You are Here:
Card Finish

Author (Read 2212 times)

Card Finish
« on: August 15, 2017, 05:52:31 PM »
 

davidjattwood

  • Newcomer
  • *
  • 1
    Posts
  • Reputation: 0

  • Facebook:

  • Twitter:
Air Cushion?
Magic finish?
Linoid finish?
Performance finish?

Can someone please explain to me the differences between these finishes?

Thanking you in advance
Host of the world's #1 magic podcast made specifically for magicians.....and muggles alike.
 

Re: Card Finish
« Reply #1 on: August 15, 2017, 07:37:59 PM »
 

EndersGame

  • Frequent Flyer
  • *
  • 845
    Posts
  • Reputation: 43
  • BoardGameGeek reviewer EndersGame
Air Cushion?
Magic finish?
Linoid finish?
Performance finish?

Can someone please explain to me the differences between these finishes?

Hello Dave,

Check the article I have posted here, which should answer all your questions about this in detail:

http://www.playingcardforum.com/index.php?topic=10265


NB: Forum moderator, this thread needs to be moved out of the "Deck Reviews" forum.
« Last Edit: August 15, 2017, 08:39:58 PM by EndersGame »
BoardGameGeek reviewer EndersGame =>  Playing Card Reviews <=>  Magic Reviews <=> Board Game Reviews <=

 

Re: Card Finish
« Reply #2 on: August 15, 2017, 07:54:27 PM »
 

Illusionists Foundation

  • Newcomer
  • *
  • 9
    Posts
  • Reputation: 0
All the finishes that you've named off are embossed finishes, so while they are different, they're not too far off from each other. Air cushion finish is the standard on the bulk of decks produced by Bicycle. Linoid finish is the standard on most Tally Ho decks. As best as I can tell, magic and performance finish are the most similar to each other. The basic truth behind these finishes is that (speaking from experience and the many decks that I own), the performance coat is the more slippery of the four (closely followed by magic finish), while the linoid finish is closely similar to the magic finish, and air cushion seems to follow last in the order of the four. I believe the reason for this difference is due to how much air each respective finish allows between the cards (with performance coat seeming to allow for the most air). It is also claimed that performance coat and magic finish allow decks to last longer than the average deck with an air cushion finish. This claim really depends on how you care for the cards, but I'd be inclined to agree with it.

That said, no, the finishes aren't all the same based on how the cards feel, but is there a huge difference between them to make one superior to the rest? Not really. Decks with these four finishes will handle relatively similarly, and in the end since all four are embossed finishes (rather than smooth finishes) any deck with a finish you named will fan, spread, and flourish without any issues. As a final thought, I'd focus more on how to care for your cards and what you can personally do to make them last longer than which of the four finishes is the best. The obsession with comparing embossed finishes with each other is overrated.
 

Re: Card Finish
« Reply #3 on: August 15, 2017, 08:22:41 PM »
 

EndersGame

  • Frequent Flyer
  • *
  • 845
    Posts
  • Reputation: 43
  • BoardGameGeek reviewer EndersGame
All the finishes that you've named off are embossed finishes, so while they are different, they're not too far off from each other. Air cushion finish is the standard on the bulk of decks produced by Bicycle. Linoid finish is the standard on most Tally Ho decks. As best as I can tell, magic and performance finish are the most similar to each other. The basic truth behind these finishes is that (speaking from experience and the many decks that I own), the performance coat is the more slippery of the four (closely followed by magic finish), while the linoid finish is closely similar to the magic finish, and air cushion seems to follow last in the order of the four. I believe the reason for this difference is due to how much air each respective finish allows between the cards (with performance coat seeming to allow for the most air). It is also claimed that performance coat and magic finish allow decks to last longer than the average deck with an air cushion finish. This claim really depends on how you care for the cards, but I'd be inclined to agree with it.

