Here's a tip of you don't have a bowpress

[JerseyJaysTaxidermy]

A friend of mine called me the other day and asked if I had a bowpress because his peep needed to be adjusted..

I do all my own work on my bow and I don't have a bow press. I'll share my method, with a firm "do at your own risk" warning. Good to know tho in case you are on a hunt and need to do a quick fix on your equipment and a bow press is not handy.

 

2 people are needed

 

One person draws the bow back being extremely careful not to dry fire or let go of the string.

While the one guy holds the bow at full draw, Person number 2 inserts a screwdriver or anything that is strong amd fits into the closest spoke in the BOTTOM cam BELOW BUT CLOSEST to the the limb. Insert the screwdriver so it's sticking out both ends past the limb, and have the person holding the string GENTLY lower the string until the screwdriver contacts the limb.

 

The string will become limp to do what you need, then line it back up on the cams and pull it back again while your buddy removes the screwdriver again being careful not to dry fire, let the bow back down gently.

 

Again... Probably not the best way to work on your bow, but it will get the job done if you need to know this sometime in your life.

 

Here's a drawing to help see the process.

 

 

www.jerseyjaystaxidermy.com

[Lemmy]

 Stopped by Rob's  and saw the the racks... 

[not on the rug]

Don't do this. Ever. Don't draw a bow without an arrow. Ever. And don't stick a screwdriver in a cam. If you strain the cam at all and it blows up on you, you could get seriously injured

 

In a pinch you can use a ratchet strap or tie down strap to compress the limbs and take a little stress off the string. I don't recommend that either, but it's way less dangerous than most other ways.

 

There are plenty of $30-40 portable bow presses out there that will do the job safely. If you want to work on your bows and are a cheapskate, buy one of those

[JerseyJaysTaxidermy]

True, but a ratchet strap would put just about the same torque and pressure that this method would. Been doing it this way for ever.. no problems.

As for pulling a bow back without an arrow... if a guy can't hold his bow back without accidently letting it go, he shouldn't be hunting lol.

 

www.jerseyjaystaxidermy.com

[not on the rug]

True, but a ratchet strap would put just about the same torque and pressure that this method would. Been doing it this way for ever.. no problems.

As for pulling a bow back without an arrow... if a guy can't hold his bow back without accidently letting it go, he shouldn't be hunting lol.

www.jerseyjaystaxidermy.com

The ratchet strap would put the strain on the limbs and not on the cams though.

 

I agree about that though. I'd still never do it or recommend it to anyone though. Still leaves the opportunity for a release to fail or something/someone to "slip" somehow and now you've blown up your bow. Not worth the risk in my opinion. Then again, wtf do I know? Haha

[hammer4reel]

You can get away with pinning both cams. Doing so to just the bottom cam puts all the pressure on just the lower limb tips.

I wouldnt recomend it either,

 

Instead by a peep sight tool, or spin the d loop until you can get to a press

[Matty]

Jays way is ok, as long as it's not done at full draw. If you draw the bow back a short distance, you can use an allen wrench, screw driver, etc in the cam. I have done it in a pinch, but wouldn't recommend it....You could damage something or even get hurt if you don't use some sense....and I would never do it at full draw, that's really asking for trouble. Jay you made it seem like you're doing it at full draw. I hope not. that has the potential to end badly. I've seen bows dry fired to explosion, derail, etc...It's a lot of energy and something or someone is going to bend break or get hurt.

 

As the dude mentioned, there are some good cheap portable presses on the market, like the ratchetlok and bowmaster...Or you can make one, there are a lot of cool diy designs out there and some are simple and cheap.

 

Another tip is, if it's just the peep you need to move, or split the string, when you draw back, the cables take most of the load and the string is actually easy to split at full draw. No need to stop the cam if you have two people. One guy holds at full draw the other splits the string and inserts the peep. That works in a pinch too.

Just be careful of course and you really have to watch drawing some of these newer bows with fingers. The low letoff and skinny cams allow for much easier derailing.

 

Bows are definitely not rocket science, if you're a serious bow hunter, I would expect you to know how to work on your own, just be careful and use some sense.

[JerseyJaysTaxidermy]

Correct... full draw is not needed for my method.. although that's how I've been doing it, I actually thought to myself, after I made this post "why do I draw it back all the way, I'm sure a few inches will do the same"

 

So correct, it's the same finish product and probably the safer option

 

www.jerseyjaystaxidermy.com

[CJ3a]

Nice. Some times you have to make things work with what you have. I once cut up a library card and made an arrow rest while in a tree stand.

[Matty]

A library card arrow rest. Is your name MacGyver by any chance?

 

I think I can picture how you did it, but i'm not sure. lol

 

I do agree though...make do with what you have...it's a good skill to possess.

[smittty]

OR you can get yourself one of these  http://www.nitehawkarchery.com/My_Homepage_Files/Page1.html they are cheap  and can press anything  xbows to think I paid 130.00

[CJ3a]

Matty, I had a berger button and one of those flipper rest. The ones had use double side tape. Look down after getting into a hot stand and the rest was missing. Could go home and cry or getter done with whats in your pockets.

[beaverman]

I've never pinned my cams but I have seen this video on doing it 

if you only draw the bow slightly and the cams are designed where they have a cut out in the right location I guess it wouldn't be too bad.  If you have real thin spokes in a cam you could bend or break something.  I've made improvised bow presses with ratchet straps, chain and turnbuckles, etc.  and I would rather go that way but in a pinch pinning cams would work.  One manufacturer actually designed cams to be pinned like that but I can't remember who it was at the moment.

[JerseyJaysTaxidermy]

Good info there

 

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