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Disecto Arm Chopper (from MagicNevin.Com)

The Effect

Classic Arm Chopper. The blade is shown to run the length of the Disecto frame, a volunteer inserts their arm into the large hole, and carrots are placed in two smaller holes, one above the arm, and one below. Then, with a thrust, the magician brings the blade down, the carrots are chopped in two, but the volunteer’s arm is intact.

Cost £29.99 from http://www.magicnevin.com

Difficulty
(1=easy to do, 2=No sleights, but not so easy, 3=Some sleights used,
4=Advanced sleights used, 5=Suitable for experienced magicians only)

1 – very easy, you’ll get this as soon as you open the packaging, which is just as well, because the instructions have been translated from Indian, and don’t make complete sense…


Review

The classic arm chopper effect, on a budget. For me, that’s important, because I don’t have any money. I was looking for a trick to bring my show to a close, and this will do the job nicely. I’m not planning on putting anyone’s arm in it, but rather, as my act is for children, use my Rocky Raccoon as the unfortunate volunteer.

I was initially wary of buying an arm chopper so cheap, especially considering the price of some of the other ones, but I’m glad I chose this one for the purpose I’m going to use it for. It’s the perfect height to fit on my magic table, but I wouldn’t want to stand it on the floor. It may be a little big for close-up magic, but ideal size for performing in your, or your guests’ living room. As far as build quality goes, the quality is fair, kind of like MDF with a kitchen table top cover (melamine), with a wood pattern on it. The prop is solid, but lightweight, and the blade is sharp and strong enough to cut through a good sized carrot with ease. The small holes for the carrots at the top and bottom of the main arm hole aren’t particularly big however, so you would need to get pretty small carrots, or use mini corn-cobs or something instead. Conversely, the hole for the arm is quite big, so a fairly big hand would be able to fit in without any bother.

Also, if like me, you’re planning to use Rocky Raccoon, or one of his cheaper cloned offspring, the Arm Chopper is the perfect size to hold him, and maybe a silk underneath (to mop up the blood – red, to cut down on the dry cleaning bill!). As the blurb on magicnevin says, you could either play this for drama or for laughs, given the size of the prop, I think it’s perfect for children, because it’s not too large and imposing.

The gimmick is smooth, and is largely undetectable from the front, however, from the back it’s a different story all together. You would really need to blindfold your volunteer if you were using one, otherwise they are going to see how this is done, as it is fairly obvious from the back.

Overall

Not bad for the money, will stand up to a little wear and tear, and just a nice size (standing 37cm tall) for parlour magic. Nice to combine something like this with a puppet of some sort (Rocky Raccoon in my case) for a children’s show, but unless you’re going to use a blind fold, the volunteer will more than likely spot how it’s done. Full marks for set up, it’s clearly been designed to fit into as small a space as possible, and packs pretty much flat. Looks nice, but you gets what you pays for – the build quality is average (good considering the price though). Will stand up to a good few performances, could see myself having to paint the handle at some point though. Simple operation, can’t really go wrong with it, does what it says on the tin, but not exactly going to challenge David Copperfield’s Death Saw illusion just yet.
6/10 – offers good value for money, but the secret could be spotted easily by a volunteer unless blindfolded.

As for MagicNevin themselves – 1st class service. My initial e-mail enquiry was dealt with quickly, the e-mail was detailed and very honest, and the delivery was quick, and well packaged, especially given the recent postal strikes. Got an e-mail advising when the order had been dispatched too. I certainly won’t have any hesitation using them again, and would recommend them to others.
9/10 for MagicNevin.com.