Summary

Horace A. Ford The Theory and Practice of Archery…

Two things are essential to a good arrow, namely, perfect straightness, and a stiffness or rigidity sufficient to stand in the bow, i.e. to receive the force of the bow as delivered by the string without flirting or gadding; for a weak or supple is even worse than a crooked arrow—and it need hardly be said how little conducive to shooting straight is the latter.
Source: Wikisource

Horace A. Ford The Theory and Practice of Archery…

A fair amount of rib should be left on the feather, for if the rib be pared too fine the lasting quality of the feather will be diminished. The three feathers of an arrow should be from the same wing, right or left; and as none but a raw beginner will find any difficulty in nocking his arrow the right way—i.e. with what is known as the cock feather upwards, or at right angles to the line of the nock—without having this cock feather of a different colour, it is advisable to have the three feathers all alike.
Source: Wikisource

Horace A. Ford The Theory and Practice of Archery…

It will be observed that if the nocking-place be too small to fill the nock of the arrow this tendency to spin in the string will not affect the replacement of the arrow; but if the nocking-place be a good fit to the nock, the former must be a trifle flattened, and so communicate the spin of the string to the arrow in the shape of a blow upon the bow. It is not pretended that no arrow will fly straight unless the nocking-place fit the arrow.
Source: Wikisource

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