★★★ Deck Maintenance Tips ★★★

[admin_noreply]

(Moved from .net)

I thought I would put together a small list of things to keep your decks of cards in the best shape for as long as possible. This questions comes up a lot especially from people that are new to Cardistry/Flourishing/Manipulation/XCM. So it will hopefully make it a lot easier for them to get this information in one place.

Wash your hands

Before you pick up your card make sure and wash your hands with soap and water. If you pick up a deck with unwashed hands the edges of the deck become dirty faster. This will keep your deck looking cleaner and more presentable for much longer.

Less contact with the deck

I know it sounds odd but when you are not using your deck for manipulation try to touch it as little as possible, rather than having it in your hand in dealing grip hold the deck at your finger tips. The oils in your hands as well as sweat and heat get transferred to your deck making it sticky and deteriorates the condition of the cards. So hold it at your finger tips or set it down when your not practicing.

Buy a card clip

After practicing for a couple of hours the deck gets bent in all kind of different directions and might get a bit warped from heavy use. I would recommend that you pick up a Joe Porper Card Clip to hold your deck when it's not being used. This card clip is designed to hold a deck of cards and maintain equal pressure around the cards, which will keep the deck from warping. You can also put some heavy book on top of your deck or use 2 pieces of Plexiglas and some clamps to apply pressure, but the Porper Clip is compact and is more portable than these other 2 options.

Breaking in the deck

Every one has a different way of breaking in a deck of cards, I'll share the way that I do it, but feel free to modify it and do what ever works for you. After opening a new deck of cards and removing the ad cards and jokers I like to start by doing a couple of moves to bend the cards and get the slippery feeling out of them. Spring the cards, follow with a lepaul spread, and finally a pressure fan, once you have done these 3 moves turn the deck face up and do it again. Add a couple of Faro shuffles and cuts in between the steps to keep the face cards from getting too much of the oils in your hands on them. After repeating this process a couple of times your deck should be good to go and not feel as slippery and stiff as fresh out of the box.

Powdering your Deck

This is just personal preference, whether you decide to powder you deck or not is up to you. For me after breaking in a new deck I go ahead and apply fanning powder to it. It puts the deck in the perfect condition for me to be able to do an large range of card moves, from fans and armspreads to 2-handed cuts and displays. It keeps my deck in the proper condition for a longer time ranter than getting a deck into the perfect condition with out fanning powder only to loose that condition a couple of days to a week later. I've had decks for 2 or 3 months that still look presentable and fan as nicely as they did the first time. Again this is just my opinion.

These are just some basic Tips to keeping your deck in the best condition possible but there are plenty of more out there. If you have anything else you would like to share please post it on the thread.

(Recopied with permission from Abe)

[laranovales]

Thanks for this post Russell


I've never actually tried to use fanning powder on any of my decks because I've seen what can happen if done incorrectly. So I just decide not to.

Anyway, is funny because when a new deck arrives in the mail and my mom and sister are there with me to open the package, they start cleaning and drying off their hands so they can ask permission from me to touch the cards or hold the deck. They are always so intrigued at the "slippery-ness" of the cards.

They know that I become really OCD when it comes to other people handling my cards hahahah!!

[lumpyliew]

Russell , is it possible to post a video on how to apply fanning powder to our cards ? I know there are many ways but hope you could share yours

[Russell]

Yeah, uhh, I wouldn't know what to do. I copied over that article from .net.

I play euchre with some friends, when the deck gets crappy I throw it away and open a new deck.

[MagikFingerz]

Russell , is it possible to post a video on how to apply fanning powder to our cards ? I know there are many ways but hope you could share yours

What I do is take a large paper bag, add a deck plus a little powder, close it up and shake vigorously. Then all you have to do is take them out and riffle shuffle and spring them a few times to get the excess powder off, and you're done.

Learned it from the Flourishman himself

[lumpyliew]

Russell , is it possible to post a video on how to apply fanning powder to our cards ? I know there are many ways but hope you could share yours

What I do is take a large paper bag, add a deck plus a little powder, close it up and shake vigorously. Then all you have to do is take them out and riffle shuffle and spring them a few times to get the excess powder off, and you're done.

Learned it from the Flourishman himself

Ok thanks a lot! Where do you get your fanning powder from and how much are they?, cause in my country , it's pretty 'rare'

[MagikFingerz]

Russell , is it possible to post a video on how to apply fanning powder to our cards ? I know there are many ways but hope you could share yours

What I do is take a large paper bag, add a deck plus a little powder, close it up and shake vigorously. Then all you have to do is take them out and riffle shuffle and spring them a few times to get the excess powder off, and you're done.

