How to Build a DIY Home Archery Shop — Every Tool You Need

One bad bow shop experience can change how you think about your gear forever and it’s happening more often as fewer quality archery shops remain in some areas. So we get practical about what it really takes to build a DIY home archery shop that helps you tune your compound bow, build better arrows, and stop waiting on the busy-season backlog for every small change. 

We start with the overlooked foundation: your workspace. We talk about why a flat, heavy workbench matters, how lighting saves you from tiny-hardware disasters, and why dedicated storage is the difference between a smooth workflow and a frustrating mess. Then we break down the real “must-have” tools for home bow tuning: a safe bow press, a dependable drawboard, and a bow vise that lets you level your bow, set center shot, tie D loops, and work hands-free. We also share what to inspect and maintain so your equipment stays safe over time. 

If you’re not ready to jump straight into full tuning, we map out the best on-ramp: arrow building. We cover arrow saws, squaring tools, arrow spinners, fletching jigs, and the glue and primer basics that make builds repeatable. We also share a simple rule that prevents costly mistakes: build and test one arrow first, then commit to the dozen. Along the way, we touch paper tuning, levels for third axis, and when it still makes sense to lean on a reputable shop for peace of mind and warranty support. 

If you’ve started your own DIY archery setup, share what you bought first and what surprised you most, then subscribe, leave a review, and send this to the archer who’s tired of guessing.

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Transcript

Why DIY Bow Work Matters

Zakk Plocica 0:00

The DIY home archery shop, the do-it-yourself, your home shop, whatever you want to call it. That's what we're talking about today on the Archery Project. Right, there's a lot of requests for it, a lot of people doing their own work. So let's break it down. Let's cover what you need, how much you should look to spend, and who should actually be doing this. So welcome back to the Archery Project, guys. I'm your host, Zach Blaceika. I have a shop called Extreme Outfitters, one of the fastest growing archery shops and suppliers in the country. We serve archers across the nation. You need it, we can ship it to you if you're not local. If you are local here to Jacksonville, North Carolina, come by and see us. And make sure you use the code Archery Project for all of your archery needs. It'll save you some cash. But I think this puts me in a good position to talk about this because, you know, we've grown Extreme Outfitters. We started from nothing, no archery, anything, and we did it. And uh, we're now a nationally recognized brand uh within the archery space. And we did it in, you know, six or seven years, and uh not without a lot of hard work. But, you know, I've seen a lot of things and we've interacted with a lot of customers, and we've so we get to speak with people on the daily about the frustrations of finding a good shop. And I think that's one of the things that we we've noticed. Like there's a a there's not a lot of great shops in some areas, right? Sometimes some places there aren't even archery shops, and so finding a good shop can be difficult, but that shouldn't deter you from getting into archery, right? Um, while I think archery shop is the backbone of this industry, there's just a lot of places that there aren't shops. So there's a lot of guys doing it themselves. And I, you know, maybe I've overlooked it. Um, I just don't haven't seen a lot of really great information that covers everything you need. So I kind of wanted to break it down from my perspective and what I've seen from customers coming in and all the people we've talked to because I talked to the manufacturers as well, and the dealer network is smaller and smaller every year. So this seems to be a trending problem. Less less shops, right? So, and you know, we've heard some horror stories from about really, you know, poor experiences within shops. And um, you know, you go in, I'll give you a prime example. I just saw this on Facebook yesterday. Somebody took their bow in. I uh they were doing a limb swap or something, a warranty for a Matthews bow. The guy got it back and his limb was on upside down. I understand mistakes happen, right? I get it. Like everyone has off days, but for that to happen and that to make it out the door, that means there's no QC uh that's going under one set of eyes, andor someone's either overwhelmed or doesn't know what they're doing, but those mistakes can't go out the door as an archery shop. And you know, that right there, that burns a bridge. That's a lost customer. Good luck rebuilding that relationship. Um, so I understand the frustrations of people and why they might want to start up their doing their own tuning and tinkering. And it makes sense to me. I mean, the more confident you are with your equipment because you've done the work on it, I mean, the more confident you are with it, right? I mean, you know how it works, you know it's tuned to exactly like you want and you've spent the time behind it. And um, yeah, I don't see anything wrong with it. And I don't think it's it's necessarily bad for archery shops for guys to be working on their own stuff, right? There's always going to be a demand and a need for archery shops. But, you know, there's also always gonna be people that are more into archery that want to do it themselves. And I completely understand that. I do, and I have heard of, you know, shops, gatekeeping information, which I don't, I don't believe in. Um, if you look at what we've done at Extreme Outfitters, I feel we are a resource for you. Like that's been my mission, and that's part of the archery project, right? We we per you know, we let you know our experiences and we provide good information and become a resource to help you out along your archery journey. And that doesn't, that's how I think it should be. And I think that's a how a shot becomes well respected and um you know develops a good relationship because they're not gate holding information. I think gate holding at this point is kind of ridiculous. Um, there's a ton of information out there, and we want to be a resource for you. So, you know, with that being said, if you have questions getting into like what we're gonna cover today, like DIY stuff, tuning questions, product questions, Extreme Outfitters, my shop is a resource for you. We are real people, we answer the phone. You can call my shop if you have questions on any of this stuff to get a little bit more in-depth information. And my sales team will put you in um contact with one of our techs to answer any of your questions to guide you along. And because, you know, whenever you get into this home shop tuning your own self, there's you're gonna have questions, right? And you need a reliable resource, people who have done it and have the experience, and that's where a good shop can come into play and we'll help you with whatever you need. The other thing, too, with that is I don't think you want to burn your relationship if you have a local shop because you need the shop to get some of your parts, right? Especially your warranty stuff. So keep that in mind, man. Don't burn bridges because maybe you had a bad experience. There's nothing wrong with, you know, maintaining that relationship and uh, you know, developing the skills to work on your bows yourself. I think it's a great skill and trait to have. I think more people should do it, especially if you're really into this thing. But let's dive into it

