String servings - beginner's question

[Dave Kostick]

I am a beginner to archery. The serving on my string is unwinding. Do I need a new string or can this be repaired. If repairable, any references to how to do would be helpful.
This is a great forum. Just found it.

[Eberbachl]

Hi Dave, welcome to the forum!

If your string is not worn too badly, (ie no strands broken, you will be able to see this when you remove the existing serving) you should be able to just re-serve the string without too much hassle. You will need a serving tool, available for about $20AUD from your local archery store, and I would recommend Diamondback for the material in the center serving probably in a diameter of around 0.22, and if you are shooting fingers I'd go with mono serving.......

I've gotta run now, but I'll post some further instructions on how to serve later tonight......:)

Cheers,

Luke.

[Eberbachl]

Right, OK, where were we, hhhmmmmmm, .......how to serve! That's it!

Firstly, do you belong to a club, or have access to a good archery shop who can show you how to serve a string? I ask this because although I'm going to attempt to explain this it is a hard technique to convey through a keyboard (even if it is from my funky little PowerMac! :lol: If you are in a club, or can get to a shop, my advice would be to stop reading here, and go and ask them to show you. I learnt to serve because the guy in the shop I was in threw the serving tool at me and said, "you don't think I'm going to do it do you?" - thanks Noel.....

Anyway, I'll assume you've gone and got yourself a reasonable (read better than mine 'cause mine sucks :) ) serving tool, and some 0.22 Diamondback or whatever you've decided to use. If you're serving the center serving you will need to get the cable/s out of the way (assuming a compound). Many people buy a special tool for this......my special tool is a double piece of thin but strong nylon rope - the type you see on mountaneering boots as shoelaces. Firstly tie the cable down to the riser so your serving tool will spin 360' around the string without hitting the cable/s.

Next, either use a little string separating tool thing, or preferably put your bow in a press to relax the string enough to thread the end of your Diamondback (mounted in the serving tool already) through a separation of half the strands in your string.

Now, start winding with good tension (how much depends on practice and must be felt...the purpose of tension is to stop the serving from sliding up the string) keep winding your serving down the string, cutting the loose end of the Diamondback off once you have served about an inch or so, you will have started about say two inches above your nocking point location. Too close to your nock and the serving may separate and ride up....

Now simply keep winding with even but strong tension down to about an inch short of where you want your serving to end. This may be as much as 3-4 inches below your nock depending on if you use a finger or release aid release. With a release aid you can use less serving, making your string lighter and arrows faster.

hhhmmmm....got all this so far :roll:

Now for the tricky bit.....you must pull the serving tool away from the string towards you, then hold the Diamondback about a hands width away from the string, then take the serving tool back to the string making a loop. You will now begin winding the serving tool in the same direction of rotation the you have been already, but this time inside the loop, working towards the end of the new serving. Do this for about 20 or so turns, then pass the serving tool back ove the serving and hang off the end limb of your bow or something so it lies nicely along the string. Taking the hand that was holding the loop, you will now ind that loop around the string continuing the serving by hand. If you have done this correctly you will find that the loop is undoing itself and winding over the Diamondback alog the string still connected to the serving tool.

When the loop is unwound completely, you just wind up the serving tool until it is close to the serving, and then pull hard, drawing in the loop, and closing the serving for good. Now trim the Diamondback as close to the serving as you can without cuting it.

That's it! you're done! :D

Now cut it all off and do it again just for practice :)

There are many ways to do this, and everyone has their own little tricks. Most of the methods are fine, this is the way I like to do it and it does work very well.

If you can understand any of the above, you've done well! If not - if you're in Melbourne any time I'll happily give you a demo.

I hope this helps,

Cheers,

Luke. :wink:

[Dave Kostick]

Great description. I don't belong to a club - yet. But have a couple of good shops close by. My problems with center servings are not due to wear, but due to the ends coming undone, causing the serving to unravel. Two last questions -
1. Is it feasible to put a drop of glue - fletching glue or super glue - on the whipped ends of the serving to keep them in place, or might this glue have an adverse effect on the string underneath?
2. Is it feasible to crimp a second nock point at the bottom of the serving to prevent it from unwinding - or does the center serving have to be free to expand up the string as you draw?
(You can probably tell that I have had problems with center servings starting to come undone at the ends and am looking at how to fix in the field, as well as to prevent from happening.)
Again, thanks for your help on this matter.

