talkmagic.co.uk

I've got a donkey-years old device I use as a card clamp, which I suspect started it's life as something else, like a flower press, or somesuch...

After a real bashing of a given deck, especially after doing tricks involving bridges or 'pressure' folds, I give the warped deck a couple of days in 'The Clamp'.

Amazingly enough, this little mechanical marvel sorts the cards out. Buckles, bridges, crimps, bends - all gone. About 2 days for a really bad deck and they're pretty flat again.

This is also invaluable for those sneaky little gaffed '2 as 1' cards, such as the Slither gimmick or Nardi & Moziques 'Entrapment Gold'. Just put them in the middle of the deck, clamp 'em, and they're flat as a pancake (are pancakes really the best analogy they could come up with for something flat???).

I've also got half a dozen 'Card Guard Superior' metal protectors. They sound expensive at about £9 a go, but they really do help, and they look the mutt's nuts when you take a deck out wrapped in one of these.

Basically, if your cards are your livelihood, you need to look after them. Gaffed decks are expensive - and most of the time the preventitive measures, such as the card guard, are not enough - and you need to resort to a card press.

I don't know where you'd get one - cards4magic.co.uk perhaps?
But surely, if your cards are getting dog-eared and looking more like potato crisps - get pressing!