Confidence And Convenience Benefits

Zakk Plocica 5:09

today, right? So why build a home shop? Like what's the reasoning? Why should you? And um, like I think I covered it already. It just knowing your bow inside and out builds confidence, right? And mat and confidence matters more than anything when you're behind that bow. If you're not confident in your equipment, you just don't you don't trust it, you're not gonna be confident whenever you're at total archery challenge, you're on the hunt of a lifetime, and you go to drawback on an animal and the confidence not there, it really can play with your mind and you know, maybe um ruin that opportunity that you had. Um and the other thing too is if you are someone, you know, maybe you don't have a shop local, you need to build, you need to, you need to be able to work on your own equipment. It's worth investing in. And then the other thing too, during the busy season, right? When it when the shops are just hammered and you need to go in, you need a small change, you don't have to schedule an appointment, you can take care of it yourself. Um I think I think having the tools to do it and understanding the tools is uh is worth it for for a lot of people who are really into this thing. And you know, when we talk about getting set up and and building your own shop, there's a handful of things that you need to get started. And you don't need to have to like even just getting started like minimally, like we can talk about just getting into arrows, doing the small stuff, you don't have to invest in everything. But if you are going to invest in this equipment, I think it's worth um investing in quality equipment. And when we talk about like the math, the amount that you need to spend to get into this to fully, I think, outfit and build a decent little uh home shop, DIY shop, you're gonna spend, depending on if you buy new or you buy used stuff, you're able to source some used equipment, you're gonna spend somewhere between, you know, I'd say 1200 and you know, 1500 bucks for the most part to get majority of the things you need. Um, it might be a little bit more than that, depending on the quality of the equipment that you buy, where you buy it from, if you buy it new new or used. But somewhere within that ballpark, I think is realistic for most people. Um, and it's it's one of those things. When you buy it once, that's that's it. You don't have to buy it again. So personally, I think it's worth investing the in in the equipment if you are going to do this. And if you're you plan on doing this long term or you've already been in the game for a long time and you finally feel like, hey, I want to start working on my own stuff because you know I enjoy it that much. I think it's worth investing in quality equipment. Um, you don't want to skimp on some of these things.

Workspace Setup Lighting And Storage

Zakk Plocica 7:40

So before you even buy your equipment, like you need to have a space to work on your equipment. Um one of the most important things that you need is the actual workspace, and that's your workbench. Um, you need something that's got enough space on it, enough countertop space, it's flat uh and it's stable. Um that I think that's something that's easily overlooked because you just jump right into the tools and stuff I need, but you need a good workbench. Invest in a quality workbench, something that's heavy duty, stable, sturdy, flat with plenty of workspace for all of your tools for you to take and you know, maybe mount your press and set your bow down. You can build arrows on it somewhere where there's enough space for you to work. The next thing from your workspace is going to be lighting. Lighting is huge, like you need plenty of light to see what you're doing, to get into all these little spaces on your bow whenever you're putting on new strings and cables, you're looking at um your indicators for tuning. You need good light to be able to see what's actually happening in real time, right? Because it's it's a bummer if you don't have good light and you drop a small screw, like, dude, that's the worst thing ever. And then you're on your hands and knees trying to find this thing, you got to get out a flashlight. Make sure you set up lighting in your little workspace or your studio so you can see everything well. And you've got plenty of room to move around, it's not too tight and confined. So the other thing is I would personally, and it I know it everyone's different, is you know, have a dedicated space that that's what that space does. It's not a shared space. Um, you know, if you're looking at cutting arrows, you're looking at storing all your parts and all your tools and stuff. You want something that's dedicated so you're not losing things, right? Especially, you know, when we talk about a dedicated space, when we talk about cutting arrows, cutting arrows can be messy, right? All the dust, the glue, the fumes, and whatnot. You want a space that's dedicated for that where you know it's you, you, you can go out and do that. I don't think your wife or family members are gonna want you bringing your saw and in the the kitchen counter cutting arrows because it's a mess. So make sure you you can set a dedicated space for this stuff because once you set it up, you don't want to have to move it and break it down all the time, especially when you develop a workflow with how you're doing things. I think a dedicated space is definitely worth it. Um, you know, I was going through and reading some forms, you know, about questions people had on, you know, starting their own, getting their own equipment to work on their stuff. And uh one of the big things was the aerosol side of things, which I guess because we work in such a big space, it doesn't, I don't notice it. Obviously, there's carbon dust, but you know, so I was reading a thing about a guy who um moved his aerosol outside into a shed completely out of the home. You know, I guess he had a room set up just because there was so much dust and it was just a mess. Um, you know, it didn't want to contaminate where he was. So, you know, it's worth taking and laying out where you plan to build this shop and making sure you have the room for it just so you can move around and you take into consideration the fumes if you're using any kind of arrow stripper, um, the the dust from cutting arrows, all of those things matter. Um, you need to make sure that you have plenty of power, um, outlets for what you're doing. And then the other big thing is storage bins for small parts, um, like wall-mounted stuff, just stuff so you can stay organized. Because the longer you do this, you're gonna acquire parts and you need to keep them organized. Specifically, like your shims, right? Your small screws, um, your levels, all of these different things. They need to be organized because there's nothing worse than when you know you have something and you're going through and you're trying to find and you can't find it because you've got a mess. So I would say start off, build this thing, think about it ahead of time, kind of critically. Build out a space that's organized so that you can stay organized as you kind of develop along this name. Because before you know it, the longer you do it, you're gonna acquire more things. Like I said, more parts, more pieces, and you need to keep organized with them so that they're easy to find. You know, as you get new bows over the years, you're gonna come up with different shims, different config shim configurations. And if you're not paying attention to or you don't organize things accordingly, it's hard to tell what shim is what. So I would say get ahead of the game and organize your workspace prior to even getting your your all your tools, right? Look at your workspace, get the the bins and stuff in order to stay organized. Uh I think one of the uh overlooked things for us as a shop that is just kind of a lifesaver is those magnetic trays, right? So whenever you're taking out screws and stuff like that, you have this magnetic tray that screws can't fall off if you bump it or whatnot. Um it's a uh something I would highly recommend investing in. You don't need to get a bunch of them, get one, but it's got the magnet on the bottom, so you can stick it wherever. You can take and move it to your press, move it to your workspace. And then whenever you take out any of your screws in your hardware, you put them in there, and you don't got to worry about them falling or bumping them or dropping them. It's it's definitely a good investment. It's fairly cheap. Um, now the meat and potatoes of this thing, right?

