cleaning playing cards help

Find out about the latest and greatest playing cards hitting the market.
darkinertia
Member
Member
Posts: 104
Joined: Mon Nov 12, 2012 11:52 pm

cleaning playing cards help

Unread post by darkinertia »

so my brother gave me his older wynn deck and although i completely love it, its pretty damn nasty. theres a lot of dirt on the sides of it and it gets to the point where if i play with it for more than 20 mins, itll have problems squaring up.

is there a safe and effective way to clean a deck without ruining them? so far, im think i just need to through with a rag and ONE TINY drop of water but im not sure if anyone has found a safer way thats more efficient
Preformer19
Member
Member
Posts: 55
Joined: Wed Oct 03, 2012 10:25 am

Re: cleaning playing cards help

Unread post by Preformer19 »

darkinertia wrote:so my brother gave me his older wynn deck and although i completely love it, its pretty damn nasty. theres a lot of dirt on the sides of it and it gets to the point where if i play with it for more than 20 mins, itll have problems squaring up.

is there a safe and effective way to clean a deck without ruining them? so far, im think i just need to through with a rag and ONE TINY drop of water but im not sure if anyone has found a safer way thats more efficient
Hmmm...

99% of the decks I open are common, meaning I can just pick up more when I need to. I suppose you could pick up another Wynn, but that's a bit more costly.

Is it a brown Wynn? Or is it one of the violet or red ones?

I don't recommend putting any water on any part of the deck as that would most likely make it worse.

The only thing I can suggest is this: place the cards inside of the box, and place the deck inside of a plastic bag. Place the bag with the deck inside of it in the freezer for about half an hour, and then check on it. What this does (supposedly) is reduce the moisture in the deck, and make it handle a bit better.

I did this with one of my Bee's and it worked pretty good.

-Pre
darkinertia
Member
Member
Posts: 104
Joined: Mon Nov 12, 2012 11:52 pm

Re: cleaning playing cards help

Unread post by darkinertia »

wow thats actually a pretty interesting idea, i might try that the next time

i actually went through with cleaning off each card, one by one...i literally only used about 10 drops of water and dried them out quick if i was able to see water on the cards at all, probably less moisture than my hands generate from flourishing lol. it actually turned out amazing! the edges are a tad bit lighter and theres not nearly as much darkening on the edges of the front and back of the cards, and they handle just like my other wynn deck now.

id say if your really attached to a deck or if its one that you just cant give up, go ahead and try it out.i dont see anything bad that came from it,i thought it might make them worst for fanning than they already are but it didnt effect that at all surprisingly. one tip, dont scrub too hard or youll start to take the finish off and dont use much water at all...i stayed away from directly cleaning the edges of the deck since its bare stock
User avatar
dazzleguts
Moderator
Moderator
Posts: 1499
Joined: Mon Sep 24, 2012 4:32 pm
Collector: Yes
Player: Yes
White Whale: Das Kartenspiel Des Oberdeutsc
Decks Owned: 885
Has thanked: 210 times
Been thanked: 142 times

Re: cleaning playing cards help

Unread post by dazzleguts »

I'm curious about this myself. I have done the very slightly damp rag cleanup, but really old decks, and many vintage decks, do not have enough of a finish to resist the moisture. Saw these on ebay:

http://www.ebay.ca/itm/The-AMAZING-Play ... 3ccd890e52" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Anyone have experience with one of these?
Worldwide Time Machine

"Cards from far off lands and bygone days!"
darkinertia
Member
Member
Posts: 104
Joined: Mon Nov 12, 2012 11:52 pm

Re: cleaning playing cards help

Unread post by darkinertia »

you know, i was actually thinking of using a magic eraser...isnt it the same as that?
vjose32

Re: cleaning playing cards help

Unread post by vjose32 »

Yeah I doubt that eraser thing works anyway.
User avatar
dazzleguts
Moderator
Moderator
Posts: 1499
Joined: Mon Sep 24, 2012 4:32 pm
Collector: Yes
Player: Yes
White Whale: Das Kartenspiel Des Oberdeutsc
Decks Owned: 885
Has thanked: 210 times
Been thanked: 142 times

Re: cleaning playing cards help

Unread post by dazzleguts »

darkinertia wrote:you know, i was actually thinking of using a magic eraser...isnt it the same as that?
If you are thinking of the Mr. Clean Magic Eraser, no it is not the same. Mr. Clean uses chemicals that I wouldn't want anywhere near my decks. If you are thinking of something else then please tell us what it is.

This person selling the card cleaning eraser seems dodgy. I asked, through ebay, about the free sample and they sent me 3 replies within a 20 minute period, all asking for my address, and the last one asking me to contact them through hotmail rather than ebay.
Worldwide Time Machine

"Cards from far off lands and bygone days!"
User avatar
MJF
Member
Member
Posts: 654
Joined: Wed Oct 10, 2012 11:51 pm
Location: Seattle, WA
Been thanked: 1 time

Re: cleaning playing cards help

Unread post by MJF »

Yeah, those Mr. Clean Magic Erasers caused me to repaint a door after "cleaning" it... would highly avoid using that on a playing card surface...
darkinertia
Member
Member
Posts: 104
Joined: Mon Nov 12, 2012 11:52 pm

Re: cleaning playing cards help

Unread post by darkinertia »

oh ok nevermind haha ive never actually used a magic eraser before, i was just taking a stab in the dark with that comparison. im not exactly sure if that eraser hes selling on ebay is worth it, but i might actually give it a shot...its not too bad of a price and if it works, it might come in handy once in a while, i wash my hands more than a guy with OCD so i hope i wont need it.

as i was looking up ways to clean playing cards properly i came across this little gem:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a2l8swEDsE8" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

i figured tarot cards should be cleaned about the same way right? WRONG! haha once i heard her say leave your cards in a bag of salt out during a new moon i quickly turned it off...check it out if you want a good laugh
User avatar
dazzleguts
Moderator
Moderator
Posts: 1499
Joined: Mon Sep 24, 2012 4:32 pm
Collector: Yes
Player: Yes
White Whale: Das Kartenspiel Des Oberdeutsc
Decks Owned: 885
Has thanked: 210 times
Been thanked: 142 times

Re: cleaning playing cards help

Unread post by dazzleguts »

I use a kneadable eraser in the studio that is very gentle to paper. You simply press the eraser to the surface and lift it away. By kneading the soft eraser, it is like plastic clay, and reapplying with a clean area made by stretching and kneading, you can lift more away until the paper is clean, or at least much cleaner. These erasers are available at most stationary stores, and all art supply stores. I was hoping to find something that worked faster, in one go instead of repeated application.

darkinertia, please let us know how it works if you do get a sample.
Worldwide Time Machine

"Cards from far off lands and bygone days!"
User avatar
chess
Member
Member
Posts: 135
Joined: Thu Dec 06, 2012 6:19 am
Has thanked: 1 time
Been thanked: 2 times

Re: cleaning playing cards help

Unread post by chess »

I used a razor blade to scrape off years of buildup on the edges of an old bicycle deck. I only scraped the edges and it did an ok job.
Post Reply

Who is online

Users browsing this forum: caniveski, Fenrir, kevork, Ocelot, PiazzaDelivery, shermjack and 75 guests