That said, no, the finishes aren't all the same based on how the cards feel, but is there a huge difference between them to make one superior to the rest? Not really. Decks with these four finishes will handle relatively similarly, and in the end since all four are embossed finishes (rather than smooth finishes) any deck with a finish you named will fan, spread, and flourish without any issues. As a final thought, I'd focus more on how to care for your cards and what you can personally do to make them last longer than which of the four finishes is the best. The obsession with comparing embossed finishes with each other is overrated.

I'm sure Don Boyer will chime in soon with his valuable and well-informed opinion as always, so I'll keep my comments brief. I appreciate Illusionists Foundation willingness to help, but unfortunately a lot of the information in the above post isn't entirely accurate, and perpetuates some common misunderstandings about these finishes.

Technically speaking, a finish is actually the embossing pattern on the paper-stock, while a coating is something applied afterwards. 
- Air cushion finish is a term Bicycle uses mainly in reference to their embossing but it has lost its specific meaning and they put it on virtually all their decks.
- Linoid finish and Cambric finish are terms dating back to when different production methods were used; Bicycle continues to use them because they are associated with their different brands (Tally Ho, Bee), but in reality today they are identical embossing patterns, and both would be considered "Air Cushion Finishes" by Bicycle. 
- Magic Finish and Performance Coating are simply different names for the same coating applied to the cards. 

I'd also suggest that Illusions Foundation check out the detailed article that I linked to earlier, which covers all of this and more, and should help correct any common misunderstandings:

Analysing the quality/handling of a USPCC deck: four key elements
http://www.playingcardforum.com/index.php?topic=10265
« Last Edit: August 15, 2017, 09:39:16 PM by EndersGame »
BoardGameGeek reviewer EndersGame =>  Playing Card Reviews <=>  Magic Reviews <=> Board Game Reviews <=

 

Re: Card Finish
« Reply #4 on: August 15, 2017, 09:33:04 PM »
 

Magic_Orthodoxy

  • Jack of Diamonds
  • *
  • 1,585
    Posts
  • Reputation: 117
  • "Simul iustus et peccator"
I want to win the award for shortest answer !!!

Air Cushion?
Linoid finish? ... are the same (it's the linen texture embossed into the cards)

and then

Performance finish?
Magic finish? ...... are the same  (it's an actual coating applied to the surface)

For the long answer - watch this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t_6bD9eRfu8
More Magic and Deck Reviews https://www.youtube.com/magicorthodoxy
 

Re: Card Finish
« Reply #5 on: August 16, 2017, 02:40:18 AM »
 

Don Boyer

  • VP/Dir. Club Forum/DAC Chair, 52 Plus Joker
  • Administrator
  • Forum Sentinel
  • *
  • 19,161
    Posts
  • Reputation: 415
  • Pick a card, any card...no, not THAT card!

  • Facebook:
First, a definition: a card's FINISH is the TEXTURE on the surface of the card.  It can have that texture many different ways - embossing, laminating, etc.  Many people confuse COATING with FINISH because of some of the trademark terms used by USPC, but the coating is just that, the laminate that goes on the surface of the card.

A very long time ago, back when USPC didn't have a corporate parent and was still an independent company (though they were still buying up every competitor in sight, practically from day one!), there used to be different finishes on cards.  Today, that's really no longer the case at that company, beyond the very simple distinctions of "embossed" and "smooth" stocks.

Why, you ask?  Simple.  Until some time around the 1970s, finishes were actually applied to the paper.  The coating used on pasteboard stocks to give them more durability also gave them texture because they were applied with cloth rollers, and just like the cloth rollers used by painters, they can leave a texture on the surface they're rolled over, unless you really lay on a thicker coating and make more than one pass.  Different cloths left different textures, hence the trademark names like Linen, Linoid, Cambric, etc.

The problem with using cloth rollers is that the cloth gets clogged quickly with the coating and requires replacement, slowing down production and decreasing efficiency in manufacturing.  Some time in the 1970s/1980s, this entire process was simplified by using an embossing process that's performed when the paper is created.

