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Korean Traditional Archery → Accessories → Silk bowstrings? (and serving)
Does anyone use silk bowstrings? How do they compare to modern synthetic bowstrings? (fastflight, B-50, D97, 8125)
Is there any information on how they could've been made traditionally?
Has anyone used hemp for serving? Should I get a serving tool?..
A serving tool by all means ............. unless you enjoy sitting for hours to serve a bowstring. 
I made something sort of like a serving jig out of cardboard. It might be enough, I guess, though I can't just spin it by shaking the bowstring.
Someone in a forum told me I was wrapping my serving in the wrong direction. What the hell? There's a right direction to wrap the serving?
...
(It wasn't even the finishing part, either)
I just don't like how expensive bowstring materials are. 3rivers was selling a spool of _nylon_ "serving material" for $70. Ridiculous. I guess some might be reasonably priced, but meh. I thought the $7 for the spool of braided/threaded/whatever nylon thread from the hardware store I got was expensive. But then I guess that works well enough.
Apparently thin fishing line, monofilament, is pretty durable
Might give this a try www.youtube.com/watch?v=S8ZwjSDd4j8
or just shell out the $20 or so on a serving jig. But I guess I don't need huge servings so doing it by hand should be fine as long as it's tight.
Dedicated archery accessories are expensive. Low demand = low production = higher cost.
Raw bowstring material IS expensive. Unless you go through a LOT of strings I figure buying one when you need it is more practical. That said, if you compare the number of strings you can build from a spool of bowstring material with the cost of individual ready made strings, it's most likely cheaper to buy the material and build your own.
Ready made strings and a spool of material didn't use to cost so much as they do today! 
Seems like a spool of silk is cheap in comparison. I might give it a try at some point (simple flemish twist?!??!), though it requires a lot of thin strands and prestretching..
I use B55, it's a dacron like B-50 but doesn't stretch as much (it's pre-stretched) and fairly cheap. You can get a small spool (enough for dozens of bowstrings) for $7
As for what type of string you should make, Korean of course. There are a few videos online but I find this one to be easiest to follow
Pedro, this would pertain to finger shooters. You want your serving to be wrapped so that your fingers would, in effect, be pulling it tighter around the bowstring when you're drawing the bow. For right handed shooters ...... "clockwise" ........ for left handed shooters ...... "counter-clockwise". For "thumb ring" shooters this would be just the opposite, but it may not be as big a deal since the ring is "slick" and would not be exerting as much (if any) torque against the serving.
I don't know if that'd loosen it from one side but tighten it from the other or not.
It was also a flemish twist string, so maybe it was supposed to be wrapped in the same direction as the twist.. the serving in that string is still holding up, though
The Flemish twist string would make no difference. The object is to put a tightening effect on the serving as you draw. Winding your serving in the wrong direction WILL cause it to loosen over time. 
+1
Korean Traditional Archery → Accessories → Silk bowstrings? (and serving)
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