Old State
4 of a Kind
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- Jul 20, 2016
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As many know I own a lot of cards from a lot of manufacturers…,Almost all of them. I came to collect so many trying to find an alternative to my hands down favorite card - Kem…but without the tendency to bow if not stored a certain way.
I haven’t recommended Kem for many years because of their price…but if you have them already…
IMO, there was nothing on the market years ago that could compare. Now, I’ve found Angels to be very very close…but they are hard to get and only come in one style (in acetate).
Recently there was a thread started by @maxim_666666 where he used warm water to flatten Modiano Acetate cards.
https://www.pokerchipforum.com/threads/how-to-make-acetate-cards-flat.127029/
I was interested in seeing of this would work on Kems…the most used cellulose acetate card in the US and basically the casino standard. I was skeptical it would work with Kems as they tend to bow when exposed to humidity.
Well, it doesn’t work. They stayed flat for about an hour then crinkles like potato chips. DO NOT put Kems in water!
Instead i tried to come up with a method using dry heat but clamped similar to what @maxim_666666 did. I noticed that my Breville toaster oven went down to 120F…so I found small aluminum stock and small clamps on Amazon and went to work
I used 2002 era use casino Kems I got that came bowed back in 2003. They were unplayable but I had kept them in case I ever fingered out a way to flatten them. Now - one thing to consider is that these cards could have taken a bow for traditional reasons and/or from being heavily shuffled by hand….so maybe not the most ideal samples to work with.
I found the setup would fit inside two baking pans that came with the oven so I clam shelled them inside as I thought is would proved a more gentle and even application of heat. I “cooked” them at 130F for an hour and a half.
I waited a couple hours to cool and took them out…..they were FLAT! They shuffled great however I did notice they had slightly less snap.
I was so excited to post my results here but decided to wait a couple days to see how they held up. Well they held up OK but not perfect.
Before the heat treatment they were terribly bowed along the “equator” so to speak. They remained flat but I noticed on day two they had taken a slight bow from pole to pole. This looks far more pronounce in this photo on a flat surface than when you handle them. They shuffle well and are now playable…but they are not perfectly flat. They dont have the “click” though you would expect so I think the heat definitely impacted the material.
I have one non casino used 2006 deck I found with a very slight bow and will try with those to see if the results are better.
Not perfect …but WAY better. I may experiment with a slightly higher temp …or longer “cooks”
I haven’t recommended Kem for many years because of their price…but if you have them already…
IMO, there was nothing on the market years ago that could compare. Now, I’ve found Angels to be very very close…but they are hard to get and only come in one style (in acetate).
Recently there was a thread started by @maxim_666666 where he used warm water to flatten Modiano Acetate cards.
https://www.pokerchipforum.com/threads/how-to-make-acetate-cards-flat.127029/
I was interested in seeing of this would work on Kems…the most used cellulose acetate card in the US and basically the casino standard. I was skeptical it would work with Kems as they tend to bow when exposed to humidity.
Well, it doesn’t work. They stayed flat for about an hour then crinkles like potato chips. DO NOT put Kems in water!
Instead i tried to come up with a method using dry heat but clamped similar to what @maxim_666666 did. I noticed that my Breville toaster oven went down to 120F…so I found small aluminum stock and small clamps on Amazon and went to work
I used 2002 era use casino Kems I got that came bowed back in 2003. They were unplayable but I had kept them in case I ever fingered out a way to flatten them. Now - one thing to consider is that these cards could have taken a bow for traditional reasons and/or from being heavily shuffled by hand….so maybe not the most ideal samples to work with.
I found the setup would fit inside two baking pans that came with the oven so I clam shelled them inside as I thought is would proved a more gentle and even application of heat. I “cooked” them at 130F for an hour and a half.
I waited a couple hours to cool and took them out…..they were FLAT! They shuffled great however I did notice they had slightly less snap.
I was so excited to post my results here but decided to wait a couple days to see how they held up. Well they held up OK but not perfect.
Before the heat treatment they were terribly bowed along the “equator” so to speak. They remained flat but I noticed on day two they had taken a slight bow from pole to pole. This looks far more pronounce in this photo on a flat surface than when you handle them. They shuffle well and are now playable…but they are not perfectly flat. They dont have the “click” though you would expect so I think the heat definitely impacted the material.
I have one non casino used 2006 deck I found with a very slight bow and will try with those to see if the results are better.
Not perfect …but WAY better. I may experiment with a slightly higher temp …or longer “cooks”
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