Pasteboard stock is created by USPC by buying large rolls of paper from paper mills and sandwiching together two layers of paper with a layer of glue in-between, glue that's been infused with graphite to give the stock a black core and make it opaque under bright light.  The amount of pressure used to press these two layers together is what creates differences in stocks today, and the rollers used to press them together are either smooth, creating a smooth stock, or have a fine, bumpy surface, creating an embossed stock with little pockets in the paper's surface that capture air when the card is gliding against a hard surface, such as a table or another card, reducing friction much like the dimples on a golf ball.

For all modern decks made by USPC in the past three or four decades or so, all embossed stocks are THE SAME on the surface, the only possible difference being the thickness and stiffness of the paper.  All smooth stocks from this period are ALSO THE SAME in the same ways that embossed stocks are the same to each other.

Does this mean that ALL PAPER EVERYWHERE used for playing cards is the same?  Nope...

Expert PCC does indeed make a difference in their stocks.  They acquire stocks that are embossed to different depths, with differing pressure and at differing thicknesses, thus making stocks that are genuinely different from each other in terms of surface appearance and how they perform.  Some of their stocks are also used by the Legends PCC, so they, too, benefit from these differences, though I can't speak for the stocks that Legends uses which Expert does not.

But back to USPC...

There's something they offer that's sold under a variety of names, the most common of which being Magic Finish and Performance Coating.  It's even been sold as Air Cushion Finish, though it's not the same as the basic, off-the-shelf Bicycle Standards sold at the corner drugstore.  For several years now, all custom card orders from USPC receive a special coating - the call it Magic Finish, but it's really a coating, NOT a finish - that gives the cards a slicker, more slippery feel.  The coating is distinct in that the cards are indeed more slick and have a sharper, more chemical smell fresh out of the box and even for some time thereafter (my second wife used to be able to identify that smell immediately when I opened a pack - she was actually fond of it).  To further confuse matters, this same coating can be found on embossed and smooth stocks, though it is far more commonly used on embossed stocks.

The theory behind why these cards have this new coating is that, like all US playing card manufacturers, USPC was required to conform to a new US law that went into effect around the same time they moved from Cincinnati, Ohio to their new facility in Erlanger, Kentucky (a suburb of Cincinnati on the other side of the Ohio River and closer to the local international airport).  This law required companies making playing cards to use papers with a higher post-consumer recycled content and to use inks and coatings that were devoid of petroleum products and easily, fully biodegradable.  Thus, all USPC cards manufactured today use coatings based on starch and inks based on vegetable dyes, something that most manufacturers outside of the US still don't do.  At first, they were having some quality control issues while adjusting to the new laws, but with the development of Magic Finish, the performance of their new decks increased dramatically.

Even their standard cards are somewhat better in quality than they were during the initial runs that came from the Erlanger plant, though some would argue that they're not superior to the cards manufactured in the old Cincinnati plant for a variety or reasons, not the least of which being lower production standards to mass-produce cards more cheaply.  But these are subjective opinions - it's something that's difficult if not impossible to measure objectively, and there are so many factors that can affect the quality of even a single print batch compared to another, or even two different decks in a single batch, that it's practically impossible to account for and compensate for them all to make a perfectly consistent deck from pack to pack, batch to batch, year to year.  The biggest issue a company like USPC runs into is the paper sources themselves - they don't manufacture their own paper, instead buying it from paper mills and using it to make their pasteboard.  Paper is a product that, at its core, is organic and impossible to make 100% consistent from batch to batch.  Factor in the issue of adding post-consumer recycled content and you further complicate the consistency issue.
Card Illusionist, NYC Area
Playing Card Design & Development Consultant
Deck Tailoring: Custom Alterations for Magicians and Card Mechanics
Services for Hire - http://thedecktailor.com/
Pre-Made Decks for Sale - http://donboyermagic.com/
 

Re: Card Finish
« Reply #6 on: August 16, 2017, 02:44:39 AM »
 

