woody, check out this site, it should help you out a lot.
http://applearchery.com/stringserving.htm
To answer some of your questions, I always use a jig when doing center serving. It is very important to keep an even pressure on the thread and a jig will do this. It will make the wrapping so much easier for you. They are not expensive at all, I' m sure you could get a good one for about $10. When I am doing a serving, I always place my bow on the press. don' t need to tighten it, but it will keep it secure. You will also need something to seperate your string from your cables. As far as knots, yes they will hold and are very simple to master. I believe that the site above will give you the knots.