Questions about serving rope.

[Norway]

Hi you all.

 

Serving the rope for the stay's from the mouse around the mast to the loop looks good.

Do you need a machine for this or can it be done manually by hand?

[Jim Rogers]

I don’t believe you could get a uniform look doing it by hand, you could try but keeping the same tightness and lay would be very difficult.  Chuck’s serving machine isn’t that expensive and works well.

[ah100m]

I've done it by hand many times.  Shrouds, stays, etc.  It's not that hard to keep the serving uniform.  Stretch the rope taut between two vises or similar, keep the rope and the serving line damp with diluted white glue and wrap it around.  Try it before you buy the serving machine.  You have nothing to lose except some time.  Works for lines around 12" long or less otherwise the serving line gets tangled around things and attracts the attention of the cat...

[BANYAN]

Hi Norway (first name?)

Depending on the scale you are working, you can do hand serving with a modified bow serving jig (string - as in archery - just google it, they are cheap).  The better ones are the sammler types and these simply allow you to maintain and even pressure which results in a very uniform finished serve.

 

cheers

 

Pat