Some of you have seen the guide from KildrinMagician over at thecuso.info, or at dananddave that I reposted. I figured I'd take the time to post some of my tips / my own guide here.
How to break in a new deck of cards;
Some of you may know, that when you open up a new pack of cards, whether it be bicycles, tally-hos, bees, etc. They feel great but they are so stiff and the edges are rough. I'll share my way of breaking in a deck of cards, and still having the NEW feel.
1. I was browsing through the forum on dnd, and found a post by somebody who happened to attend one of dan and dave's lectures. DnD taught how to sand the edges of the cards of a brand new deck to smooth the edges. How you do this ( or how I do ): grip the deck in biddle grip, turn your hand so the right long edge of the cards are parallel to the floor. Instead of having your index curls on back, put it on the left long edge. Get some jeans on, and press the deck down onto your jeans, begin to rub back and fourth. Do this untill you can tell a huge difference from the NEW side and from the SANDED side. Do this on all sides, and you can even do the edges.
2. Riffle shuffle the deck 20 times in total, 10 times face up, 10 times face down, every other time. Meaning; facedown, faceup, facedown, faceup, facedown, etc.
3. Spring the cards the with your fingers on the short side ( a normal spring ) 10 times faceup, and 10 times facedown, again following the pattern in step 1.
4. Spring your cards again, only holding the deck on the long edges, instead of the normal spring ( short edges ). Do this as told in step 3 only using the grip explained here.
(optional)5. This step doesn't have to be done, I personally skip this because sideways springs work just as well. Take your cards and do a one handed shuffle 20 times in total 10 faceup 10 facedown with the pattern again explained in step 1.
Repeat these steps untill the cards reach your desired flexibility and smoothness.
After breaking them in, place them in a porper ( highly recommended ) or under 40-50 pounds of books for about 2 hours.
What cards to use?
Good question. Personally I use standard bicycles for magic, because I don't see a need to buy higher quality cards when they last pretty long, and I get them really cheap.
For flourishers, I would suggest Tally-Ho's, they aren't too expensive and there really nice quality.
Here you can get 12 decks for 1.50 a deck:
http://www.filmart.com/cgi-bin/filmart/TALHPC.html
The decks are circle back, 6 blue 6 red.
General Care:
Most of you already know these general things, but for beginners or those who don't, here you go.
WASH YOUR HANDS! If you wash your hands with cold soapy water, and dry your hands completely afterwards, your cards will last much longer. If you don't was your hands before you practice, flourish, perform, etc.; your cards will absorb moisture and get dirty which will make your cards sticky fast.
When your practicing and you feel your hands getting sweaty again, wash them again.
When practicing Cut the deck many times, never leave the bottom card or top the same for very long, or it will get warped due to the warmth of your hands.
Joe Porper Card Clip
Okay, im not going to write a review for this. As I have said before, I would highly recommend investing in a Joe Porper Card Clip. The price is high as hell for a card clip but WELL worth it. When I got mine I was like " that's it?" but I left a crappy old deck in it for a night and in the morning the fanned and handled like new. I always have a deck in mine. Your cards will last AND feel better longer if you use one.
If anyone has any other tips or general things to add in, please post. I'd also like to hear from the theory11 staff of how they care for there cards / break them in,
. Let me know if I missed anything.
Other Tips from members:
KennanG: Don't touch your hair or face before or during you are handling the deck. Your hair and face contain grease which will start to wear your cards very quickly.
After working with coins, wash your hands or use hand sanatizer before you touch your deck. Coins are very dirty.
Travis
How to break in a new deck of cards;
Some of you may know, that when you open up a new pack of cards, whether it be bicycles, tally-hos, bees, etc. They feel great but they are so stiff and the edges are rough. I'll share my way of breaking in a deck of cards, and still having the NEW feel.
1. I was browsing through the forum on dnd, and found a post by somebody who happened to attend one of dan and dave's lectures. DnD taught how to sand the edges of the cards of a brand new deck to smooth the edges. How you do this ( or how I do ): grip the deck in biddle grip, turn your hand so the right long edge of the cards are parallel to the floor. Instead of having your index curls on back, put it on the left long edge. Get some jeans on, and press the deck down onto your jeans, begin to rub back and fourth. Do this untill you can tell a huge difference from the NEW side and from the SANDED side. Do this on all sides, and you can even do the edges.
2. Riffle shuffle the deck 20 times in total, 10 times face up, 10 times face down, every other time. Meaning; facedown, faceup, facedown, faceup, facedown, etc.
3. Spring the cards the with your fingers on the short side ( a normal spring ) 10 times faceup, and 10 times facedown, again following the pattern in step 1.
4. Spring your cards again, only holding the deck on the long edges, instead of the normal spring ( short edges ). Do this as told in step 3 only using the grip explained here.
(optional)5. This step doesn't have to be done, I personally skip this because sideways springs work just as well. Take your cards and do a one handed shuffle 20 times in total 10 faceup 10 facedown with the pattern again explained in step 1.
Repeat these steps untill the cards reach your desired flexibility and smoothness.
After breaking them in, place them in a porper ( highly recommended ) or under 40-50 pounds of books for about 2 hours.
What cards to use?
Good question. Personally I use standard bicycles for magic, because I don't see a need to buy higher quality cards when they last pretty long, and I get them really cheap.
For flourishers, I would suggest Tally-Ho's, they aren't too expensive and there really nice quality.
Here you can get 12 decks for 1.50 a deck:
http://www.filmart.com/cgi-bin/filmart/TALHPC.html
The decks are circle back, 6 blue 6 red.
General Care:
Most of you already know these general things, but for beginners or those who don't, here you go.
WASH YOUR HANDS! If you wash your hands with cold soapy water, and dry your hands completely afterwards, your cards will last much longer. If you don't was your hands before you practice, flourish, perform, etc.; your cards will absorb moisture and get dirty which will make your cards sticky fast.
When your practicing and you feel your hands getting sweaty again, wash them again.
When practicing Cut the deck many times, never leave the bottom card or top the same for very long, or it will get warped due to the warmth of your hands.
Joe Porper Card Clip
Okay, im not going to write a review for this. As I have said before, I would highly recommend investing in a Joe Porper Card Clip. The price is high as hell for a card clip but WELL worth it. When I got mine I was like " that's it?" but I left a crappy old deck in it for a night and in the morning the fanned and handled like new. I always have a deck in mine. Your cards will last AND feel better longer if you use one.
If anyone has any other tips or general things to add in, please post. I'd also like to hear from the theory11 staff of how they care for there cards / break them in,
. Let me know if I missed anything.Other Tips from members:
KennanG: Don't touch your hair or face before or during you are handling the deck. Your hair and face contain grease which will start to wear your cards very quickly.
After working with coins, wash your hands or use hand sanatizer before you touch your deck. Coins are very dirty.
Travis
Last edited by a moderator:
