Having trouble understanding salvaging

Hey guys. I just need a bit of clarification with salvage kits and the different types. I've gone through the wiki and I still don't get a few things.

Questions:

#1 - There are normal salvage kits and expert (and beyond) salvage kits. Now, I know expert ones are used to extract runes and stuff like that, but can someone give me some examples?

#2 - Lets say I want to try and salvage bow strings or a bow grip, what kind of item do I need to salvage (i.e. light blue, purple, green) and also, what kind of salvaging kit can yeild these special items? Expert only?

#3 - What should dictate the use of an expert salvage kit based on the above questions? What do you guys do with your items?

Thanks in advance.

First: Salvaging is not random. Only upgrades that are on the item can be salvaged from the item. So, only a bow with a proper bowstring can be salvaged for that bowstring - not all bows have them. Identify the item to see the properties.

Second: normal salvage kit will convert any salvageable item into crafting materials, the upgrades can only be salvaged using expert kits. If more than one thing can be salvaged from an item, you will get a window that will let you select what you salvage. That will be salvaged, and the item may or may not be destroyed by the salvaging.

Third: Rarity of item determines how powerful the upgrades on it can be. For example, from a gold item with the appropriate inscription, you can get a +14% or +15% damage when health is over 50%, while a purple one will only have up to 13%. Another example: any item, blue purple or gold, can have an elemental prefix (making the weapon use that damage type), but only gold ones can have the zealous or vampiric properties.

A normal salvage kit (called just a Salvage Kit) can only extract normal crafting materials from items. Count this out usually.

Q1) Say you have an expert salvage kit, and a gold "Cruel Highlander Blade of Enchanting," with an incription "Strength and Honor," 15^50.
If you choose, you can click salvage on that highlander blade, and a menu will pop up, containing four options.
1. Salvage "Cruel Sword Hilt." This will give you a "Cruel" sword mod, which you can then put on other swords.
2. Salvage "Sword Pommel of Enchanting." This will give you a "of Enchanting" sword mod, which you can then put on other swords.
3. Salvage "Strength and Honor." This will give you the "Strength and Honor" inscription, which you can then put on any other martial weapon.
There will always be a chance of breaking the item in salvaging unless you use a Perfect Salvage Kit.

Q2) If an item (Blue, Purple, Gold) has a "of Something," you can salvage that off. If it has a prefix, for example, "Cruel," you can salvage that. If it has an inscription, you can salvage that. You would need an expert kit or higher (Superior, Perfect). You CANNOT salvage Green items.

Q3) Usually, it's best to only salvage perfect mods (see below), and if you want to definitely NOT break the item, use a Perfect kit.

See below: Perfect mods are: (common ones)
Suffixes:
+30 health
+20% enchantments
+7 armor vs elemental,
+5 armor
+7 armor vs physical

Inscripts:
15^50 (damage +15% while health is above 50%)
15/-10 (-10 armor while attacking)
15/stance
15/enchanted
20 under 50

Hope that helps!

salvage kit: used to salvage crafting materials
http://wiki.guildwars.com/wiki/Salvage_kit
http://wiki.guildwars.com/wiki/Materials

expert salvage kit: used to salvage inscriptions/mods/runes
http://wiki.guildwars.com/wiki/Expert_Salvage_Kit
http://wiki.guildwars.com/wiki/Inscription
http://wiki.guildwars.com/wiki/List_of_weapon_upgrades
http://wiki.guildwars.com/wiki/Rune

superior salvage kit: same as expert, but with more uses in a single kit (saves space, but less cost effective)
http://wiki.guildwars.com/wiki/Superior_Salvage_Kit

perfect salvage kit: same as expert, but has 100% chance to retain original item (the least cost effective)
http://wiki.guildwars.com/wiki/Perfect_Salvage_Kit

Salvage kit will ONLY give you crafting materials if you use it to salvage materials. To get rare crafting materials (which is random based on item) you need to use an Expert/Superior. Perfect Salvage kits will NEVER let you get materials from a salvage, as that requires the item to break, which a PSK wont' do.

Example:

You want to get Fur. You can get this several ways.

1) Buy from Rare Material Trader
2) Gather 4 Charr Hides and trade to the collector in Ascalon City
3) Use an Expert/Superior Salvage kit on several items (Charr Hides, certain armor drops, various monster hides)

When trying for Rare materials like Fur, you have a small chance of getting it. Usually you will get Tanned Hides instead of Fur, but you will only get Tanned Hides if you use a regular Salvage Kit.

Thank you all for your excellent responses!

Hey, that's a nice catch! I never thought of that! Of course, I'd never waste a perfect kit on materials, but good one of Anet to realize this. Imagine perfect salvaging obsidian armor chest pieces otherwise!

The answers above give a lot of good info, but let me clarify some of your specific questions:

As has been stated, you need an expert, superior or perfect salvage kit to gets mods off a weapon or runes/insignias off of armor. The colour of the weapon/armor doesn't matter. Generally speaking the better mods are on the gold items than on the purple or blue, but not always. For example, blue armor will often times get you more valuable minor runes than the superior runes on gold armor (and major Runes are seldom worth any more than 25 gold to the trader)
Green items are not mod-able and mods can't be removed from them.

You would use an ordinary Salvage kit when you just want common crafting materials from an item. Also, if you are just trying to make inventory space while on a farming run, you may want to only use a basic Salvage Kit so that you only get common materials to save space and expense. A basic Salvage Kit will always destroy the original item.
You would use expert/superior salvage if you are interested in getting rare crafting materials or are trying to remove a mod off a weapon or rune/insignia off armor. There is a chance that you may destroy the original item - but often times the original item is not worth much after the mods are removed.
You would use a Perfect Salvage Kit if you want to remove a mod off a weapon or Rune/Insignia off armor and you want to ensure that you don't destroy the original item. Also, if there are 2 (or 3) mods you want to remove, you would use Perfect salvage on the first one (or 2) so that the second (and/or 3rd) isn't destroyed along with the original item. Keep in mind that Perfect salvage costs (or is worth) about 200 gold per use - factor that into your decisions on what to salvage.

I never knew any of this!
Glad I dropped by.

Never knew where to get the Perfect Salvage Kits.