Learned it from the Flourishman himself

Ok thanks a lot! Where do you get your fanning powder from and how much are they?, cause in my country , it's pretty 'rare'

Bought it from somewhere in the US a long time ago, and have never used enough to have to buy it a second time

Found a pic of the one I have, but I can't remember exactly where I bought it.



Btw I found a Fanning Powder FAQ on old UC.net, I'll send it to Russell to post in a new thread.

[lumpyliew]

Can anyone like sell me 2 of those ? It's really hard to get them here ... PM me thanks !

[Russell]

I'll have the fanning powder thread up soon.

[decksparadise]

I agree that washing hands are the utmost important in maintaining a pack of cards.

[ibrahimjaber]

Thanks for the Tips
I know most of them due to experience
But these very great Tips for Beginners

[MagikFingerz]

Some more things to consider:

Riffle shuffles, bridges and springs can contribute to shortening the life span and usability of a deck, especially if not done right. The best way to shuffle a deck in terms of causing minimal "damage" would be a table faro without bridging the cards. If you do riffle and bridge the cards a lot (I know I do), make sure to bend the cards evenly. This means NOT bending them the same way every time; even out the bending actions as much as possible. Techniques that bend the cards in ways other then in the traditional riffle shuffle way (straight length-wise) cause more "damage", and if using these one should take particular care to even the cards out. A deck that has been "damaged" by this over a lengthy period of time, can be partially "healed" by being placed in a card clip (Porper) or some other device that puts pressure on the cards.

NOTE: "Damage" is in quotes because it is comparable to eating sugar. It won't kill you, but one can argue that it causes a slight amount of "damage" to your body. And it adds up over time. One shouldn't be discouraged from riffle shuffling any cards ever again though, since ANY handling causes "damage" to a deck in the same sense. This should be applied to the different kinds of decks in your collection - rare decks you want to preserve in mint condition should not be handled at all, nice decks you don't have too many of should be handled to maintain usability, and a-dime-a-dozen decks that you use for practicing can be handled in any way you want.

[shadowkat]

This deck maintenance list is a little advanced for me. I can barely spring the cards, much less do the lepaul spread or a pressure fan... any other tips for a very new beginner? Thank you.

[MagikFingerz]

This deck maintenance list is a little advanced for me. I can barely spring the cards, much less do the lepaul spread or a pressure fan... any other tips for a very new beginner? Thank you.

If you can riffle shuffle the cards, then that should provide a similar type of pressure/bending that should be sufficient. Especially if you bridge them as well.

[Gu357]

Great Tips! I have a few (cheep) practice decks and a few (more expensive) decks I use to do the tricks I manage to do without damaging the cards

[EvanEssence]

The clip is nice for one deck, any ideas if I'm trying to carry around two?

[Nocturnal]

The clip is nice for one deck, any ideas if I'm trying to carry around two?

Then , I would recommend two clips.

[Nocturnal]

Thanks for this post Russell


I've never actually tried to use fanning powder on any of my decks because I've seen what can happen if done incorrectly. So I just decide not to.

Anyway, is funny because when a new deck arrives in the mail and my mom and sister are there with me to open the package, they start cleaning and drying off their hands so they can ask permission from me to touch the cards or hold the deck. They are always so intrigued at the "slippery-ness" of the cards.

They know that I become really OCD when it comes to other people handling my cards hahahah!!

The quick washing of your hands and close examination of your hands for any specks of dirt. A single speck would send you scurrying back to scrub your hands raw. The awe and marvel you get as you first hold your deck while in the cellophane tape. Then you carefully and gently peel the cellophane tape back to expose the opening. The delicate cutting or peeling of the seal and looking for any embellishments you might have left on the tuck case surface. After making sure that there is not a single micro-dirt there(use of exaggeration here is purely to emphasize), you open the cover and pull the deck carefully out of it's tuck case. However, before you touch it, you remember once more to wipe your hands on your pants to clean the excess sweat on your palms. You gently pull the deck and cradle it in your hands like a baby(except the baby is bigger and kudos to no screaming,whining or cleaning of poop). You marvel at it's design, the simplicity of it, the feel of it as it holds you in a trance-like state. Then suddenly you drop it, and a long string of curses emit from your mouth. You faro-shuffle it a few times, riffle-shuffle..etc.. and you put it back it to the case to prevent it from deteriorating too fast.
~~This is my observation on how I handle my cards. I'm not sure how others are, but thumbs up if that's how you similarly feel when you're opening a new deck!!!!

[Line]

Thanks for the tips!I'm just learning how to do a card spring and i'm trying to get some distance without throwing them all over the room lol

Trying to do the Lepaul spread or pressure fan really makes my thumb ache.. I think I felt this when i originally started doing the spring so I guess this will dissipate over time.

Without this thread I would not have known the names of spreads and springs that I have seen before.

Thanks again!

-Line