Plastic Nock Question

[John Cholin]

I've been shooting cedar arrows for a while and I am running into a problem of broken nocks.  More specifically how to get the broken nock off the shaft so I can glue on a replacement.  When shooting aluminum arrows I could use a propane torch to heat the nock, let the glue fail, pop off the old and stick a replacement on.  That might set a cedar arrow shaft on fire!  What do you guys do to get the remains of a plastic nock off the arrow shaft when you break the nock?

Thanks for your suggestions.

JMC

[Orion]

I carefully cut it off with a pocket knife, then lightly sand and glue on the new nock.  I place the knife at the base of the nock and cut in a quarter inch or so, turn the shaft a bit and repeat until I've gone all the way around the nock.  It usually pops off about 3/4 way around. 

[M60gunner]

I use my DNA lamp. Flame isn’t much more than a candle which I used for years. I heat it up and twist off with a pair of pliers. I clean up the residue with sandpaper.

[JDunlap]

Same here as M60.... I melt them down just enough to twist off. Sometimes have to use my knife to get all of it.

[The Whittler]

I have used a knife which works fine just go slow. Put nock under the running hot water and twist with a pair of pliers, hey come off very easy.

[Steelhead]

I use really hot water at the bottom of a coffee cup just high enough to cover the nock and use a knife to get it off.Just dont dig into the taper of the cedar.

[Baylee]

I heat up the nock with a lighter staying close to the end then twist off the nock.

[Deno]

I dip the nock into hot water for a few seconds and  twist it off with pliers.  It may take 2 dips but very easy to twist off.

 I never use a knife.     


Deno

[Lehtis]

Leatherman Wave and it’s wavy blade to remove most plastic and it’s file to fine tune the cone.

[trad_bowhunter1965]

Bic lighter and a pair of small needle nose pliers.

[John Cholin]

Guys,

Thanks!  I'll try your methods.  It seems I'm a little too cautious about that cedar shaft.

JMC

[Wudstix]

Thanks for the hot water tip.
 

[Badlands]

How are you breaking so many nocks??

[Stringwacker]

While I'm not the original poster, I have broken the plastic nocks for over 40 years. In fact, I have cracked the handle in several Black Widows due to it. I just think a three under style and fast flight string is prone to cause a plastic nock to break. I do realize others have never experienced a failure....so its a bit of a mystery.

On the other hand, I have only had one failure with a uni-nock and I tend to shoot those more these days.

[Rob DiStefano]

Having built thousands of arrows with plastic nocks over the last 70 years or so, I remember the nitrate ones that burned off perfectly, but the real plastic ones required cutting off with a knife ... no big deal.

For the last few years I build woodies with reinforced self nocks -ahhh!  SO much better!!!

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