talkmagic.co.uk

I was just wondering if anyone knew of anywhere I can look at making props for magic I'm an engineer I thought I would try utilise the skill

I suppose if you buy a cheapo prop you could make a better version using your skills as long as it isn’t for profit. Many moons ago I had one of those little plasticky box things where you stick a 50p coin in, put the lid on and shove plastic nails through it – it’s almost a standard in the cheapo boxes of tricks in various stores especially near to Christmas! I showed it to a guy at the engineering firm next to where I worked at the time and he said he could do much better. Fast forward a couple of days and he presented me with a beautiful version machined out of solid brass with chromium plated steel nails and it worked a treat. I used and treasured it for many years until some b@st@rd nicked it!

Gaffed coins are a possibility for personal engineering and I've seen rather swish brass version of finger choppers, arm choppers and so on.

Perhaps the main problem is that many of the metal props are relatively cheap to so making your own would be a labour of love rather than a money saving activity.