It's Your Serve

I don't know many bowhunters who re-serve their own bowstrings, and truth be told, I imagine many folks would be intimidated by the prospect of doing it. But trust me when I say it's not as hard as you think.

In fact, it's quite simple to learn this important tuning skill, which could come in quite handy should you find yourself with a loose serving in a remote location far from the nearest pro shop. The key to a good center or end serving is consistent tension that will hold the serving solidly in place for thousands of shots, and accomplishing that is easy with the new Bearpaw Bowstring Serving Tool from BCY Bowstring.

The Bearpaw's German-engineered frame is designed to hold a spool of serving material and features large metal knobs that allow users to easily adjust string tension to the desired level. Once the spool is on the Bearpaw, you simply guide the serving thread through the Bearpaw's stainless steel guide rollers and out the exit hole on the front of the jig, which features a small groove that fits against the string and allows you to quickly wind the serving on.

I tested the Bearpaw on my son's youth recurve and it worked like a charm. Once I had the first few wraps of serving around the string, I was able to take up the slack and quickly flip the Bearpaw around and around to add additional material without worrying about manually maintaining tension. The job was done in no time.

For the price of a Bearpaw and a spool of high-quality BCY serving material (roughly $45 total), this useful archery gear will pay for itself after you avoid just a couple trips to the pro shop.

Contact: BCY Bowstring, 697 Middle St., Middletown, CT 06457; 860-632-7115; www.bcyfibers.com

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