Are you following our YouTube channel at @nowstrikearchery? If not then you would have missed the release of our latest “how to” video where I take you through the process of how I fit horn nocks to our hand made English Longbows. Many of you will know that we make all of our Experience Day bows in house to add an extra layer of authenticity to our brand.
But what is the point of fitting horn at all? The short answer nowadays is that it looks cool! Horn nocks (often made out of buffalo horn) come in all shapes and sizes and after a really good polishing process they can look beautifully shiny in the summer sun.
The actual answer is that historically they did serve a functional purpose. Early bow finds in archaeological sites around Europe show that flat bows (primitive) through to Viking/Saxon bows (e.g. the Hedeby bow) often had the string groove cut into the wood itself rather than being reinforced with another material. However this starts to change in the Medieval period, as a result of an arms race between arrows and armour quality, the English longbow became even more powerful with draw weights easily reaching 150lb plus! The tension placed on the string can result in it acting like a saw and cutting through the soft yew wood that the bows were often crafted from. The simple solution to this problem is cow horn! A simple drilled out cow horn tip was placed on the ends of the bow and the string groove was cut right into it and hey presto, a bow that will last! Unfortunately there are not many examples outside of artwork but you can see a single survivor in the Mary Rose museum.
In later history where waterproof glues became available, laminated bows made for sport also used horn tips for nocks. Instead of protecting the wood as before, it serves a different purpose and instead it helps seal the tips of the bow and thus protecting the glue lines from the shock of being released. Laminated bows are incredibly strong if made correctly and adding horn nocks to the tips certainly acts as a failsafe.
The horn nock on English longbows has certainly become iconic and nothing quite says “Medieval archery” more than these. If you would like to learn about the full process of the craft side then be sure to check out the video. If you would like to learn directly from us then this is something that we teach as part of our two day Laminated Bow Making Course.