New Product - Nocks
Silent Thunder Ordnance
Our current nock styles, in order from top left to bottom right: Korean, Mughal Speed, Mughal, Manchu Mini, Manchu, and Ottoman
Nocks, we all need them and we all use them. Typical carbon arrows come with perfectly nice nocks, but ones which are like no historical Asiatic design. Recently there has been a flood of pseudo-Asiatic nocks, ones which vaguely reference a historical design at least in name, but often still are rather lacking in terms of authenticity. Just as an example, historical designs are overwhelmingly radially symmetric not counting the string groove. This was likely practical, as spinning an arrow shaft with a tool or even against one’s leg (as we see Korean fletchers often do) is a quick and effective means for shaping a nock and blending it into the shaft.
We offer 6 styles, of varying levels of authenticity. The Ottoman, Manchu, Mughal, and Korean are all proportioned to the greatest extent possible off dimensions pulled from historical examples. There are necessarily limitations to this as modern arrow shafts and strings being much slimmer, but otherwise are as on-point as possible in terms of form and function. The Manchu Mini and Mughal Speed are homages, altered to fit modern practicalities and sensibilities. In the case of the Manchu Mini it is simply practical, making the large Manchu nock a little smaller. In the case of the Mughal Speed though, things become more interesting.
Mughal nocks were, simply put, MASSIVE. This was to accommodate similarly massive bowstrings. They had little flare at the mouth, but there is a trick: with a sufficiently large nock and bowstring, the target (nock groove) is quite large while the string acts as the wedge to guide itself into place. So, from a functional speed-nocking-perspective, is it more authentic to omit the nock flare as historical designs did, or is it more authentic to provide a roughly comparable target to speedily push the string home? It is an open question, but one which we’ve tried to provide an answer for those asking with our semi-authentic Mughal-Speed style nock.