Straightarrow

The average guy doesn't need to press his bow too often. In fact, the average guy doesn't work on his bow more than a couple times each year. If you're average and want to save money, there are many items you can build yourself or buy a lowend model. For a bowpress, the small portable models like the Bowmaster, are hard to beat. They work fine, though a bit slow. Best of all, you can buy one for less than $40. I made mine for about $4.00.

I happen to tune lots of friends bows, so it seems I'm always working on a bow, yet I don't own a center-shot device, a bow square, laser tuner or any of that kind of tuning tools. I get it close by eye, then put a shot or two through paper, then I group tune at various distances. I do recommend building a paper tuner. They are cheap and easy to make, and useful to "get it close". This method is quick, easy and accurate.

As for building arrows, if you're only building a few dozen each year, then any of the cheaper fletching jigs will work fine. When buying fletching, choose charefully. Most purchase 100 packs, and you want the best so you don't end up with 100's of fletches your don't want on your arrows. As for a commercial arrow saw, those are priced for bow shops. I made my own with a cheap ($19) grinder, proper cut-off wheel and wooden jig to hold it square to the arrow. I've seen other cheap commercial versions on e-bay. You'd have to make thousands of arrows to get a pay-back on a commercial model, and they work no better than my homemade one.

If you work on lots of bows, then the commercial equipment can be more easily justified, though in many cases it won't work any better - maybe just faster in some instances. In fact, I had my brother-in-law make a string jig for me and it was not only cheaper then a commercial jig, but 10 times better than any of them. A bow vise can come in handy, but is certainly not necessary and is another thing you can make. I made my own work station where the bow could be mounted horizontally (as if in an apple bow press). I mounted rollers (designed for a boat trailer) and some bungee cords to hold the bow securely. If you're a bit of a do-it-yourselfer, you can get away with a much smaller investment, still do a great job, and get some satisfaction by saving some money. The best part is that you will pay more attention to detail on your own bow, than any bow shop will. After you get good at it, you will only take your bow to a shop in an emergency situation.