Centre Serving

[Zippo]

Hi does anyone have a link to a site which teaches you how to do centre servings? I would really love to learn how to do them so I can re-do my own servings in the future, should they come off. TIA

[Jacqamoe]

Not sure of anywhere that shows you how to do it, but I was taught by Stan at Aim4Sport one day when it was quiet there after plying him with cups of tea 'n coffee. It's not hard to learn if you can find someone to show you like that and you'll probably find it easier than learning from a "how-to" site or the like... Learning from someone who knows what they're doing is great as they can see where you might not be going right and give you lots of little pointers you might not get otherwise!

[Zippo]

Yea thats probably true. I try to get my seniors to teach me but without much practice I'll end up forgetting how to do it very quickly so I thought that reading up a little before learning would probably help me remember and understand the process easier.

[N.Vodden]

i learned from diagrams like this one How to serve a Bowstring and just a little trial/error until i got it down to a T.

love making my own string now, its quite rewarding and a good experience to shoot a pb score with your own strings

[phillc]

good link from V nice and clear without six pages of waffle I may print a few copies off for post beginners that have an interest in making / repairing there own gear.

[Zippo]

Originally Posted by N.Vodden

i learned from diagrams like this one How to serve a Bowstring and just a little trial/error until i got it down to a T.

love making my own string now, its quite rewarding and a good experience to shoot a pb score with your own strings

Thanks for the link. But how do you start the serving?

[King Custard]

I'd never call myself a stringmaker- but I have done a lot of fine 'whipping work' - or serving (same thing)

Well honestly that picture has confused the life out of me - I have always finished off whipped things like fishing rod repairs, rod rings, quiver tips, and now strings by trapping a seperate loop of a finer material (like dental floss) under the last few turns- poking the cut, loose end into the loop and drawing the loop back and away to pull the end of the serving under the last few twists. - for a center serving's ends I'd prefer the loose ends to be trapped under 15 to 20 tight turns myself....hate the thought of it all moving, especially on a waxed string!

To start a whipping or serving -just trap the loose beginning end under the first few turns, at least ten to twenty say, making sure theyre dead tight and pulling on the starting end to really fix it solid... then just keep serving or whipping upto the end- trapping a seperate loop as above- and using that seperate loop to draw the finishing end back under and into the serving.

Another practical use of the loop finish:
Using this extra loop method is when serving in my beloved Bieter nock points - it means that I can very carefully cut the center serving in exactly the middle of where I want the nocking point - and still have enough serving to whip it in tightly without any extra serving and not even having to inch the serving up to make enough free serving material to do so.
Dead neat job and doesn't really even need a serving tool - a rubber band around your spool will stop it running too far should you drop it.
Just keep a consistent tension when whipping/serving for best results.

i'll look for some pictures of this- probably find them googling 'fishing whipping thread loop'

[King Custard]

www.fishing.co.uk

There you go pictures of finishing with a loop....just leave out the rod rings when doing your string servings

Thanks KC I'd forgotten about that, and I used to whip and backsplice with the best of em

[geoffretired]

There is a little book on sale called "Making Bowstrings". I seem to remember learning how to make and serve bowstrings using that.The simplest way is to watch someone else, but be ready to make one as you are shown. It isn't difficult; but it isn't difficult to forget either, if you don't try straight away.