The Big Three Core Tools

Zakk Plocica 12:54

The big three. What are the things that you really need to really start working on your own equipment? And I think there's three massive things that kind of come to mind. The first one is a bow press, a drawboard, and then a bow vise. Those are like the big three. If you're gonna do, if you're gonna really go in and do this, you're not gonna dabble, you're gonna do the full thing. Those are the big three things I think you need to consider um investing in. Um I know a lot of the bows now, you I mean, not a lot of them, a handful of the bows now, you can do everything without a press. But guess what? If you ever change strings, you're gonna need a press. I think um a good press is definitely worth the investment because again, it's a buy once, cry once. It's the last one you'll ever need. Um, usually as they these bows advance, you can change out the different fingers and things for the different limb styles. So I think investing in a good press is like a non-negotiable. Like you need a good press. And the easy green press is you know what we see more than any, it's pretty affordable, in my opinion. Um, you can get them very easily, you can get them used, and uh you you need it for any time you need to install a peep, you need to swap strings, um, you need to adjust uh timing on majority of these bows, you're gonna need to be able to press that bow. And a good little press is you know worth its weight in gold because you can make those adjustments so quick and so easily. And you like I said, you need one that's safe. And um I think honestly, the easy green press is a is a great affordable press. Now, if you really want to get into it and spend some money, like the new spikes press and stuff like that, which we'll be bringing here in our shop, are top of the line, man. But for most people, I think like an easy green press just makes sense. As far as like packable, I don't think most people need uh a like I I'm we're we're we're we're talking about home shops here. So, you know, one of the notes I had down was like packable versus non-packable. I don't think you need to get a press that's packable. Get one that's a fixed workstation, it's not like you're gonna be toting this thing around all over the place, uh, personally. So again, buy quality from the start. Um just high quality stuff is gonna save you headache in the long run, uh, especially a press, man. I mean, the last thing you want is something that fails, that just isn't reliable, that doesn't have a warranty on it. Um, I think um a good press is is probably where you need to start with this thing. A press and a vice are the two things that would be most important to me getting into this. From there, we go into the drawboard. Um I think if you're gonna do it, you might as well buy a combo, get them both, get the drawboard and get the press, ones that go together. Um just because when we talk about checking timing, um draw like any of these little things you can verify with a drawboard. Uh and you need to get one that doesn't that you can you can crank it and you can let it go and it doesn't run back home. I think that's important to consider. So whenever you're checking timing on on a bow, you can go, you can draw the bow back, you can let go of it, you can look at the cams, you can check to make sure everything's in sync and um a good drawboard's worth the money, man. I uh I would get one that pairs with your your press just so it's all in one contained works center, right? You don't have multiple things. You can get them that the combo, the combos. I think it's worth doing um a good press and a good drawboard, they just go hand in hand, man. I mean, I think especially too when we're talking about like tech checking draw weight, timing, all these things. A drawboard is gonna be significantly better than trying to do it with a hand scale. Like that's just my opinion. We have both, like whenever we're checking like draw weight real fast, we'll use a hand scale. But if we want to check draw weight, we want to check timing, the best way to do it is with a a drawboard. So make sure you buy a good drawboard. Um, and make sure whenever you get these things, like your drawboard and stuff, you you service it. And whenever I mean service it, just take a look at the actual the cables and stuff running through this whenever you use it, you know, because if there's nothing worse than putting a bow on a drawboard and cranking it back and the cable explodes, trust me. How do I know it's happened to me? Um, and you know, that's obviously a lot of uh reps on our drawboard, but uh there was a burr in the actual gears, I guess, and it caught and it just over time it just wore down the actual cable and the cable snapped halfway up. So it wasn't fun, not a good time. Um, so just make sure you inspect your equipment along the way. Uh so a good press, good drawboard, and then a bow vise, man. Like a bow vise is like it's probably the place to start before you even get into a drawboard. If you just want to start, you know, tying knock sets, tying D loop and all that. Uh a good vice is uh worth the money. Um it just one, you needed to keep the bow upright and stable, right? In order to level anything on your bow, you need a vice to hold that bow up. And you need to be able to manipulate that vice in a way so that you can level everything and look at different areas of the bow, right? You want to be able to move it forward whenever after you've leveled it and you're maybe you're tying your D loop on or you're checking center shot or all these things. You want to be able to move this thing around and lock it in place so it's hand-free, so you can come off of off of it and do whatever it is you're doing. Um so get a good uh good vice. Um I think it's worth the money. And uh let me pull this up real quick. Let me see. So the Baker Archery products, those are the ones that we've started using. Um they want it. You can there's some that you can integrate into your easy press, which is kind of cool. So again, all your whole workstation is there, or you can mount them separately on your actual your workspace. Um, you can just manipulate them in all different ways, and it just makes it very easy to level, you know, third axes, check center shot, um, tie knock sets and everything like that very fast and very easy. So those are one of the ones that I recommend that we've used in the past and we continue to use. We're actually outfitting with new ones here this year. Um, they work really, really well. And you know, there's obviously budget options out there for some of this stuff, especially for a vice like a lot of these things you can buy used, right? You can go on these different forms and you can buy stuff that people are offloading. So you can always look for deals too. Look at the marketplace, Facebook marketplace for some of these things if you don't want to buy the new stuff because it can get kind of expensive. So, like if you buy a good quality vice, I mean you're spending three to four hundred bucks on that. Um let's see. And then, yeah, I mean, if you buy a press, your press another four or five hundred bucks. So you can obviously get some of this stuff a little bit cheaper, but um used, but depends on you, depends on how much you want to spend in this. To me, again, it's a buy once, cry once approach, buy it once, it'll last you forever. Um, so those are like your core things that you need when we talk about tuning a bow, right? Which not everybody starts there, but that's what everyone seems to be interested in because the way these bows are going, um, as long as you understand the functionality of the bow, they're easier than ever to tune. And these are the little things that you need in order to fine-tune everything, put strings on and whatnot. But like now, the days of like shimming the bow and stuff, a lot of them, you don't even got to press the bows anymore, which is fantastic. But if you do have a Hoit or you have a PSE, a Prime or any of these bows, you still have to press it. So a press is a non-negotiable for you guys uh when it comes to tuning the bows. Um, but again, not everyone starts there. A lot of guys want to get into this by just starting with the arrow building side of things and then building into the actual full workstation.

