice to your customers. how to position the arrow nock at the see that very clearly and so he invent- There must be a hundred ways to same point on the bowstring. Surely ed a strip of leather to hold the string, hook a release aid to the bowstring he recognized that placing the nock at or the bone ring or some other device. but some are better than others. Years the same string-point would give bet- What he also discovered was that his ago we hooked our release aid rope ter accuracy so he tied a small amount shooting was more accurate and so, directly under the arrow nock. Today of sinew, hair or vine-thread on the today we have all kinds of release aid very few do that any more mostly string. This gave him a consistent ref- devices from fancy five and six part because the nock-styles, stored ener- erence point to which he could attach tabs to machined metal contraptions gy levels and string materials have the arrow nock and, even with his that have dozens of parts. changed and you get the best groups crude device, he could begin shooting One thing they all have in com- by “trapping” the nock on the bow- with a higher degree of success. mon is that they must all be hooked to string so it can’t slide up or down dur- To show you how far we’ve come the bowstring. How they make this ing the power. in the fifty thousand years since then, hookup has a great impact on the This article is an overview of the we are, this very day, tying small accuracy that today’s archers can most common and very effective amounts of cord onto the bowstring achieve. For instance, I’m always after methods of utilizing D-loops and to give us a consistent nocking point! the best groups out of my setup so I nock locators. Which variations of WOW, we’ve come so far, haven’t we? I experiment with different methods of these shoots the best groups on a guess a good idea stands the test of D-loop attachments. Does hooking given bow is something you and your time! the loop directly above and below the customers will have to find out by The only difference in all these arrow nock group better than using actually shoot-testing them. History’s years is the materials being used. nock locators above and below the first archer never envisioned this did Today we use man-made fibers like nock and then tying the D-loop above he? Dyneema, Dacron and Polyester to and below the locators? As a shooter I mention a few. My preference is the have to ask these kinds of questions if TIE-ON NOCK LOCATOR Polygrip material from BCY but others I hope to excel at my game and as a I can imagine that several days are just as popular. The requirement dealer you have to ask these same after the first bow was invented histo- for me is ease of installation and removal, as well as, resistance to wear; ROPE UNDER NOCK: For over fifteen SECOND KNOT: Tie a second overhand years I used this release aid and hook up knot on the opposite side from the first style. It consists of a tied-on ten-knot loca- knot and cinch it tight. Continue tying and tor above the nock and the release rope FIRST KNOT: Begin a tied-on nock locator tightening knots on alternate sides of the directly under the nock. It worked really with a single overhand knot as shown. bowstring until you have either eight or well on Dacron strings and wheel bows. Cinch it tight over the center serving. ten. 73 knot on the opposite side of the bow- string and snug it. Pull the two loose nock-locator ends through the separate one-inch polyester has all of these properties. loop installed in step 5. (See LOOSE Here’s how I install a tie-on nock- ENDS) point locator: Pull the loose ends of this sepa- Locate nocking point with a bow rate loop until the nock-locator loose square and mark it. ends pull under and through knot #9 Tie a single overhand knot above (or 11). The separate loop material this mark and snug it. (See FIRST will pull free at this point and can be KNOT) discarded. (See PULL THRU ENDS) Tie a second knot on the opposite Pull the nock-locator ends tight NOK SET: The metal nock locator ring is side of the string and above the first and cover with fletching cement, not easy to install. I like two over top of the knot, snug. (See SECOND KNOT) quickset glue. Use fingernail clippers nock if I’m not using a D-loop. In this Continue alternating single knots to clip off the loose ends. example there is an Eliminator button under the nock and the release hooks on up the bowstring until knot # nine (or Allow drying for one hour and it’s under the button. eleven if you wish). Do not snug this ready to hold an arrow nock under it knot. for thousands of shots. and below their arrow nock in con- Slip a separate loop of bowstring This same knot technique can be junction with a D-loop as described material (I use Dyneema like 8125 used to tie on ten-knot locators above later in this article. Other archers use because it’s slippery) upward through and below your peep sight to hold it a locator knot above and below the this knot so a one-inch loop sticks out in place. They can be moved up and arrow nock and hook their release aid above the knot and its loose ends down the bowstring if you need to loop below the bottom locator. There hang down over the first eight knots. adjust the peep height and/or flip are lots of applications for this knot Now snug knot #9 (or 11). (See EXTRA strands from side-to-side to adjust idea. PULL THRU LOOP) peep rotation. Many archers tie knot- Tie one more single nock-locator ted locators of different sizes above METAL CRIMP-ON NOCK LOCATOR The little soft metal ring called the Nok Set is a wonderful invention that simplifies a dealer’s work. All you have to do is to crimp the metal ring around the bowstring just above the arrow nock, or above and below the nock, and you’ve established a durable nocking point locator for your customer. EXTRA PULL THRU LOOP: Slip an extra loop of bowstring material (yellow) under the ninth (or eleventh) knot. Tighten the LOOSE ENDS: Slip the loose thread ends ninth knot and then tie and tighten knot through the extra loop (yellow) and pull ten on the opposite side of the bowstring. the extra loop and the thread-ends tight. PULL THRU ENDS: Pull the extra loop until the thread ends pull under the ninth knot. You may have to wiggle the extra loop in order to get it to pull under the ninth knot. Cover the entire ten-knot loca- tor with fletching glue and let it harden for an hour before using. 74 Circle 220 on Response Card THE D-LOOP The most popular method of fix- ing a nocking point on today’s bows is with a small-diameter (2 mm) rope loop tied to the bowstring. The rope used is the same as the release rope used on most mechanical release aids. This rope is made from the same materials as used for tie-on nock loca- tors but is a larger diameter and braid- ed construction. Once again I prefer the braided polyester because of its SPEED NOK: A Speed Nok is a metal nock CINCH KNOT: Tying a D-loop begins with high resistance to wear and its uni- locator with a tab on the under side. The a bead melted on the “flowered” end of form melting characteristic when I arrow nock slides under the locator with the 4 to 5-inch loop rope. Then tie two melt a bead on each end of the loop. the tab in the nock-throat to orient the overhand knots as shown on top example peep sight the same on each shot. Other and pull tight. The lower cinch knot should Regardless of the material used, similar devices include the Speed Loop be tied in the same manner but from the the installation procedure is the same. and the TRU NOK. opposite side of the bowstring as shown Here are the installation steps that I on the bottom example. follow: Be sure to leave a small space, say Select the material and diameter one millimeter, between the nock and bowhunters use a Speed-Nok as their preferred. Cut at least 5 inches for the Nok Sets so the arrow nock isn’t top locator. This little device includes loop. pinched at full draw. Nock pinching a small tab that aligns in the nock- Melt a bead on one end by “flow- causes some inconsistent arrow flight throat each time an arrow is placed on ering” or fraying the end before heat- and some false tuning information the bowstring.