Tar tape?

[Tatheelrod22]

I have a gaff rigged schooner which I’ve owned for almost two years. I recently removed the traditional running light boards for repairs and refinishing and am ready to mount those again. There’s a pic below showing the port side Red one. When I stripped the old twine I noticed a black substance underneath. Is this some type of tar tape, and should I obtain some of whatever it is and use in reinstallation?
Also, technically when I do so am I “serving or seizing”?

[Phantom Jim]

The material is probably friction tape. Eric Hiscock used it with his rigging. It should be available at hardware stores. We used it on our baseball bat handles to get a better grip. Hiscock used it to preserve the tar on his galvanized wire.

[GordMay]

IIRC:
Serving is just another name for Whipping a rope end, to prevent the fraying, or unlaying, of the end of a rope.
Seizing or Lashing is when twine is wrapped around two, or more strands of rope, to hold the rope in place (together).
Grog’s Animated Knots will probably provide the definitive answer.
➥ https://www.animatedknots.com/

[Yellowtulip]

I thought that 'serving' was when a covering of twine was added to, perhaps, a galvanised shroud. It would then be treated with tar to make it waterproof. So a serving is a protective covering, a whipping specifically protects a rope's end and a seizing secures something. It might be used around a thimble in a halyard, for instance.
But there aren't many strict definitions in nautical terms, especially taking language differences into account.

[Off Trail]

Wrapping with cloth is called "parcelling"

Traditionally the grooves are first "wormed" with thin cord, then covered with parcelling, and finally served.

"Worm and parcel with the lay, turn and serve the other way."