Q: shape of the horn nocks on ELB

[lleroy]

Does anyone know why the horn nocks on ELB have that particular shape?
I mean, shaped like an abstraction of the head of a horse in a chess game?

[Hamish]

There isn't a practical reason for the shape.  It looks good and is decorative.
Medieval nocks were less elaborate, more of an elongated bullet tip.


Many horn tips naturally have a curve that suggests a horses head and neck. This gets accentuated by various bowyers over the centuries. 
Instead of the abstracted suggestion, realistic horses heads like a chess knight, griffins, or dragons have been known to be carved onto the top nock.

[Del the cat]

There are some daft shapes on some bows, just asking to get broken off.
I keep mine fairly small and even, it only needs to be long enough to allow for a stringer to fit on conveniently.I allow function to dictate form, the lower nock I make more rounded and bulk as it will get bumped on the ground.
The attached pic shows how the stringer groove is positioned so that the stringer will be pulling down onto the wood inside the nock... if a load of horn is protruding and the stringer pulls on that it can be a weak point and potentially fail.
Del
I didn't use the acrylic for nocks in the end... I just tried it for the fun of it. It nicely chows how far the horn protrudes into the nock

[lleroy]

Cool picture, Del.
The see-through is excellent illustration to see how to make the 'real' ones.

[Ringeck85]

(reads along and takes notes) Informative thanks guys!

[JW_Halverson]

Thanks for posting that, Del. Reminds me I need to collect two quality American bison horn tips for an upcoming trip I hope to make!