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Some arrow nock history I found interesting..
In the earlier portion of the last century, the nock material of choice was one of the first artificial plastics- nitrocellulose. The original Middleton Mid-Nox of the 1930’s were made from this potentially explosive material. One of the interesting characteristics of these nocks was they were made one at a time in a single mold, with a total of 6 to 8 molds in use at any given time.
The process was simple, and manual. A small cylinder of extruded nitrocellulose was placed in the mold cavity, immersed in a container of heated oil, and a tapered plunger would be placed over the top of the cylinder. This plug was pressed down into the cavity, forcing the plastic cylinder to form around the nock tang. This slightly risky process (the material would occasionally detonate!) produced a perfectly shaped nock with the advantage that every nock coming from the specific mold was identical. After the plunger was pressed down, the entire die was cooled off, after which the finished nock could be ejected. Obviously, this meant that each and every nock took quite a lot of time to produce, but the superiority of uniform nocks made the expense and effort worthwhile. The nitrocellulose material also lent itself to a tremendous variety of colors and patterns and “marbled” or “sparkling” nocks were quite popular at that time.
Another unique characteristic of the material used was that when the nock required replacement, the archer simply touched an open flame- as from a match or lighter- to the nock, which would ignite and burn so quickly that it wouldn’t damage the wood or aluminum shaft, leaving virtually nothing behind but fine, powdery ash that easily wiped clean.
In the earlier portion of the last century, the nock material of choice was one of the first artificial plastics- nitrocellulose. The original Middleton Mid-Nox of the 1930’s were made from this potentially explosive material. One of the interesting characteristics of these nocks was they were made one at a time in a single mold, with a total of 6 to 8 molds in use at any given time.
The process was simple, and manual. A small cylinder of extruded nitrocellulose was placed in the mold cavity, immersed in a container of heated oil, and a tapered plunger would be placed over the top of the cylinder. This plug was pressed down into the cavity, forcing the plastic cylinder to form around the nock tang. This slightly risky process (the material would occasionally detonate!) produced a perfectly shaped nock with the advantage that every nock coming from the specific mold was identical. After the plunger was pressed down, the entire die was cooled off, after which the finished nock could be ejected. Obviously, this meant that each and every nock took quite a lot of time to produce, but the superiority of uniform nocks made the expense and effort worthwhile. The nitrocellulose material also lent itself to a tremendous variety of colors and patterns and “marbled” or “sparkling” nocks were quite popular at that time.
Another unique characteristic of the material used was that when the nock required replacement, the archer simply touched an open flame- as from a match or lighter- to the nock, which would ignite and burn so quickly that it wouldn’t damage the wood or aluminum shaft, leaving virtually nothing behind but fine, powdery ash that easily wiped clean.
