The Genii Forum

You can see Eoin's web page description here:

http://www.theperfectshuffle.com/

This shouldn't matter, but Eoin sends you the jig in an Erdnase-Green case that has canvas straps. It looks great!

I've spent enough time with it to dull on of the three razor blades Eoin packs in the package. They're standard, old razors. I'd already picked up 20 of them before the jig showed up, in anticipation.

This device is not for beginners, or those with little patience for delicate, deliberate work. It is not a self-working device. It is a device of infinite possibilities though.

After creating a rather large pile of reject cards, I broke out the instructions Eoin includes. (you can read them on the website link above)

With that information and some patient repetition, I'm turning out any type of edge I desire. You can easily trim all four edges of a card. (you have to make four different settings with the jig). I've wanted a small stack of small (don't know what else to call them) all the way arounders for a while.

Bellys and Scallops are completely within this jigs range. It may take you some time to get four exactly the way you want them . . . or say three sets of four . . .

I don't believe I can make a full stripper deck with it right now. It will take me some time before I can make 52 identical cuts. I'm practicing though. NOTE: I suspect this is not the tool to make a normal stripper deck. I have one of Riser's rigs he described, right here on this board for that.

This device is an advanced tool for the card guy that . . .

is probably going to cheat people with it. I plan on making some gaffs to replace ones I've cut with less precise tools.

It does what Eoin says it will do. You must be patient and have some chops with hand tools. I'd get one if I were you. I suspect when he chooses to quit making them, they'll be impossible to find.

Kent

PS . . . This thing is a real innovation. The flaw in most other designs, an integral blade with scissor-types, doesn't exist in this one. Get a set of shim stock wipers on a wheel and you can make any freaking kind of stripper at any depth. It's a good deal at the price!

Kent,
Try this. Insert the card to be trimmed. Rather than placing the tip of the blade in the position illustrated in the docs, place the heel of the blade into position. As you trim the card, slightly pull the blade back towards your palm. This motion creates a slicing action rather than just a cutting action. You might find that you get a cleaner/smoother cut and that your blades last longer.
Jim

Jim,

I'm making progress. Gripping the card firmly, and slicing slowly seems to be working well. Drawing the blade as you described helped. I've upgraded my cutting tool though.

This jig is great. I've got an old straight razor that's hella sharp. It's longer handle is allowing me more control. Ten cards, then the steel on the razor.

Sharp is good. A jig that has the cutting edge separate really is a great idea.

KG

Kent,
Here you go:

http://www.bodytoolz.com/Barber-Horsehi ... Strop.aspx

Or

http://www.vintagestraightrazor.com/c=h ... -Felt.html

Jim

Nice Strop!

Nearly worn my dad's out. It's probably sixty years old. Don't think I need the Kangaroo strop, little price.

Shave a deck, strop. Shave five decks steel then strop. We're not sharpening the razor we're bending the fine blade back to perfectly straight.

As always James,
Thank you.

PS. This jig is a great tool. I can now do an entire deck. Where's that darned corner rounder I ordered from Lybrary? I grow weary of hand-sanding the corners. Mighty FINE strippers.

Eoin has a new toy out -- a jig for making consistent breather crimps.

Wow--that site is really something. Some sneaky tools there.

Bill Mullins wrote:Eoin has a new toy out -- a jig for making consistent breather crimps.

The short review:

Fast shipping from Ireland to California (shipped on the 7th, arrived on the 11th). Quality design, manufactured extremely well. If you want to place a uniform breather crimp in a perfectly precise position on every card, this is your holy grail. You can adjust the crimp from fine to heavy (and anywhere in-between) as you prefer. Using it makes me feel like James Bond, with Eoin being "Q."

Tiny complaint: I wish there was a case, like the one supplied with the Stripper Jig. That quibble aside, the Breather Jig has my highest recomendation.

You can put an invisible breather crimp in with your fingers in less than 2 seconds.
I'm not sure why you'd ever want to put one into every card in an entire deck, as a breather is usually (but not always) a single card.

A breather isn't dependant on the crimp "being in the same place" on multiple cards.

Roger M. wrote:...I'm not sure why you'd ever want to put one into every card in an entire deck...

Eoin explains why you'd want to do that on his website.

Krenz wrote:

Roger M. wrote:...I'm not sure why you'd ever want to put one into every card in an entire deck...

Eoin explains why you'd want to do that on his website.

Indeed.
I read that.
It still doesn't really make any sense in terms of how a breather crimp is used.

Putting the work into every single card in the deck create a one-trick-pony, like the Invisible Deck.
Putting the work into one (or a few) cards can be done for free, more deceptively, and far quicker with just the thumbs and fingers.

The rationale behind this (other than as a collectible) escapes me.