The Genii Forum

For those interested in old card trimmers, I have just added 16 new pictures to the long web page. I may have to break this into several small web pages in the future. For now, you may see things at:

http://jamesriser.com/Magic/CardTrimmer ... rison.html

Enjoy.
Jim

Great information on the vintage trimmer and on how to build an inexpensive new one.

Thanks

Thanks, Jim. Your page on making your own was great. It was fun to see some of your collection, also. I saw a Porper trimmer at the MAgic Castle Swap Meet a couple of weeks ago and I believe that he wanted around $4,000 for it. Of course, you will soon be able to order the same "Porper" trimmer from China for $69.95 Whenever you post, it is always something interesting. Looking forward to your next.
Don Hendrix
Tucson

It's great to see pictures of all those old card trimmers. And your inexpensive card trimmer page was very informative. Thanks for sharing all this information!

Hi Don!

Bob,
Being interested in things mechanical, I enjoy seeing the design changes made to card trimmers over the years. The designers/makers were always trying to improve on the various adjustments.

Joe Porper has a still newer model out which utilizes a cylindrical cutter.

Years ago I considered making a Neyhart style rising card houlette which actually worked. This would require also making the special decks. For the decks I designed a cylindrical cutter as this type of cutter allows for precise positioning of the required tabs. Other projects seemed more important and I never got back to it. Perhaps someday. The Neyhart idea is good but needs a couple modifications to be practical. CNC makes the houlette bodies more easy to produce.

Point is that there lots of card cutter designs useful to magic and no where near all have been pictured on the web page yet.

The freebee inexpensive card cutter was put together for those who can not afford the real thing but want to experiment with trimmed cards.
Jim

Jim:

The plans for the Fiskars trimmer are fantastic. Thank you very much!

Steve H

Guys,
Here is some additional info that might be of use to you:

http://jamesriser.com/Magic/Card/Trimmer.html

It's an older web page but the info is still good.
Enjoy.
Jim

Thanks Jim - all of your posts are very informative and beautifully done.

Great info, thanks. Gave me some ideas to work on.

A number of people have asked me about other things to do with a trimmer set beside stripper decks. Here is one of my favorite tools made by the trimmers.

http://jamesriser.com/Magic/TrimmedKeyC ... yCard.html

Enjoy.
Jim

That's a great idea. I very much appreciate your contributions and workmanship.

Thanks for the info. I'm going to try and build your budget trimmer since there is no way I will ever be able to justify the amount of money a real trimmer can cost. Not that they aren't worth the asking price. I just wouldn't use it enough to make it cost effective.

Jim,
Another "Thank you!" for the information you're providing. There's some very useful and do-able stuff there!

Larry S.

I just stumbled on to this thread. Gotta tell you I love the info on a DIY card cutter. I may have to clear some space on the ol workbench and try it out.

Joe