Depends...

 

last time I heard, a shop near me, charges $15 a dozen, to cut, fletch and install inserts. that's if you buy their shafts. if you bring in shafts, I don't know what they charge.

 

We charge a dollar per arrow to cut (we usually don't charge nearly that much!), and 3.00 per arrow for fletching, plus the cost of vanes/feathers. Feathers are expensive to stock and we carry a bunch of vanes! That's a big investment. We charge 3.50 a dozen for points, if you bought the arrows from us, and 5.00 a dozen without arrows.

If our cost for fletching seems high...it is, but we HAVE to do a perfect job...every time! We HAVE to stock every vane and feather. We have dozens of Bitzenberger jigs and three times as many clamps.

Yes, it can be cheaper to do them yourself, but the initial investment can be more than most want to spend.

 

That does indeed seem very high to me. So for each arrow I buy, I pay >6$ extra to have them cut & glued?

I've never paid a single cent to have my arrows cut to length, at any store, and for the extra of a dozen arrows, you can buy a perfectly fine fletching jig (mine was 35€ and I've been using it for more than 5yrs and it's still working perfectly). Cutting the arrows is free anyhow and everything else doesn't require any tools.

At my shop it's 1.20€ to have your arrows fletched and points (+ nocks/bushing if necessary, like wooden arrows) glued in and I still do it myself because it's much better value for money to buy a fletching jig once.
A tube of fletch tite lasts me over a year and I fletch two of my friend's arrows as well.

I feel like somewhere around 15$ a dozen to do it all sounds fair TO ME, but then I don't run a shop and I don't know about all the expenses "behind the scenes" that most customers don't think about.
But honestly, I would never pay more than 1.5$ per arrow extra.

 

depends------high volume, low volume, hobby, for friends???? The more you do, volume = better cost of materials. To do arrows just now and then more expensive. Then there is the value of your time-----wages.
The shop I work at has 80 jigs, thousands of vanes and feathers in all sizes. A person that fletches an average of 8 hours a day 4 to 5 days a week. Buy glue in 5 gallon pails. 2 Cut off saws, a dip room then there is the stock of arrows again dozens upon dozens of many different arrows, in different spines. Then componets for each different arrow.
It's not a cheap endeavor.:wink:

 

It depends on many variables in one shop as opposed to another shop like Dale and 1955 stated. All you can do is talk to them...get a price quote.

My local shop is terribly expensive so I do my own. I have heard some shops are very reasonable.

 

Our arrows come with nocks and inserts, most come with vanes. If you buy shafts we will fletch for the cost of vanes, about $10 extra.
Cutting and insert install is included with arrow price.
If you bring in arrows from somewhere else I charge $1/ each to cut and install inserts.
Custom fletching is about $3 each depending on the vane you choose.
Feathers are much more expensive these days, not sure why but my cost has risen considerably so arrows with feathers cost more.

 

on a volume basis, it is a big investment. you can't fletch volume with one or two jigs, you need dozens of them, because everyone waits 'till now, to get new arrows for deer season.
the shop i used to shoot at years ago in West Allis, WI, had a big 'lazy Susan", about 4 ft. in diameter, with 48 bitz's mounted around it's periphery. i always thought that was a slick set up !. that shop, was owned by George Stadtler, the guy that made "Astro" bows, way back when. his manufacturing was in the Onalaska/La Crosse area, but he had the parts for "factory custom orders" shipped to his shop, in West Allis, for assembly. in the back of his shop, there was a wall, lined with small 4"x4" cubbies, that held all the risers and limb sets and a work bench at the bottom of it, where he would sit and pick the parts to build custom bows. a friend of mine bought the shop from George when he retired, and i had the pleasure of building my own "custom Regency" from parts that were still there, out of that very building station.! that shop was an old bowling ally and the "automated bunks" traveled up and down the allies with their wheels in the gutters, for guidance. one of the very first examples of automatic bunks, around.
doesn't sound so exclusive, today, but at the time, George was a innovative guy, in the archery world !.

 

My local shop charges $3 per arrow for fletching and $0.50 per arrow to cut. Not sure what they'd charge for field points - I guess it would depend on what points you buy.

EDIT: Note, those are their fees if you don't buy the arrows from them.
I have no idea what they'd be if you buy the arrows from them. When I've bought arrows from them - they were all pre-fletched and there was no charge for cutting or field points.

 

I think there lies the biggest difference. Shops have overhead. They have to pay people to do the work plus supply the the materials for the job also don't forget the electricity and insurances and taxes shops have to pay. It adds up fast. Were as a person doing it at home for himself or even a few buddies doesn't incur no where near those costs. So its always going to be cheaper to do a few custom dozen arrows at home vs a few hundred a day at a shop. Kinda common sense economics. ( no insults intended to anyone so plz don't take offense)

 

At our shop, a finished arrow is a finished arrow. A dozen custom arrows is the same as a dozen stock arrows. If you want a wrap you just buy the wrap. Cutting and inserts are included. Points are extra.

Now, if you carry all your stuff into the shop from somewhere else, it gets more expensive.

 

i looked into building my own arrows.with the cost of equipment and fletching it makes more sense to me to have them custom built by south shore archery.it would cost way more for me to buy the euipment and arrow components to cut,square,index and fletch my own.weight matching assembled arrows would be almost impossible to do myself.local shops in my area don't do the things south shore does to the arrows.when you ask about that type of service they look at you like you're from mars

 

2-3$ an arrow in my area for fletching vanes.

I bought a bitz 3 years ago for 35$ on eBay. I've fletched 200+ arrows using maybe 60$ in supplies but I also fletch other people's arrows for 2$ an arrow and do a better job than the shop so I break even on supplies.

I'm very glad I got my bitz!