Arrow Building Setup And Workflow

Zakk Plocica 21:03

So when we talk about the arrow building side of things, I personally think it's the best way to get into it, right? It's the easiest way to get in and tinker and realize how much you love doing this, and then it evolves from there, and then it's like a snowball effect. That's when you end up with your presses and your vices and stuff. But the arrow building station um to me is a uh great entry point for the guys that want to get into the tuning side of things. Building your own arrows, I don't think there's anything more satisfying um than building your own arrows. I mean, if you've got the time to do it, and that's what it takes, is time. Um, it can be a lot of fun and you can really customize them and build them to your liking. And uh there's a couple things you need though, right? Just like with the tuning side of things for your bow, there's a couple things you need when it comes to building your own arrows. And the first thing is obviously you need a saw, man. You need to be able to cut these things down, and you need to be able to cut them down straight. Like you don't need to grab a dremel and try to cut your Like I've read all kinds of crazy stuff when it comes to saws and stuff for arrows. Buy a good saw. So majority of these products you can get from Extreme Outfitters. I'm gonna have a link down below for all of the um your home buying uh equipment, right? Saws, presses, jigs, all these things. There'll be a link. But I wouldn't say I would say same thing. Get a good saw. I personally like the mod saw. Uh their new pro saw that they came out with, it's a little bit more expensive, but it is awesome because of one, how well it cuts all of your arrows, aluminum, carbon doesn't matter. It cuts them so good. It's got a diamond-coated blade, so the cuts are nice and straight. It's got an arrow spinner, which is built into it, so it's one less thing you got to buy. Because if not, I would recommend buying an aero spinner. And then it's got your squaring tool built into it, and it's so efficient. Like the workflow with the Mod Saw Pro is fantastic, especially somebody like us that high output of arrows. Like you can take cut, square, spin your arrows all in one place. And the square is cool because it's not a manual where you got to roll these arrows and try to get the burrs out. Excuse me. It's you got a foot pedal on this thing, you turn the saw on and you just touch the uh end of the shaft against the the side of the blade and it squares it perfectly. It's so fast. You actually got to be careful so you don't take too much material off. It's a fantastic system. But if you don't want to spend that amount on the mod saw pro, they've got the other mod saws that are much more affordable that have the manual squaring device on there. Um, so depending on your budget, where you want to look, um, and how many arrows you plan on building uh will depend on what saw you want to go with. But the mod saws I think are fantastic. We've also got some of the, I think they're the die cuts. Um, and we've had the Weston saws as well. But by far my favorite is the mod saw. Um, I've got a personal one that I use, which is their smaller entry-level one, very affordable. And then we've also got the pro ones, which I mean, if you're gonna do it and you got a little bit extra dough, that's when I would get. It's just got everything in there. So get you a good saw. You need a good one. Um, I personally would not do a DIY saw. That's just me. I know there's guys that do it, man, uh, and good on them. Um, but you know, if you're building arrows, we know how important consistency is for accuracy and repeatability, and you need a repeatable cut that's perfect every time, easy to measure, uh, and a good arrow saw is the way to do it. From there, the squaring device, obviously, if your saw doesn't have one built into it, you need to get your little squaring device so that you can square the ends of your arrows because it's important for an arrow to be square. If you don't get a perfect cut on it, there's little burrs. You need to square that arrow down so your components fit flush against the end of the shaft. So invest in a good squaring device as well. G5 makes a good little one. We sell those again, they'll be linked below. Um, you need something that's got that grit sandpaper so it's perfectly flush. You can push the arrow up against it, sand the end down perfectly, and you're not getting any, you're getting rid of any of those burrs. There's no angle on that cut. So any imperfections. Get a good squaring device. From there, again, if your station doesn't have it, an arrow spinner is worth getting just to um check straightness of your arrows. You can spin it, you can see if there's any issues within any of your arrows that you've shot, right? Components are bent. You can put it on the spinner, check it, mark an arrow, whether it needs to be pulled, um, and it's still good to shoot or not. So a good square or a good spinner is worth it as well. The next big thing, your fletching jig. Um, if you want to be able to fully customize the vein configuration you're putting on that arrow, you need to get a good jig. And there's two options that I really consider there's the Bitsenburger, and there is the OMP uh Phoenix jig. I personally, after going to the OMP, that is what I use. That is what we use at the shop now. It's just so repeatable and so easy to set up, and it just works incredibly well. Um, again, it's a one of our top sellers at Extreme Outfitters. I really, really like the OMP Phoenix fletching jig. It just works really, really well. You can get um you can you can you can do anything with it. You can do three fletches, four fletch, left, right, straight, helical, it doesn't matter. You can do it all with it. You can do that with the bits as well. But I just feel like the OMP is a little bit more modern and um you it's just more repeatable, personally, for me. So getting a good a good jig is very, very important as well for building arrows. Um and again, it's one of those things you buy once and it's done. You're never gonna need to buy it again. Uh, from there, this is these are the things that kind of tend to get overlooked. Next, we're moving into like your glues and your pens and your things that you need to build these, right? So a good a good glue for inserts and fletchings is important. You need to make sure you have a good glue when you're building