It is ironic that archery and bowhunting -- two of the oldest endeavors known to man -- have become much more complex than the most modern hunting methods.
A rifle hunter needs simply a gun, ammo, and a little sighting-in time to become proficient at taking game. For a bowhunter to be truly effective requires a weapon much more engineered than any rifle, several high-tech accessories, and weeks of practice employing difficult-to-master techniques.
As an avid bowhunter for 35 years and a professional bowhunter and bowhunting educator for 20, I am still learning new things and developing new skills every year. And I guess that is the truly fascinating thing about bowhunting, and what has kept me so interested for so long.
Success in bowhunting starts with being intimate with your equipment, so a logical place to start is with assembling the tools for a home bow shop. Your shop can be as simple or as elaborate as you wish. Mine has over 200 square feet dedicated to archery and is filled with equipment including a $4,000 shooting machine. A shop can be much more basic than that and be nearly as functional.
Here are the basics for outfitting a home bow shop:
An Arrow Fletcher I put this first because in my opinion it is the most important tool in a bow shop. A bowhunter will never become intimate with his equipment if he is not capable of repairing and building his own arrows and learning their dynamics and subtleties. Building your own arrows is a huge learning experience and one of the most pleasant chores I know. There is something very satisfying about building arrows one fletch at a time while you are doing other chores around your shop -- neat how a dozen arrows seem to almost build themselves!
The top name in fletching jigs is Bitzenburger, a heavy-duty, all-metal unit that retails for $65. Before selecting a fletcher put some thought into the types of arrows you want to build, especially the fletching. Buy a jig that offers optional, adjustable settings for helical and/or offset, and make up your mind up front whether you prefer left or right helical, though functionally, it really doesn't matter.
A Bow Press Here's another item that will teach you volumes about archery. You can get by with a portable press if your budget is limited and you do not anticipate working on a lot of bows. With a heavier workload, the floor or bench-mounted model makes the job much easier and simpler.
Options in portable, bench, and floor model bow presses vary; I prefer the portable by Bowmaster (about $40) and the Apple Pro Hercules bench press for about $300.
Bow Clamps And Holders A bow is quite a clumsy object anytime other than when it is being shot. You will need some type of tools to hold your bow when you work on it. My all-time favorite is the MTM Case-Gard Bow Maintenance Center. It is simply a plastic tray with nine compartments for tools and parts and rubber arms that hold the bow horizontally while you work. One of the things I like the most about it is portability; I normally keep it on my work bench in my shop, but I can easily pick it up and take it and its contents outside to work on bows as I shoot them.
Another bow-holding tool I have is the Apple 360 Adjustable Bow Vise, a $50, heavy-duty unit that holds the bow vertically, which is necessary for some operations such as squaring sights, rough setup of arrow rests, and other procedures. I also use a cruder version of this on my outside shooting table; it consists simply of a piece of scrap lumber and a common quick clamp of the type used in carpentry.
Arrow Cut-off Saw It is possible to cut arrows with a hacksaw and I have done so in an emergency, but for anyone building their own arrows, a special arrow saw is almost mandatory. It makes the cuts clean, uniform, quick, and safe. My arrow cut-off saw is sold by Martin Archery for around $150. It uses an abrasive cutting wheel and has an adjustable guide to set the arrow length.
Airborne carbon fibers from arrow cutting have been linked to lung cancer. Regular dust masks are not sufficient to prevent inhaling harmful carbon dust. You will need a vacuum system for that job.
Scales Bow scales are a valuable aid in checking and setting draw weight and let-off percentages. Some of the scales have double measuring indicators that will indicate both the draw weight and the let-off poundage. Avoid the cheaper, hand-operated bow scales unless you have an opportunity to test them first for accuracy because many of them are way off. I recommend the overhead-mounted scales for about twice the price ($60). Grain scales ($60) are essential for checking consistency of broadheads, and experimenting with arrow weights.
Chronographs Chronographs measure arrow speed and are not only informative, but fun to use for comparing different bows, different draw lengths and weights, and the variation of speeds of different-weight arrow setups. They are surprisingly inexpensive, too, at around $100.
Little Stuff Here are some of the smaller tools essential to a home bow shop.
* Serving tool to hold serving material handy and at the right tension for a variety of string serving purposes.
* Propane torch for hot glue and other purposes.
* Allen wrench and screwdriver set, hex and socket wrenches.
* A bench grinder and drill.
* A very small level for squaring bow sights.
* A hemostat for slipping surgical tubing over peep site pins.
* Scissors, knife, glues, solvents, lighter, moleskin, silicone, lubricants.
For a fine selection of Archery accessories, including many items mentioned in this article, click here.