Making a well-worn deck

I'm looking for a way to make my decks have that well-worn, cozy, been used for decades kind of feel. I've been shuffling some of my decks for what seems like eternity only to find that still have that new plastic coating nearly intact. I've even tried to rub a card on some cloth to try and wear it out a little more and this still didn't help.

Is there a way? A way to make these decks feel a little less like I bought them from Amazon and instead bought it at an estate sale? I don't want dirty cards, you know, dragged through the mud and washed clean.

I'd love a deck like this and am one idea away from getting fine-grit sandpaper and running it over the cards to see if this helps.

Any ideas on how to expedite this breaking-in process?

Oh boy oh boy, do I have something for this! Well. Maybe. Might be too distressed for your tastes.

My copy of the Ancient Italian tarot sustained some water damage on a lengthy bike ride, and half the deck was stiff and crinkled and impossible to shuffle. Had the *whole* deck been equally damaged, I would have left it alone, but half, ugh.

So I dunked the entire thing in hot black tea, spread the cards out to dry individually overnight, wrapped the stiff dry cards in fabric and shoved them under the wheel of a car for a day, and then wrapped the whole thing again and rubber banded it in several places for equal pressure...

I lovelovelovelove the end result. It shuffles beautifully and the whole experience is just so much more pleasing to the senses now. That said the process was scary at times and I wasn't sure it would work, so I ordered a backup deck immediately. Here's some comparison pictures.

http://imgur.com/a/4Dak6

As you can see, the deck is much thicker now. The cards are generally darker, and oh god I love the worn edges, personally. I'm seriously thrilled with this thing.

Wow!!!!! I think I got my answer! What a lovely looking deck! Your answer is exactly the kind of thing I was looking for; somebody who had actually done something drastic and came out with a BEAUTIFUL result. I wasn't opposed to experimenting on my own but now I feel encouraged to do what you did. How long did you leave the cards in the tea? By the looks of it, the cards retained their original color very well through the process.

Sent from my SM-G920P using Tapatalk

That looks excellent, bonebeach.

How long the tea soak takes (and how well) probably depends a lot on the stock and finish. I tried it once with a deck that had a very plastic-y finish that totally resisted liquids. Needless to say it didn't work very well.

Does anyone still have a link to how to "umbrae a deck"?

nisaba said:

Does anyone still have a link to how to "umbrae a deck"?

Click to expand...

Thank you, nisaba. I did a forum search and found this. Umbrae's post explaining the technique is about halfway down the page.

Let the breaking in process begin. I think I'll first do this method and then try doing bonebeach's method if additional results are desired. I'll post back here with my findings