talkmagic.co.uk

The Effect
The blurb:
Wizard FX Productions are proud to announce the release of Liquid Forks. This is something that magicians and mentalists have been demanding for years. Liquid Forks is the perfect accessory for anyone who performs any type of metal bending routine. Whether you perform routines by Banacheck, Streibler or even Osterlind this is for you!

Wizard FX productions have moulded and custom created the perfect fork for use with any metal bending routine. Liquid Forks makes metal bending easier than ever before so that even if you are new to the genre once you've learnt a routine you will be up and running in no time at all.

Cost

Best I have found is 19.90 for 50 units from MAPromagic:
http://www.mapromagic.co.uk/acatalog/info_M47433.html
Also from merchant of magic (go and click on their affiliate link, I'm sure there wil be one one the page somewhere!)
here



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)
Not really applicable, depends on the routine


Review

Not an effect as such, rather a prop for an effect. If you want a routine ook elsewhere but if you are looking for a source of forks for your metal bending read on!
I have been performing liquid metal for a year or so and as a resut I have been through a lot of forks. I read this thread on TM: http://www.talkmagic.co.uk/sutra412107.php
and avoided buying the liquid forks for a while as a result. Unfortunately my supplies of forks dwindled and the previously reliable supliers changed the composition/form of the forks I was using slightly resulting in a very brittle alloy which would break rather than bend- a nice effect in itself as metal bending goes but not what I was looking for. I then found what I thought were the perfect forks from Poundland, unfortunately they too became difficult to get hold of and so I bit the bullet and paid 20 pounds for 50 liquid forks (the poundland ones had been 2 pounds for 15).
Having had time to play with them I must say I am impressed. the forks themselves are simple table forks (closer to a desert size fork than a table fork but larger than a cake fork), better finished than most pound shop varieties with no rough edges. They bend nicely without snapping and when initialy handled by the spectator are firmer than the other forks I have used but still pliable if you have honed your metal bending. They are not an expert fork but a beginner may find them a little hard to work with.
The most remarkable thing I have noticed is that the process of bending appears to heat treat the alloy so that the metal is stiffer post bend. I have noticed a fair bit of heat from other forks during the bend process and these are no exception (I feel this adds to the effectiveness for spectators) but the change in pliability I have not come accross before. This increase in stiffness seems to make the resulting object even more impossible.

Overall
I have found these forks excellent to work with, I woud rate them 8-9/10 they would get the full 10 if (ironically) they had a more obvious pre-failure point for snapping.
at 40p per fork they are more expensive than pound shop forks but to me they are worth the extra.
Cons: as people have said before you may get a spectator saying "go on bend my fork" and present you with a very robust fork which you may not have sufficient mental energy to alter but a bit of patter along the lines of "I would but the last time I did the restaurant made me pay for the whole silver service and I really can't afford that any more" can help.

Edited to fix the link to Merchant of Magic

Having nearly smashed my way through 50 liquid forks practicing my liquid metal routine, I can honestly say these forks are top drawer! I was going to moan about them because I just couldn't perform the corkscrew bend and I'd got the point where I was ripping my hands to pieces. However, I decided to play around with different techniques and I can now did it with little or no effort - it's all in the wrist as they say!

They are expensive, but I've had some great reactions from liquid metal so I may see how much a bulk purchase would be?

I'm saying 10 out of 10 for all you mental bending lovers out there!!

(And thanks to Soveda for recommending them!)

K

Always good to pick up a few boxes from Blackpool so you're not paying postage.

russpie wrote:Always good to pick up a few boxes from Blackpool so you're not paying postage.

Good point!! I'll remember that for next time!!!

K

They are good forks. I bulk buy 1000 at a time at a slightly discounted rate. Best to practice with tougher forks though, for those occasions when people 'swap the fork when you're not looking to check what you are doing is real'!