these arrows. Uh, and you need to understand how that glue works, whether it's a two-part epoxy, it's a fast set epoxy, it's a e it's a um a hot melt. Um, you need to know what kind of glue you're getting and how to utilize it and what you can and can't use. Um, AAE makes fantastic uh fletching glues. Boning makes really good glues. Any of those, I think, is you just need to have those in the shop. You need to buy a couple of them, just keep them on hand, um, especially when it talks to fletchings. You also need to make sure you have a primer pin. You need to prime majority of these veins before you put them on. You put your arrow into your jig and whatnot. You need to be able to clean your shaft with some kind of wipe or some kind of material, and then you need to be able to prime your veins. So, you know, again, everybody has primer pins now, tack veins, AAE, any of them. Get you a primer pin, it's good to always have on hand. Um, and then when we talk about insert glues, this is uh where I think it's worth having a couple different insert glues. One in particular is a hot melt. If you're somebody that likes to test arrows, right, you're testing different weights, you're testing different inserts. Hot melt is a must-have on hand because it allows you to put an insert in and it's not permanent. You can heat it up and pull it back out. So if you are experimenting with overall weight or FOC or different insert weights, it allows you to test. And then whenever you figure out the perfect arrow build for you, you can go and use a permanent fixed um glue, right? No matter what it is. Again, AAE, um, what was the other boning G5 has good glue, the blue glue. Um, there's there's a there's a bunch of them. But I personally like hot melt for testing, and then I like a permanent glue for um putting my inserts in forever. Because once I build an arrow and that arrow is specifically built for a purpose, I don't pull the inserts in or out. That's just me personally. Another great arrow glue is the goat tuff. It works really, really well. Um, but it is a permanent, it is a fast set glue. So you need to make sure whenever you whenever you go to put in arrows, if you've never or inserts and arrows, if you've never done it before, make sure you're pretty efficient with it and fast because some of these glues set incredibly fast and you'll have an insert that's not all the way seated in the shaft. So remember that. The other thing, too, is if you're somebody that's shooting five mils that runs a hit insert, you need to make sure you have the hit insert tools. Those hit inserts are hidden within the shaft, they are recessed down in the shaft, so you cannot see them. So make sure you've got the special tool for that. Easton comes with the tool if you buy arrows by the dozen, they've got their little plastic hit tool. Iron Wheel also makes a tool for the hit inserts, which is metal, which works incredibly well. You just need to make sure you clean it um whenever you use it because it does get glue built up on it and it's hard to get an uh insert to see it all the way. So uh a couple little tips right there. Um, and the building process, man, with arrows, like I said, it's a great way to get into it. Those are the main things you need in order to start the arrow building process, right? You can always, if you don't want to invest in the saw, you can typically like if you buy arrows from Extreme Outfitters, we pre-cut them for you for free if you want. Uh so you can order arrows from Extreme Outfitters, we can pre-cut them, and then you can build them out to your liking. So you can start off with just a jig, your glues, your squaring device, um, your spinners and all that. And if you want to build them out yourself, you can absolutely do that. Or you can go to your local shop, man, and there's usually a small fee for cutting arrows down. If you, you know, you're only building a dozen or two dozen a year, maybe a saw's not worth the investment for you. So, you know, that's the that's the great thing about it. You don't have to buy all of these things. You really need to build based off your needs and what your goals are and how much you plan on doing this. Uh, the other thing, too, like when it comes to arrows testing, um, you know, I would encourage, you know, if you're building a new arrow and you buy a full dozen, I would probably build one arrow out of one arrow, put it through the process, right? Put it through paper, make sure it's set up for your bow before I go, before you go build the full dozen. Because if you've ever made a mistake where you've cut an arrow too short, you can't put a carbon back on. So I think it's a good practice to if you're in the process of setting up a new bow or building a new arrow, build that one arrow first. Use hot melt for your inserts and everything so you can disassemble it if you need to change out weight or whatnot. And umce you've figured out the arrow that works for you, then you can take and uh build the rest of them. So don't make the mistake. I did that, dude. I did that this year. I knew uh an arrow was gonna work, and I had a half dozen that I was building. I went ahead and built them and I knew it was gonna work. And turns out it didn't work as as well as I wanted it to. So I had a half dozen arrows that I essentially just did nothing with. So that was a dumb mistake on my part. I got a little antsy, I was a little impatient, and uh I was short for time, and uh yeah, I made a costly mistake. So don't do that, it gets expensive, you know. And then if you need arrows, you you want to do your testing because that's a great thing about your home shop, is you can do your own testing. You know, if you want to check a 300 versus 250 versus a 340, you know, maybe you're not sure on you know overall weight you want to wear or shoot or what arrows is gonna work well for your bow. You can always buy arrows individually from Extreme Outfitters, have them pre-cut, shipped to you, and then you can build them out. We get a lot of guys that do that through us. Um, the testing phase, right? They're testing point weight, they're testing arrow length, overall arrow weight. So they're buying multiple spines, putting them through their bow, figuring out which one works, and then coming back and getting all the rest that they need. So keep that in mind. Um, I think the some of the other things you need to look at are the tools that come along with the workspace that you're building.