[Eberbachl]

Hi Dave,

Yes it is feasible to put some glue under the serving to help stop it from slippin/coming undone. I have seen people use contact adhesive or similar along the length of the strin to this end, but personally feel that it only makes up for poor serving technique.

Also, there is no reason you cant use a nocking point as well, but this method only makes up for bad serving in the first place, and will add extra weight to the string, slowing down your arrow flight.

Practice serving well, and with nice tight consistent tension, ensuring that enough of the ends are whipped at both ends, and I'm sure you will have no more trouble with serving coming undone.

Cheers,

Luke. :wink:

[bobo21bobo]

Just had a new string put on and I am getting vertical travel from the serving. I use a release directly under the knock on the string. I plan on having it reserved but any advise on how to stop the travel is appreciated. I was using two brass knocking points one over the other but found that this was a useless technique with this new string. It did work with the old string.

[Eberbachl]

Hi bobo21bobo, welcome to AF!

There are a few things you can do to stop your serving moving vertically. The first thing I would do is use Diamondback as the serving material as it is tends not to slip as much as some other materials. Also during the serving, you can leave the initial tag of thread long enough to pass right through the whole serve which will resist movement also. Also, it is critical that you have enough serving above the nock to resist this movement too. How much is enough? I don't know exactly, but I guess I would use a minimum of 1.5-2inches above the nocking point. Lastly serve tight!

I've found if you follow these guidlines you shouldn't have much trouble. I don't suffer any serving movement problems at all on either my 60lbs target bow or my 70lbs hunting bow, and I use a rope release under the nock on both. I don't believe in putting extra nocking points, or glue etc to try and stop movement, if the serving is going to move, you should address the issue of why it's moving instead of putting band-aids on it.

Good luck!

Cheers,

Luke :)

[bobo21bobo]

I eventually took the brass knocks of and ended up tying my knock on. However this did not help. Due to my lack of experince and my lack of participating with my local archery shop I have to travel about 50 miles to a preferred archery shop and have not had the time to get it reserved yet. I keep tying on the knock whenever the travel gets to bad. I was hoping eventually that it would stop once enough of the serving got above the knocking point. Is it bad to have to much serving above the knocking point? say 4 or 5 inchs above and the equivalent below? I thought about using mono but this would be useless and to me is ugly. I mention these ideas so people can get a feel of what there options are. After tying on my knocks I now prefer that over using brass.

[Pete]

I don't shoot a compound but if your serving goes too high I think it may interfere with the peep sight. With a recurve you're not allowed to have the serving visible when at full draw because it can be used in aiming.

I've been using nylon serving, then changed to fastflight serving now I'm going to try monofilament nylon just to see what happens. Can anyone tell me what is wrong with mono. I seem to wear down the other sorts really quickly.

[Eberbachl]

Getting rid of the brass nocks and tying on a nock is a great idea, as they wont slip up the serving...and are very consistent. They will not however help to hold your serving in place. I beleive the serving slip problem will be fixed if you use the methods in my posts above. Monofilament serving material is fine, and I have used it extensively, but I would only use it with a finger release. I shot mono serving for around three years shooting compound barebow fingers, and the mono serving with a fur lined tab provides a very very slick and smooth release. I would not however recommend mono serving for a release aid shooter, as it is nowhere near as durable as Diamondback and due to it's slick properties will tend to slide up the string even more so than fastflight etc...I also belive that 5 inches above and below is far too much serving, and you will not gain any benefit by having this. The only thing you will achieve is that the string will get heavier and slow down your arrows.

I hope some of this helps,

Cheers,

Luke :)

[James Park]

I would definitely not use the brass nocking points. Much better to use tie on nocking points as Luke mentioned. In our National Championships in 1994 I lost over 50 points in two ends at 90M due to a brass nocking point failure and finished 30 points behind the winner. When I got home I took every brass nocking point I had and threw them all away. Never used one since. I have had no problems at all with the tie on variety.