Illusionists Foundation

  • Newcomer
  • *
  • 9
    Posts
  • Reputation: 0
All the finishes that you've named off are embossed finishes, so while they are different, they're not too far off from each other. Air cushion finish is the standard on the bulk of decks produced by Bicycle. Linoid finish is the standard on most Tally Ho decks. As best as I can tell, magic and performance finish are the most similar to each other. The basic truth behind these finishes is that (speaking from experience and the many decks that I own), the performance coat is the more slippery of the four (closely followed by magic finish), while the linoid finish is closely similar to the magic finish, and air cushion seems to follow last in the order of the four. I believe the reason for this difference is due to how much air each respective finish allows between the cards (with performance coat seeming to allow for the most air). It is also claimed that performance coat and magic finish allow decks to last longer than the average deck with an air cushion finish. This claim really depends on how you care for the cards, but I'd be inclined to agree with it.

That said, no, the finishes aren't all the same based on how the cards feel, but is there a huge difference between them to make one superior to the rest? Not really. Decks with these four finishes will handle relatively similarly, and in the end since all four are embossed finishes (rather than smooth finishes) any deck with a finish you named will fan, spread, and flourish without any issues. As a final thought, I'd focus more on how to care for your cards and what you can personally do to make them last longer than which of the four finishes is the best. The obsession with comparing embossed finishes with each other is overrated.

I'm sure Don Boyer will chime in soon with his valuable and well-informed opinion as always, so I'll keep my comments brief. I appreciate Illusionists Foundation willingness to help, but unfortunately a lot of the information in the above post isn't entirely accurate, and perpetuates some common misunderstandings about these finishes.

Technically speaking, a finish is actually the embossing pattern on the paper-stock, while a coating is something applied afterwards. 
- Air cushion finish is a term Bicycle uses mainly in reference to their embossing but it has lost its specific meaning and they put it on virtually all their decks.
- Linoid finish and Cambric finish are terms dating back to when different production methods were used; Bicycle continues to use them because they are associated with their different brands (Tally Ho, Bee), but in reality today they are identical embossing patterns, and both would be considered "Air Cushion Finishes" by Bicycle. 
- Magic Finish and Performance Coating are simply different names for the same coating applied to the cards. 

I'd also suggest that Illusions Foundation check out the detailed article that I linked to earlier, which covers all of this and more, and should help correct any common misunderstandings:

Analysing the quality/handling of a USPCC deck: four key elements
http://www.playingcardforum.com/index.php?topic=10265

I've actually just been reading over your article, and it's very well written. I hadn't realized the USPCC had set things up as they did legally to end up with the coatings still having different names despite being the same thing. Aside from that, the decks I've been comparing the finishes on likely just had a more (or less) prominent embossed finish dimples, thus accounting for the difference in the ease of spreading despite the decks being recently opened. Correct me if I'm wrong, but as I understand it, what accounts for a deck spreading as well (or bad) as it does depends on how much air is allowed between cards by the dimples created by the embossed finish. The more air left in between, the easier and smoother the spread. Hence why decks with the same coating still have a different feel as far as how easy spreading/fanning is concerned.
 

Re: Card Finish
« Reply #7 on: August 17, 2017, 11:52:29 AM »
 

Don Boyer

  • VP/Dir. Club Forum/DAC Chair, 52 Plus Joker
  • Administrator
  • Forum Sentinel
  • *
  • 19,161
    Posts
  • Reputation: 415
  • Pick a card, any card...no, not THAT card!

  • Facebook:

I've actually just been reading over your article, and it's very well written. I hadn't realized the USPCC had set things up as they did legally to end up with the coatings still having different names despite being the same thing. Aside from that, the decks I've been comparing the finishes on likely just had a more (or less) prominent embossed finish dimples, thus accounting for the difference in the ease of spreading despite the decks being recently opened. Correct me if I'm wrong, but as I understand it, what accounts for a deck spreading as well (or bad) as it does depends on how much air is allowed between cards by the dimples created by the embossed finish. The more air left in between, the easier and smoother the spread. Hence why decks with the same coating still have a different feel as far as how easy spreading/fanning is concerned.