Paper Tuning Levels And Hand Tools

Zakk Plocica 32:29

Um I think if you really want to get into the weeds on this thing, there's I think a chronograph is worth having as well. And buying a good chronograph, and I'll tell you, we've had a handful of different chronographs and they all work slightly different. Um, but a chronograph is good for knowing aero speed, velocity, all of those things. And I think the Garmin, and this is this is, you know, for guys that are a little bit more into it. Um the Garmin is worth the investment. I think it's by far the best chronograph on the market. You can input all your bullet your um your ballistic data, whatnot, arrow weight and whatnot, and then shoot it. And it works best outside. It does, it seems to be most consistent outside. Inside, we've noticed some deviations in arrow speeds, um, but nonetheless, I think it's a fantastic chronograph. And if you're somebody that's doing like precision cut archery, sight tapes, and all that, and you need to know those speeds, a good chronograph is worth the money. But uh, you know, if you're buying a um Garmin chronograph, I think they're like 600 bucks. So it's a lot, but I mean it works really, really well. And um it's kind of for me, you you need a you need one that is consistent, and I think the Garmin does a really good job, uh, specifically if you shoot it outside. It works really, really well. From there, you need a paper tuner, man. Everybody needs a paper tune their bows. It the the press and all that is great, but if you're not actually seeing the the feedback from what the bow's boot doing downrange, it does you no good, right? Paper doesn't lie. You can shoot a bow through paper and see exactly what kind of issues you're getting. So a paper tuner is um you you need one. And there's the company called Paper Tuner, I think they make them, or you can build your own. That's what we did. We just took some um like one by ones, I think. Maybe yeah, and we built a frame essentially, and we've got a hook on the backside. We got a big roll of paper and it pulls over top. And um that's how we built our paper tuner, and we've have had it since we started the shop. Um, but you can buy pre-built ones, but it's very easy and inexpensive to build your own. As long as you have something to put a sheet of paper up that you can shoot your arrows through, um, that's really all you need to get feedback on what your bow's doing. So it doesn't cost a lot to build one. Or, like I said, if you want a pretty one that's tells you exactly what each noctar you should do. The the one from I think it's paper tuner does is it does that, man. It shows you everything you need to know. It's all right there. It's kind of cool. Just don't shoot the frame or it's ruined. Um the other thing, you need levels, man. You need to be able to level your bow. You need to be able to level your site. You invest in good levels. The Hamski levels are what we use. Their third axis level is phenomenal. You know, it's critical to level the third axis on your site. Um, especially if you're somebody that's shooting any kind of crazy like angles, you're in steep um terrain, different elevation, you're going to a total archery event, you're hunting in the mountains. If your third axis is not leveled, you're you're going to be off left or right. So make sure you get levels to level your sight and level your bow. Um, it's it's a must-have. If you're doing it yourself, you need levels. Get a couple of them, invest in good levels. Like I said, we use the Hamski stuff, it works great because it attaches to the sight bars very easily. Um, we can mount them to the risers, we can mount them to the string. It works really well. And then you also need to be able to level your bow whenever you're checking center shot and leveling your arrow. So arrows are a must. You can't just look at a bow and tell it's level majority of the time. Most people aren't as good as they think they are at it. So buy some good levels. Like I said, we run the Hamski levels. Um the next thing are the hand tools that you need for your bows. Uh, and there's some, and I mean, I think majority of these are like a kind of like a no-brainer. I think most people have majority of these, but there are a couple that make things nice. Um, so one, simple. When we talk about arrows and we talk about stripping down arrows, we use a box blade. So we take, we don't, you can get a scraper, but a box cutter works really good for stripping your arrows. So we always have box cutters, especially when the blades are a little bit duller. Um, those razor blades, they work great for stripping arrows. You just need to make sure you do it at the right angle so you're not peeling carbon off those. So I think those is a must if you're doing an arrow builder. It just works great to strip arrows. Um, a