Getting rid of that bend...

I'm not sure if this topic has ever been covered, as I tried to do a search and end up with a gazillion of threads either mentioning it in passing or simply being something completely irrelevant. I suppose "bend" being one of the search terms is a tad bit too broad around here...

Anyway, my issue here is about noticing a bend in your cards and how to get rid of it. I don't mean when you accidentally bend a card or get a crease in it, etc. I mean when your deck as a whole develops a bend... (becomes a hunchback?) I've never had this problem before until recently when I noticed that my Universal deck has a very noticeable bend to it. I don't treat it differently than any other deck... it's always kept well-protected, etc. My question is, does anyone know how to get rid of that bend?

I've tried bending the whole deck the other way (even rather forcefully) and it'd be alright for a brief minute or something, but then it'd always bend right back. I even try to do the bridge bending the other way whenever I shuffle the deck now (I don't normally do the bridge), but that didn't work either. Any ideas?

My copy of the Llewellyn deck came like that, I guess it's a manufacture problem. I hope someone knows how to fix this, Ocean Light.

Eowyn said:

My copy of the Llewellyn deck came like that, I guess it's a manufacture problem. I hope someone knows how to fix this, Ocean Light.

Click to expand...

That crossed my mind actually, except I thought if it was a manufacture problem, shouldn't that problem be applied to the entire batch made the same way? I guess it then begs the question of whether many others have encountered the same problem with their Universal deck (or in your case, the Llewellyn).

And yes, I really hope someone knows how to fix it too... especially since I've noticed that the bend has gotten worse since the first time I took note of it.

Well, one thing you can do is take each card, face it toward you with the bend backwards----in other words, with the bow facing you----and then, starting at the top, use your thumbs and fingers to gently bend it toward you, moving all the way down the card. This will gently encourage the bend to go away.

To keep a deck flat and not create a bow from shuffling and bridging, first of all----don't bridge! It may seem neat to feel and see, but it's not something to do to your cards if you want to keep them nice. Shuffle them, first with the backs facing you, then switching off and shuffling with the fronts facing you. If you do this about an equal number of times each way, your decks will lie flat on the table always. Not a single deck I have has any kind of bow or bend. They all lie perfectly flat on the table and that's how I shuffle them.

Ocean Light said:

And yes, I really hope someone knows how to fix it too... especially since I've noticed that the bend has gotten worse since the first time I took note of it.

Click to expand...

Oh that's too bad.

Yes, in my case, the whole deck is bended... Now that you started this thread, I'll put a good big book above the deck. And I'll keep it that way

I received an old 1JJ Swiss in a trade and all the cards were bent/ arched/ bowed whatever you want to call it. I put them under heavy books for ages and it didnt´t really solve it. then I did exactly what Grizabella recommended and it worked a treat. You have to be quite forceful; firm but obviously not creasing the card. Since then, they look like a normal deck again.

But now I have another problem;

What I have with my (Dal Negro) Mitelli deck is that when I bought it I loved the cardstock. It is among the best cardstock I have ever seen, but shortly afterwards, both the Devil card and Judgement arched. Only these cards. It´s really annoying as I can shuffle the deck as much as I want, but when it comes to cutting, the two arched cards give the game away completely. It drives me mad. It went from being a deck I really wanted to read with to being demoted back into its cardboard box and stuffed to the back of the shelf.

Ive tried everything, absolutely everything and those two cards refuse to lie flat.

My MG is becomming a hunchback, it's about time I rebent all the cards. I don't know what would fix a deep bend like that Le Fanu, this may be a horrible suggestion but what if they were damp and then reflattened under something heavy so they wouldn't warp? That's the only thing I can think of, but with old cards like that getting them wet might be worse than having them bent...

Grizabella said:

Well, one thing you can do is take each card, face it toward you with the bend backwards----in other words, with the bow facing you----and then, starting at the top, use your thumbs and fingers to gently bend it toward you, moving all the way down the card. This will gently encourage the bend to go away.

Click to expand...

I think I'll give your suggestion a try. I've tried bending the whole deck and also small stacks like how you described but didn't do it them individually. For some reason, I was afraid I'd end up with cards in different degrees of bend which just seemed worse somehow. But seeing that I'm pretty much out of options, I think I should just go ahead and try it. Thanks for the suggestion!

Grizabella said:

To keep a deck flat and not create a bow from shuffling and bridging, first of all----don't bridge! It may seem neat to feel and see, but it's not something to do to your cards if you want to keep them nice. Shuffle them, first with the backs facing you, then switching off and shuffling with the fronts facing you. If you do this about an equal number of times each way, your decks will lie flat on the table always. Not a single deck I have has any kind of bow or bend. They all lie perfectly flat on the table and that's how I shuffle them.

Click to expand...

I actually do shuffle and treat them as you described. The first time I've ever bridged my cards was with this deck, for the purpose of hoping that it'd bend back flat except it still didn't work. All my decks lie flat except for this one. I did get it via the trade forum here though, but the person who sold it to me said she had never really used them except to look through the cards. It arrived fine but started to develop that bend later on, so I don't think it had anything to do with it being a "used" deck either.

Eowyn said:

Now that you started this thread, I'll put a good big book above the deck.

Click to expand...

I tried that actually... for about a week. Did absolutely nothing- no change whatsoever. Maybe I didn't do it long enough, but I didn't have high hopes for it to tell you the truth. If bending them the other way rather forcefully didn't do the trick for mine, I figured just flattening them with a book wouldn't either...

Good luck with yours though... hopefully we'd both find working solutions!

Grizabella, your advice is timely and excellent! I had been told bridging was not good, but was never told why. I would guess that it screws up the finish, the way the card edges scrape along the surfaces of the other cards as they slide back into place.

Seems to me that decks probably sometimes warp just the way wood can do. Parts of the material expand or shrink at a different rate than other areas, and that's the result. That's why I also like G's suggestion on how to work out the warp. You're working the fibers in the entire card, and loosening them all up together, so it evens out. No idea of that's really why it works, but it makes perfect sense to me.

I just with it would work with some of the 2x4s out in my woodpile!

In my experience, cards are very susceptible to warping. I have many decks of playing cards and most of them are warped to some degree. However, it has never bothered me so I have never looked for solutions to fix it. I just think that cards, Tarot or otherwise, will always warp once they have been in use for a while. They are only perfectly flat when brand new.