Why is my string serving slipping?

[ajbruggink]

Hey guys, I've got a newbie question and I hope I'm posting this in the correct discussion area and here it is; I've started making bowstrings, I think I've made 3 endless strings now and I've made them all for a bow I made for a friend of mine but I'm having problems with the serving slipping, first it was the loops and now this third string its coming undone in the center. What am I doing wrong? Am I not wrapping the serving tight enough? The string material I used was suppose to be already waxed, it feels waxed, do I need to wax it some more? The only thing I can think of with the center serving is that this third string I made I thread the serving material between both sets of seven strands (I made a 14 strand string) before beginning my serving and on the other two I only thread it through one set and just wrapped it over. I also would like to fix the loop problem because the endless strings I've bought don't have the problems I've been having, I actually liked the endless string better because they didn't cost as much money. Any replies are greatly appreciated.

Thanks,
Aaron

[burchett.donald]

If your a finger shooter I would say it's not tight enough. You using a jig?

[ajbruggink]

My serving jig too big to use with my string making jig (a 2X2 with some nails in it), I have thought about looking for a smaller serving jig that can go underneath the strings better than the big fat one that I have now. Thanks for replying

[osage outlaw]

Sounds like your serving is to loose.  Either make a smaller jig or a bigger string string jig so you can serve it tighter.  You could also serve the center when the bow is strung.

[burchett.donald]

Osage outlaw tells the truth...If I don't serve my string while on the bow it will be loose every time...I do mine by hand now cause I use linen.
                                                                                                                      Don

[ajbruggink]

Thanks guys, I will pay more attention to how tight I wrap the serving. I think I have an idea of how I could make a serving jig. 

[osage outlaw]

Here is my string jig.  I started out making endless loop strings on it.  Now I make flemish twist strings and I use it to stretch the string and do the center serving.  I can adjust it to fit any length string I'll ever need.

http://www.primitivearcher.com/smf/index.php?topic=22919.0