Hi all,

I've been playing with the corner short recently and thought some of you might find it interesting: https://th10111.wordpress.com/2018/06/09/the-corner-short/

:)

TH

That's fascinating! Great discovery.

Thanks- Good read. I just did a search last week on the s**rt card - and this is a good reference. The example was fun as well. A couple of questions - are you using nail trimmers? Do you do both ends?

Thanks

Hi TH10111 - very cool! Great discovery. I'm giving this a shot.

Do you ever find that spectators notice the unusual corners? Since I know about it, I can't help but see it when I look at a corner shorted card. What's your experience in this regard?

Mike

I like to do my corner shorts on the jokers. That way I can take them out of play and have a “clean” deck later. I have a couple different ounces from Fiskar that trim the corner decent and easy to use but noticeable to me and the other is less noticeable but you need to develop more of a touch.

I am also experimenting with “scalloped” cards on ends or sides. There is a nice section in “Greater Magic” on “The Tuned Deck” dealing with multiple key cards. Aaron Fisher’s Conjuring Community did a nice lecture on “The Tuned Deck” that got me interested. I made a very inexpensive tool to trim the scallops. I got my idea from watching this linked video a while back when this was going around in the gagged and funky forum. Since this reminded me that I had the page bookmarked, I decided to order 2 sets of the curved templates. I searched several hobby shops locally and they all did not carry these. I grabbed mine on eBay for abou $30 total shipped (two sets @ $12 something plus shipping). I plan on using a razor rather than a file or Emory board like in the video. I will likely post my findings in gagged and funky after it arrives. I have a couple other tools I am playing with also.

REALLY cool!!!

Autocorrect on my iPhone didn't like the word's "punches & gaffed" I guess.

Great info in the link.

I corner short two cards and scallop two cards in my mem deck work. (I use a picture rounding punch from Staples for the corner shorts) It really helps me get around the deck quickly without having to look. I can still execute perfect faros, etc with the "work" put in the deck. To date, in over 15 years of doing this, NO layman has ever mentioned noticing the "work".

I prefer to use a marked, nicked, thick, slick, breather-crimped, corner-short card. Why take chances?

More seriously, I can recommend the Korner Short or Kornershort by Frank Comito - It's an excellent device for quickly and accurately making neat, identical corner shorts. It comes bundled with George Schindler's booklet Cutting Corners. It may no longer be in production, but several dealers still carry it.

Thank you everyone for the positive comments.

Ironjim, I am using basic corner rounders from arts and crafts shops; they aren't too expensive and will give you a consistent cut with very little effort.

Mike, I'm not a performer, so I haven't had any problems with spectators spotting the work... Likely due to a lack of spectators.

Poof-Daddy I have also experimented with scalloped cards, and used a template to try and get a consistent shape. I videoed some of the procedures I used here: https://th10111.wordpress.com/2017/01/08......ruction/
I look forward to seeing the results of your experiments


Emory, better to be safe than sorry!

I just realized that site was yours. I ordered (and should receive in a few days) the templates you recommended. My results might just be "very" similar to yours in that case. When I first saw the video a few months back, I went to a local hobby shop and they couldn't get those templates locally. Rather than ordering them from overseas (for me) I experimented with using 2 metal rulers and a couple tight clamps. I pushed about a 1/64" bit of the cards edge out from between the two and clamped it tightly. I then used a very sharp exacto blade and notched in at around a 45 degree angle (probably less) at about 1/4" in from the corner on one side and cut straight to middle of card. Then did the same from the other side to complete the cut. (then flip it over and do same to other edge). This left me with "short end scallops" that were only 1/64" deep and the corners were all "original" (the angle I cut gradually gets the depth so it does not look like a "chunk cut out". They work well and I was happy with it but I wanted to try the templates you found so I did order 2 sets (so I can make the 1 template).

If anyone wants to see some pix of what and how I was using as rulers and clamps, PM me your email for pix and a quick explanation of how I did those.

A few things:

First, George Kaplan's applications of the corner short in The Fine Art of Magic are worth your exploration.

Second, the Al Baker scallop short (which has been mentioned) will work on either the ends or the sides. Experimenting with the combination of scalloped sides and riffle shuffling can yield some worthwhile results.

Third, speaking of Al Baker, "Poker Face" (found in Magical Ways and Means) is an example of a scallop short trick with a small pain to glory ratio. (It's also a lot of fun.)

Fourth, the small pair scissors found on Swiss Army Knives is a good tool for scallop shorting cards.

Just thought I'd say, some of the oldest books have the best work on the corner short. Thanks for sharing TH!

AsL

I finally got my templates in the mail (from overseas) and went to a hardware store to get some very tiny nuts and bolts to connect them. I see many uses already beyond the fine scallop cut he does on the video as an example. I found a combination for helping make very fine corner shorts as well as a combination that is similar (in use only) to the very nice Card Splitting Jig by Eoin OHare. *** by combinations I am talking about using two sets of the Airwaves AEM025 Radius Scribing Templates, supplied by Hannants.*** You need to put two together of "X" radius with bolts to get different angles. The main template is explained in the blog and shown on the video. https://th10111.wordpress.com/2017/01/08......ruction/

It is a nice blog. I hope it keeps up and continues to expand as there is a lot of good advice for novice gaffers like myself that love to "tinker and explore possibilities".

The Vernon Chronicles Volume 1 has some great info on corner & scallop shorts.

Https://www.amazon.de/gp/product/B0076FJ7SS/

That's the best one for the job

Great post

Great resource post by TH10111

I have recently been using a couple of scalloped cards in my deck (using the C-system for a memorised deck) - I actually find the scallop is a much cleaner and user friendly "short". It is not detectable at all and suits the way I riffle cards (in the centre not the edge), but a very interesting article - thanks

Correction - I did mean corners not "edge"

I agree! Easily obtained by the magician on a budget.