How did Topps cut the cards?

[quitcrab]

Thanks
I worked as an art teacher. The old “printshop” had a guilllotine type paper cutter that was sharp, accurate and would use a huge lever to cut 5 inch thick stacks of paper. I can’t imagine cutting cards by hand all day

[nebboy]

Originally Posted by quitcrab

Thanks
I worked as an art teacher. The old “printshop” had a guilllotine type paper cutter that was sharp, accurate and would use a huge lever to cut 5 inch thick stacks of paper. I can’t imagine cutting cards by hand all day

Yes they used a large format hydraulic guillotine cutter. First each large stack started in a jogger to align all sheets then cut horizontal and the whole stack was rotated 90 degrees and cut again. They very capable of precise cutting but miss cuts errors are totally dependent upon operator skills. Printing and cutting waste or mistakes goes to the trash back then (today recycling).

[quitcrab]

Pretty neat to think about the process. Next the cut cards had to be fed into another machine and “ mixed” up so packs had to have a random sampling of cards.
If multiply sheets were stacked and cut at the same time the operator was picking up stacks of the same player.

[Balticfox]

"How did Topps cut the cards?"

[butchie_t]

Originally Posted by Balticfox

"How did Topps cut the cards?"

That is the O-Pee-Chee method right there.

ROFL

[Balticfox]

Originally Posted by butchie_t

That is the O-Pee-Chee method right there.

ROFL

O-Pee-Chee didn't even bother to sharpen the knife first.

[tulsaboy]

Originally Posted by quitcrab

Pretty neat to think about the process. Next the cut cards had to be fed into another machine and “ mixed” up so packs had to have a random sampling of cards.
If multiply sheets were stacked and cut at the same time the operator was picking up stacks of the same player.

One of the reasons that vintage packs demonstrate known collation is because the sheets were stacked in a normal order, and then when cut the stacks of cards went in a predictable order. Thus allowing someone who knows the collation to successfully predict the next few cards in a sequence.

kevin

[jmoran19]

Originally Posted by tulsaboy

One of the reasons that vintage packs demonstrate known collation is because the sheets were stacked in a normal order, and then when cut the stacks of cards went in a predictable order. Thus allowing someone who knows the collation to successfully predict the next few cards in a sequence.

kevin

I might know a little about collation LOL although it varies by type of pack (wax/cello/rak) and year.

My educated guess is the 264 card sheet was first cut in half then the 132 card halves were cut into 66 card blocks. From there probably vertical strips as mentioned already

John

[quitcrab]

I like many have seen 132 card sheets, but the sheets came in 264 cards ( a double sheet) that was cut in half?

[toppcat]

Originally Posted by quitcrab

I like many have seen 132 card sheets, but the sheets came in 264 cards ( a double sheet) that was cut in half?

Yup

[jmoran19]

Originally Posted by quitcrab

I like many have seen 132 card sheets, but the sheets came in 264 cards ( a double sheet) that was cut in half?

Thanks Dave, couple from 1971

[steve B]

Originally Posted by jmoran19

I might know a little about collation LOL although it varies by type of pack (wax/cello/rak) and year.

My educated guess is the 264 card sheet was first cut in half then the 132 card halves were cut into 66 card blocks. From there probably vertical strips as mentioned already

John

The strip I bought was the full height of a sheet.
Came rolled up in a box with no supports and of course got a little crushed. So it's got some damage.

[Mark17]

Originally Posted by quitcrab

Pretty neat to think about the process. Next the cut cards had to be fed into another machine and “ mixed” up so packs had to have a random sampling of cards.
If multiply sheets were stacked and cut at the same time the operator was picking up stacks of the same player.

In the late 1980s and early 1990s (junk wax era) there was a guy named Rick Starks who's company, called Steven Juskiewicz, bought sheets from Topps by the pallet, and then had them cut. I was told they used some sort of laser cutter. They stacked a bunch of the same sheets onto the cutter, then cut in one direction, then the other, and thus were left stacks of the same card.

So, in 1990, when I bought 800 sets from Rick instead of placing an order of vending cases from Topps, what I received was 792 800-count boxes, each containing 800 of the same card. It saved me a lot of money on sorting costs! And customers loved the cards because they had perfect centering and perfect cuts. You'd open one of those boxes and the card edges were all exact - perfect - and they shone like gray glass.

[Volod]

Originally Posted by quitcrab

Thanks
I worked as an art teacher. The old “printshop” had a guilllotine type paper cutter that was sharp, accurate and would use a huge lever to cut 5 inch thick stacks of paper. I can’t imagine cutting cards by hand all day

The kinds of guillotine cutters generally available to consumers are not much good for large scale jobs. After printing up a few sheets of replicards, my cutter did a reasonable job on the first few, but the blade quickly became just dull enough to leave a ragged edge if the handle wasn't manipulated exactly right on each cut. And, even using an industrial size cutter manually would get exhausting after a couple of hours, I would think.