It is in part the pockets of air that are "trapped" in the pockets made by them embossing, but it can also in part be the coating on the surface of the card as well.  Consider this example - I take a golf ball and rub it against a hard surface.  It has little glide at all, really; there's some because it's made of a smooth, hard plastic material, but it's far from frictionless.  Take that same golf ball and toss it in the air and it sails freely and easily - sailing a further distance than a ball of the same surface area and mass tossed with the same amount of force.  The pockets of air reduce the amount of friction with the air itself, creating a glide characteristic that allows for easier travel in the air.  A playing card tossed to a player across the table by gliding it along the surface will go farther and easier if it has air pockets than if it's smooth - but there's also the hard-surface contacts, like the card against your fingers or against each other in a stack.  Sure, air pockets help to a degree, but so does the content of the coating - a slicker coating will reduce friction where hard surfaces meet.
Card Illusionist, NYC Area
Playing Card Design & Development Consultant
Deck Tailoring: Custom Alterations for Magicians and Card Mechanics
Services for Hire - http://thedecktailor.com/
Pre-Made Decks for Sale - http://donboyermagic.com/
 

Re: Card Finish
« Reply #8 on: August 18, 2017, 11:03:48 PM »
 

EndersGame

  • Frequent Flyer
  • *
  • 845
    Posts
  • Reputation: 43
  • BoardGameGeek reviewer EndersGame
Illusionists Foundation, I gather that you're a relative newcomer here, so firstly: welcome!

As I'm sure you've already figured out, Don Boyer is extremely well-informed and knowledgeable on this topic.  Among other things, his credentials include active involvement in the 52 Plus Joker organization, and being editor of the Card Culture magazine. So what he's shared in response to your question is reliable and credible.

I always appreciate his contributions and insights - thanks for chiming in and helping out as always Don!
« Last Edit: August 18, 2017, 11:03:58 PM by EndersGame »
BoardGameGeek reviewer EndersGame =>  Playing Card Reviews <=>  Magic Reviews <=> Board Game Reviews <=

 

Re: Card Finish
« Reply #9 on: August 19, 2017, 03:19:37 AM »
 

Don Boyer

  • VP/Dir. Club Forum/DAC Chair, 52 Plus Joker
  • Administrator
  • Forum Sentinel
  • *
  • 19,161
    Posts
  • Reputation: 415
  • Pick a card, any card...no, not THAT card!

  • Facebook:
Illusionists Foundation, I gather that you're a relative newcomer here, so firstly: welcome!

As I'm sure you've already figured out, Don Boyer is extremely well-informed and knowledgeable on this topic.  Among other things, his credentials include active involvement in the 52 Plus Joker organization, and being editor of the Card Culture magazine. So what he's shared in response to your question is reliable and credible.

I always appreciate his contributions and insights - thanks for chiming in and helping out as always Don!

I'm a past editor of Card Culture and an officer in 52 Plus Joker: VP/Director of Club Forum.  I'm also the Chairman of the Diamond Awards Committee - we're handing out our first annual awards in less than two months at the convention in Erlanger!
Card Illusionist, NYC Area
Playing Card Design & Development Consultant
Deck Tailoring: Custom Alterations for Magicians and Card Mechanics
Services for Hire - http://thedecktailor.com/
Pre-Made Decks for Sale - http://donboyermagic.com/
 

Re: Card Finish
« Reply #10 on: August 20, 2017, 12:46:32 AM »
 

willroya

  • 52 Plus Joker Member
  • Junior Member
  • *
  • 37
    Posts
  • Reputation: 0

  • Facebook:

  • Kickstarter:
Great info, I was aware of most of it but liked the details and the insights, thanks. I'm looking forward to attending the convention!