???? on nock height

[acollins]

I am kind of confused on where to put the nock at on my recurve.  I have added a couple of pictures to help explain my question.  when I put my square on the bow I put it just to where it touches and the shelf. the arrow sits just on the front edge of the shelf.  I put a nock a half in higher.  The arrow seems to sit at a pretty high angle (see top 2 pictures.)  I then set it to where the square sits flat on the shelf.  This makes the arrow sit flat on the shelf but drops my nock point down about a half inch from doing it the other way.  Which way should I be doing it.  Where the square just touches the shelf or move the square down to where it lays flat on the shelf.  The bow is a Ben Pearson Spoiler.

please post images no wider than 640 - it's easy to have photobucket do this for ya automatically -  how to autosize photobucket images  - thanx!

It’s either a case of the bow being out of tiller, or, when it was made, it wasn’t tillered and the shelf cut to accommodate it properly. What you see is not unusual with older bows.  Many bowyers now radius the shelf to eliminate that “look”. If you want to shoot it off the shelf, you’ll simply need to build a bump under the material.  Looks like you’ll need at least 1/8”.

I usually place my nocking point at 3/8” high, then, tune from there.  It seems all my bows fall from 3/8” to ½”

[bkyrdshooter]

You need to play around with it some let the bow tell you where to place the nock position. You will more than likely need it up some like in your first two pics. What I have done with some flat shelved bows was to add a square toothpick underneath my self material in the middle of the shelf. This elevates the arrow up off the shelf a little bit and then do you measuring with your bow square from that elevated position on your shelf. This has worked for me. Maybe it will work for you.

[Bill Carlsen]

The way I have found to be the best for me to determine the correct nocking point is to shoot a bare shaft into a soft target from about 10 feet away. A high nock means you need to lower it, and vice versa for a low nock. What you want is for the arrow nock to be straight in the target as you look at it from where you shot it. Then set your bow square on the string so that it is perpendicular to the string and mark the square where the best nock height is.

[Bill Carlsen]

The way I have found to be the best for me to determine the correct nocking point is to shoot a bare shaft into a soft target from about 10 feet away. A high nock means you need to lower it, and vice versa for a low nock. What you want is for the arrow nock to be straight in the target as you look at it from where you shot it. Then set your bow square on the string so that it is perpendicular to the string and mark the square where the best nock height is.

[Rob W.]

I have a pearson deer slayer with a flat shelf. I can't see your pics but mine is 1/2in. above center. I shoot three under. The arrow just sitting on the string looks kinda funny but shoots great!