Thread for serving

[whaynes]

What thread is best/recommended for serving?

                               Walt Haynes

[allanyed]

Walt

 

To what scale are you building?

 

One source of very fine material is fly tying thread available where such fishing materials are sold.  They come in different sizes and many colors.

 

Allan

[whaynes]

I'm making Cheerful, 1/48th scale.

                     Walt

[muzzleloader]

Walt 

I separate small thread into three pieces. It is tedious and the resultant thread is weak but VERY fine. I use a rope walk to hold the spindles that the threads are wound onto and untwist the thread my hand.

 

Mark 

[JerseyCity Frankie]

Actual serving stuff was made up aboard from old rope that had been reduced to its constituent yarns and then twisted up again, with tar added, to form a cordage that was as thick as a bootlace. After the service was put on it was once again painted with tar, which will soak in and leave some of the color of the original rope its made from, a dark brown. After it had been on the ship for a while, it would receive more coats of tar, eventually forming a crust, which was black in color. The service was put on as tightly as possible and the coats of tar tended to fill in the valleys between each turn of serving so in a scale model the serving should not look too much like a line with ribs along its length, so use thread that is not too thick. If you go too thin with your serving thread, you won't see it at all since it will be quite small.