good set of Allen keys. Obviously, majority of the uh hardware on your bow requires Allen keys. So make sure you got a good set of Allen keys on them. Um a lot of guys use the T-handle tools or you know, which the little sets, very organized. Do you have all the different sizes? It's another great option. But I I like the um the little Allen key sets. The other thing you need is for like in like your Hamski error rest come with them, some of your sites come with it. They come with your Allen keys that are stubby, they're short. They allow you to get into some of the hardware that's hard to get to. Like on some of the Spothawk sites, whenever you, you know, you need to adjust your third axis. Some of those hardware is hard to get to, so you need these short, stubby Allen keys. So make sure you have those as well. Um, and like I said, usually whenever you buy some of your parts, some of your sites, Hamski Air Rest, they typically come with them. Um you need your torque sets. Majority of your mods now are um torques. You need torques bits. So if you're changing mods, anything like that, make sure you've got uh torques bits set um so that you can take and change your mods. You're not trying to shove an Allen key in there when it's not supposed to be. The other thing, needle nose pliers, uh obviously a must for you know stretching D loops, uh cutting D loop material. You need them. I also recommend a set of D loop pliers. I like the D loop pliers, I think they're good for putting that final little cinch on your D loop and really locking it down. I think they're worth having. I use them all the time. Um, another good thing is dental picks, like a little set, because some of your cables and stuff are hard to get to depending on the bow that you you're you're pressing and changing strings and cables on. And if you have a little dental pick so you can get in there and fish eye around that um that eyelet for your string or cable, it makes it getting it on and off a little bit easier. So it's always good to have in the toolbox, man. From there, you need your serving jigs. If you're reserving like center shot and stuff like that, um, you're somebody that's comfortable doing with that, or your center serving, excuse me, center shot. You're reserving your your center serving, you need a serving jig for that. And then you need the materials to do that, right? If you're tying knock sets, if you're tying D loop, you just need that material on hand. Um, so D loop material is a must. Everybody needs to know how to tie a D loop. Uh, if you're working on your own bows, that's probably priority one before doing anything. Understand how to tie a D loop, make sure you've got D loop material. We use the BCY material. Um and then for like serving, like serving peeps and center serving, um, you need serving material. So make sure you have that on hand always, at least in the color black, because it's good for everything. But your center serving size is gonna be a little bit different size than um you know, whatever the size you use to serve in a peep and whatnot. So keep that in mind. Make sure you've got both of those on hand. Um it's a must. You you've got to have serving and you've got to have dilute material. Make sure you've got a little torch. Um, you need a torch, especially for like hot melt and stuff like that. Um a little torch with butane. It's it's great. Also, lighters, you need lighters to burn serving and dilute material. So make sure you've got a torch and lighters on hand. I think all there's no reason not to not to have a couple lighters on hand and a mini torch. Make sure you've got extra butane for it because there's nothing worse than running your torch down and you don't have butane to drive you crazy. Um let's see. Uh as you do this more, like I said, making sure that you have those storage containers so that you can organize all this stuff. Because you need to be able to organize not only the hardware and the screws, but your your D loop, your extra inserts that you're gonna get over the years, all these things, the more organized you are, the better off you are. Um to so you can find these things whenever it comes time to need them. And then I don't know how I missed this. You need a tape measure. You need to be able to check spec on your bow, right? If you're checking brace height, you're checking ATA lengths, you're checking draw length, any of those things you need a tape measure, and then you need a uh a ruler that you can set on your workspace for checking length of your arrows. Um, so just get get one of those big metal ones, have it on there. Always good to have again. You can use that to check ATA length and brace height as well. Two birds, one stone. Um, but you definitely need some kind of tape measure and ruler laid out for you. And let's see, where are we at?

