Anyone have tips for cutting the deck into two sets of 26 cards? I've been practicing my faros for Darwin Ortiz's Comination Cull and for stacking the Tamariz stack. I can usually get a perfect weave, but most of the time I've got an extra card or two on one side.

Any ideas or references on how to do this more consistently? I've been playing with it for a few hours for the last few days and my consistency hasn't gone up significantly. (My shuffles have gotten a ton better, but still having trouble cutting equally).

I think i've seen this on one of my dvds, if I remember which i'll let you know...
but I think what it said is basically is put on a table a quarter of a deck, a half deck, a 3/4 deck and a full deck and look at them and feel them.
You'll eventually get used to how they look and feel and you will come closer to picking off half a deck when you try to.
It probably will take you months before you come anywhere near to perfecting it but to be able to split a deck into two equal piles without any sleights or gimmicks must be pretty sweet...

That's always what I dreamed of doing as a kid.

Also on Card College Vol. 4

use a crimp

There's no need to use a crimp. Just hold the pack square and, after you start to split it, look at the sizes of the two halves. Don't think about cutting 26 cards, think about cutting half of what you have.

The best way to cut a deck in half is practicing. I learned from just practicing Faro shuffles. IF you have your deck in new deck order, and are familiar with Faro technique then practice your out Faros and always remember that if you cut the deck 26 and 26 (from new deck order, giving the pack an out Faro each time) the order of the cards that will end up on the face of the top half is:
KC
AD
7C
4D
9S
5S
3S
2S

Also, just by getting the perfect weave of one over one (which is actually easier than the cutting exactly half and half) you can easily tell how many cards you are off by the look of the weave, so you can compensate for next time. As Juan Tamariz says about the faro shuffling. "If you can achieve 1 with confidence then you could do 4,6,8 in a row"

For me to get the faro perfect as far as cutting, it has just been a matter of years and repetition. I'm only ever off by 1 card, then it's the decision of a perfect under or over faro, depending on what I'm doing. Tamariz also has a section in Sonata on how to fix errors in the faro. Quite interesting...

How could I forget to mention Tamiraz!!!

Sonota is a great book. The topic wouldn't be complete without pointing out Elmsley's work with the Faro and correcting weave problems.

Bravesaint. I'm not too firmiliar with Elmsley's work on faro. Fill me in on some on info and/or books of his to check out.

Let me get back to you while I do some checking. Some of my books are still in boxes from the move.

I think it's safe to say that just about any Elmsley book will have Faro work in it, he was quite a mathimatical person. I'll get back to you with more specifics though.

I know it isn't as dramatic or as cool but don't forget about the anti-faros!!!! I actually do find them pretty cool too though how they work out.

Yea I had left those when I first saw them since they seemed klunky to me, but a series of two out faros, followed by a 3 anti-out faro, followed by another out faro is a really convincing looking shuffle. Especially if you use Tamariz's "Evil Tricks" to make the faro look like a non-perfect shuffle. This combination leaves the deck in reverse order, but that's desirable for a few tricks in Mnemonica.

I would probably use it at the beginning of a long routine. From the Tamariz stack you could displace the A of Spades to after the 2 of Spades, and cut it so the A is on front. Then put some advertising cards and the jokers in the deck. You can pull it out, flash the A and 2 while removing the jokers and advertising cards, then do the shuffling routine from above. Replace the A to the proper location and then spread the cards out face up to show that they've been "thoroughly shuffled" and begin the tricks.

I don't think anyone would doubt the cards were shuffled at this point. The only problem is that it takes a long time to perform, which isn't appropriate sometimes.

Elmsley was a genius. His work on the faro is definately some of the most revolutionary.

As Brave pointed out, anyone who is serious on the Faro should definately look into his corrections for mis-cuts. There's nothing lamer than seeing magicians picking through cards trying to get the correct amount. Also I have started work on his Binary translocations, which uses Binary code to control a card at any position in the deck to the top and vice versa, using a set smount of Faro shuffles.

Also worthwhile checking out his his work on his Penelope Principle. VERY Strong idea for any Faro worker, that he with held for years because it was so good.

In short, get Vol II of his collected works if you're interested in the Faro.

Get both of them. Best books on magic ever written, in my opinion of course


EDIT:

Oh and by the way - regarding splitting the deck. Just practice. It just becomes second nature after a while

Use a short-card 25 cards down.