Yeah I never made my own broadheads swampsnyper, so that's beyond me. I do know a person that did/does though. I was always more into the compound side, but enjoyed hunting with a recurve.
Scott, I hear you. I've been working on archery tackle since about 1995 and I've seen the good the bad and the ugly sides of it. A lot of "pro" shops try to make everything seem way more complicated than it is and they act like only they can do it. It's really not true at all. There's also a lot of "upselling" at a lot of places for stuff that is totally unnecessary and don't even get me started on how they "tune" bows for people.
In fact, this thread has inspired me. I'm going to try and put together a video for this site. I'll go over step by step of every single thing I do when I get a new bow, how I set it up for me, tune it, practice, etc. (may take me a long time, but I will try to put it together)
Also, Derek, look at making your own press if money is tight (cause no doubt nice presses are expensive, my last press was like $500, ouch and that's cheaper than a lot of the new ones) The simplest thing to do is get the split limb brackets for the bowmaster press and a ratchet strap. Instant portable press. If you don't do a lot of work on bows you don't need anything more than a bowmaster or ratchetlok press. I've owned/used both. They work great and are extremely handy to bring on trips too.
Oh and yeah I feel your pain on bad shoulders. Both of my shoulders are all messed up. I was told I would need surgery on my right shoulder for certain but never did it. It's gradually getting worse over the years, but I can still shoot most days. I just keep bow weights very low. My hunting bow is about 55ish I believe and my target bow is about 38 I think. It's not optimal for speed, but it keeps me shooting. I did come to a point where I couldn't shoot recurves anymore though because of the no letoff. That is disheartening, but I still have my compounds so I'll enjoy the heck out of them while I can.