Smart Buying Order And Used Deals

Zakk Plocica 41:17

So, in what order should you kind of proceed with this? Um, or or start. And like I said, if you're somebody that wants to jump off and just get all of it, that's that's there's there you go. You need a press, you need a vise, you need um press vise, you need a drawboard, you need your fletching jig, you need your aerosol, you need all your hand tools, you need your serving material, and you need your glues, uh, you need your spinner, your squaring device. I mean, all of those things, right? If you want to do it all, but you can kind of break this thing down and not jump in over your head right away and do a little bit at a time. I think that's a probably a better approach for more people. So you're not overwhelmed with learning everything at once. And I think a great way to start is by getting into the arrow side of things. Learn how to build arrows, right? Start with your saw if you want to cut your own arrows, get your fletching jig, get your glues, get everything you need for that, your spinner, your squaring device, start with arrows. You can get into it for a couple hundred bucks if you go that route, right? You buy a jig, maybe you have the shop cut your arrows, maybe you have extreme outfitters cut your arrows for you, and then you just do the build process. A couple hundred bucks to get into that. Not bad. From there, then I would start looking at, okay, I've got the arrow thing figured out. Let me start getting into the tuning side of things, right? Maybe you start with just your jig or your vice, excuse me. So you can start by just tying knock set and tying D loops, right? Couple hundred bucks for that. So you get into that. Now you can tie knock sets and you can tie D loops and you can level your third axis or level your site. Cool. From there, then you can start looking at getting into your press and your drawboard, which are going to be your biggest costs, right? That's kind of the approach that I would take. So again, you're not overwhelmed with all of these different gadgets and things, and then you know, you got a mess and you got a blown-up bow because you jumped in headfirst. Start little, kind of progress through this thing. You can always find a lot of this stuff um used, right? On forums on Facebook Marketplace. There's usually great deals, or you can buy the stuff brand new. Uh, I'm personally a new kind of guy uh with all of my stuff. Um, but you know, everybody's different. There's great deals out there on the stuff. There's always guys offloading things. But if you need any of these things, you can always head over to extremeoutfitters.com, use the code Archery Project, get you some of these different things. Um, we'll ship them right to you. Um, but you know, if not, go to your local shop too, man. A lot of the local shops, well, not will we'll sell like your your arrow building stuff, your arrow building supplies, your your jigs, your your squaring devices. You can get all a source a lot of that stuff locally. So you're supporting your shop, still building that reputation or that relationship with your. shop and starting to do it yourself. So I think that's a great way to do it. And then the DIY stuff is for me, you know, versus having to go out and buy, you know, brand new or whatnot is going to be your paper tuner. Go out and build your own paper tuner. Go to Lowe's, get some PVC pipe, get some um some wood, build your little uh paper tuning stand. And then your workbench too. I mean find something you can recycle an old table or something, but just make sure it's heavy enough. It's not going to move uh and it's level and there's enough workspace on it for you to use it efficiently. So those are the big things man. And then as you really get into it, the last phase of it I think is really getting into you know buying your chronographs and stuff like that. I don't think that's a necessity. It's something you know you can go to a local shop if you've got one and shoot through their chronograph, I would hope. I mean uh so I don't think that's one you definitely need to invest in right away because I think it's super expensive man. If you buy a good one it's like 600 bucks. So you know and the thing about doing this too, I think it gives you a better like I said it gives you a better understanding of your equipment. And when you understand your equipment better you become a better archer. You become a better bow hunter. You're in tune with what you've got going on. And um you know I think it makes you a better customer too. You probably have a little bit more respect for your shop as well um seeing what they go through and the masses right it's one thing to work on your own equipment but it's something else to completely different to work on everybody else's especially when there's an influx of people so yeah no um but take your time with it man do not over don't overspend go through the process like I said start small slowly build into this become efficient with it and then if you have questions don't take it upon yourself and just guess dude these bows there's so much tension under these things ask questions go to a shop you're like if you came in here and ask us questions we're gonna answer you questions like we're it's not gonna offend us that you're tuning your own bow like we're here to assist you and answer

Safety Liability And When To Ask

Zakk Plocica 46:00

questions. Now remember whenever you start doing things yourself you're liable for anything that happens to that bow. So it is different right like if you bring a bow into us and we install the strings and we make a mistake right maybe we nick the string right we when we're putting in your peep sight mistakes happen. Or you know I've seen it before you go to put the yokes on um Matthew's bow you go to let the press down one of the yokes isn't on fully and it shreds the cable that's our bad we're not gonna charge you for that you're just gonna have to wait another couple days for us to get the replacement in and fix that for you. If you do it yourself you're just out a set of strings and you're gonna have to buy you're gonna have to buy that cable yourself. Same thing if you blow your bow up it's it's on you uh right if that happens in a shop we're gonna take care of you we're not gonna charge you for our mistake right so there is that peace of mind going to a shop so if you're somebody that's not fully comfortable with it don't do it. Take it to a shop until you you know you slowly introduce yourself to this thing and uh are comfortable with it. So just keep those things in mind. And like I said if you're not comfortable with something reach out to a shop and ask them. If you need to get warranty parts you should be able to go to your shop and get them if you can't get them through them you can call us at Extreme Outfitters we can get you the warranty parts for pretty much any bow. And again if you have questions, you know, call a reputable source to help walk you through this and answer the questions before you start pressing bows, stripping things down, busting out axles and making a mess. And then you got to take your bow in pieces to a shop and say help me and that's going to end up costing a good amount of money if they got to completely reassemble the bow. So just take your time with it watch some YouTube videos don't drink beer while you're doing it be fully in in tune with what's happening and then again ask questions if you've got them you know but share your experiences you know I'm curious from you guys if you already have your own shop how did you how did you start the process right what did you get into first did you go all in and you know what was you know what was the biggest learning curve for you you know I'm interested give some tips and you know stuff to the other viewers on this drop them in the comments let them know you know give them some sound advice man we're always you know this is a community that's what we're looking for we're looking to build a community and help everybody out. So if you've got good advice drop in the comments I'm sure somebody could take that and it would be useful for them. So I appreciate you guys doing that. And if you have questions like I said I'd be happy to help you out. Our guys at our shop would be happy to answer any questions. If you're unsure on what you know pieces of equipment exactly you should get based off your budget or your skill set again reach out. We'd be happy to help you at Extreme Mountfitters one of my texts will surely give you some good advice based off their experience. So that is it my friends again if you need any of this equipment we've got we carry a majority of extreme outfitters there'll be some links down below for you you can check them out um use the code archery project it'll save you some money on it and uh again drop some comments on this stuff I'm curious from you guys how many of you guys are actually doing this stuff yourself versus what I read online and you know what drove you in to getting into tuning your own equipment I I'm curious from you guys. So drop some comments give us a feedback let me know as always I really appreciate you guys following along thanks for listening that's it for this episode of the Archer project we'll see you in the next episode. Thanks thanks guys thanks for following along as