Serving help

[Fattony77]

I need to re-serve a string or 2 of mine, but have never done it before. I have a serving tool and even a spool of serving material. I imagine that I could probably find a video on the Internet on how to do it, but I thought I'd ask here first.

What's the best way to take the old stuff off?

Any tips on the best way to re-serve?  

And, most importantly, I'm shooting Gold Tip arrows, what is the best size of serving material for a secure, but not too tight fit?

Any advice would be greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance.
-Tony

[Alexander Traditional]

There's a guy on you tube called Wheelie Pete. He has a really good video. He does it with a broom handle and rope so you can see it very well. I always go to it when I forget how to do it.

[A.S.]

Your serving size will depend on the string you are serving (material and strand count).

Carefully cut the old serving off with a razor blade....lay the blade almost parallel to the string and gently cut were the finish knot is.

[LBR]

Best way to take old serving off?  Very carefully!  Like A.S. said, try to find where the serving is finished off and the tag end is pulled through--it will give you a tiny bit of lee-way.  If you need serving, let me know.  I have it at a discount.

[crazynate]

Very very carefully cut it with a small razor blade and  unravel it by hand . Reserving is pretty easy once you do it a few times.

[bunyan]

I have some strings id like to reserve as well. Are you guys removing the old serving while the bow is strung, cutting it from a taught string or unstringing the bow first in case you do cut the string? It seams it would be easier but riskier to remove from a strung bow.

[lefty4]

Cut the old serving from the string while it is strung.

This is a good time to exercise care and patience.

[LBR]

I put mine on my stretching jig, under tension.

[Car54]

Good advice above...I always read to serve the string the same as the string. In other words, if your string is twisted clock wise, put on the serving clock wise. Hope that makes since. youtube.com is your friend. Good luck finding your right size serving.

[flyguysc]

Just measure the location of the current serving, cut with straight razor blade and unwind. Lay new serving in  place by laying a three inch piece along the string and wrap the spool over the the leader.Once you get about two inches of wrap take a pair of pliers and pull tight.Nip the over hang and continue to wrap. Once you come close to the end take a piece of serving scrape, double it into a loop and lay in place leaving a tag end and serve over for about one inch . Pull the wrap(about three inches)  serving, cut it stick it through the loop and pull the wrap through by pulling the tag end back through the serving,nip and burn with a lighter and you are done.

[Fattony77]

Thanks for the help, guys. I just did one of them last night and did ok (so far). I missed the mark a little bit and started too high on the string from where the original serving was, and went way higher than was necessary, but there's still plenty of room for my fingers underneath, so I think I'm good. I also watched Ryan Sanpei's video on tying on an adjustable nock point, it seems to be working great, too. Thanks again for all of your help. You guys are awesome.