What could be causing my decks to warp?

nisaba said:

Riffling and bridging is what CAUSES damage, it doesn't cure it!

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Erm, how exactly are you riffling and bridging if it's damaging your decks?! It's all in the technique. Overhand or swooshing around puts the edges and corners at far more risk of knocks, whereas riffling keeps the edges from colliding, and keeps faces apart from sliding friction, which is especially helpful with gold embossed decks One could even argue that a slight bend in both directions keeps the card flexible enough to withstand warping. Think of it as yoga for them

Overhand has *never* made the edges of my decks come into contact with each other, whilst riffling not only does collide their edges on a regular basis, but BENDS them as well. <faints>

Sometimes I think that our definitions of what constitutes riffling and overhand are as various as there are members here.

The way I riffle, the edges go past each other, they don't collide. Whereas overhand, the edges do tend to knock together. And washing them on a table definitely causes the edges to knock together.

I think it is the humidity you describe, Midnite. I used to live in a really dry place, and my decks were all fine. Since we have moved to a humid place, however, my decks - regardless of how they are stored - are all mildly warping, some worse than others...

I hope once we are back to a drier climate, they will sort themselves out! Meanwhile, I use the gentle bending described by others here every time I use any deck. I have thought about buying some dessication packets, like the kind you find in new purses etc., and placing them with my cards...

Laura Borealis said:

Sometimes I think that our definitions of what constitutes riffling and overhand are as various as there are members here.

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The first twenty seconds shows a riffle, as I understand it. I can never get the cards to interleave when I do this with playing cards (I'd never do it with Tarot) - the corners butt up on each other. Also, notice how he bends the cards to get them to move at all? Not great if you can't throw the deck away and buy another one cheaply, as you can with poker cards.

I don't see how you can have a problem overhanding. With the bigger decks I simply hold it by the sides, not the ends, and use a longer, slower arm-movement.

Padma said:

I think it is the humidity you describe, Midnite. I used to live in a really dry place, and my decks were all fine. Since we have moved to a humid place, however, my decks - regardless of how they are stored - are all mildly warping, some worse than others...

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Thanks for that. I am starting to think the same thing. Almost magically since the storm passed my cards have become less warped and are now sitting relatively flat. I haven't used them, nor have I placed anything on top of them.

Padma said:

I have thought about buying some dessication packets, like the kind you find in new purses etc., and placing them with my cards...

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Great idea!

nisaba said:

The first twenty seconds shows a riffle, as I understand it. I can never get the cards to interleave when I do this with playing cards (I'd never do it with Tarot) - the corners butt up on each other.

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Wow, that is a beautiful riffle. So graceful and smooth. You can see, as you watch, that the edges are never colliding with each other. My riffling is similar, but I hold the two halves a little differently. Don't fret that your cards don't interleave with each other - it takes practice, I started with playing cards as a small child.

With the overhand shuffle, most of the time when I see people do it, it's like this (two examples)

https://youtu.be/VEqFfJ_wtUg?t=2m57s
https://youtu.be/dZph6KXvLKQ?t=56s

*winces* You can hear the card edges scraping, it's almost like fingernails on a chalkboard. I'm sure it contributes to chipping and peeling of edges. Awful!