How to Straighten Curved Cards?

Eron

Eron

Is back as of March 24
Member
Here where I live we have a BIG problem, curved cards...

You may be saying, everyone has! Yeah, but (I think) we really have a big problem..

As you may know humidity, moisture or weather changes bend Foil or Holo cards, and as everyone I hate that my cards curve.

I may post a picture of some of my curved cards later.

I just wanted to ask: How can I straighten them?

I read of putting some Silica gel in your deckbox or wherever you have your cards and that should avoid that your cards get curved.
 
Try putting your cards into sleeves and toploaders, and maybe letting a book sit on them overnight. And weather really is a valid factor in card curving.
 
I hear you with the curved cards.

The place I get all my cards is a building that isn't very well insulated or heated so there's always a lot of temperature changes, which result in the cards (packaged or not) bending. I can't tell you how many Dragon Vault sets I've opened to have all the cards curved. I've had the issue with a lot of other sets I've bought there as well.

What I've always done is I place them in top loaders and put anything with some weight on top. But sometimes cards go straight into my deck, so I have to get them to no longer bend in my deck boxes. I've solved the issue with getting slightly larger deckboxes, like the ones used for EDH Magic decks (100 card decks), and filled the empty space in the box with sleeves, seperated from the deck by a divider. allowing, as the cards begin to straighten, me to put more sleeves in until they're straight. This also solves the issue of "new" sleeves which have air trapped inside. Haha.
 
I have never tried doing the book one, but I have seen that people of my League to straighten them they "push" or bend the other side the cards is curved, for example if their cards are bent upside, they bend them downside with cards in sleeves. But I have seen that that doesn't work too much.

Still I want some other ways, since I don't read books and most of my books are no so heavy.
 
My cards curve if I don't put them in toploaders right away, and almost every Boundaries Crossed pack I open has a curved reverse card for some reason.

If I have a curved card I put ii inside a large book. Then stack other large books on top of the book and leave it for awhile. I use my Guiness World Record books and Ripleys Believe it or Not. I don't keep my ultra rares in binders since the snaps can crease the cards, I just have a stack of toploaders.
 
When I got back into the TCG early last year, all of my older holos were bent like crazy. I just put them back-to-back in a sleeve - their opposing curvatures would straighten each other out. If that failed, a big fat book to flatten them would do the trick.

That silica gel thing is a good idea - finally a use for those little packets that I usually would instantly throw out...

Anyway, to prevent curving in the future, sleeves+binders or toploaders are the way to go. Personally, I have little dehumidifiers in my room as well.
 
Yep, best way to prevent curving is to not let them sit out unsleeved. It's crazy the difference it makes. It's really rainy and foggy here right now, and I've noticed that a few of the holos that have been left out by my brother have just bent like crazy, whereas my sleeved cards are just fine. Go figure.
 
If I keep my cards in a 9-card sleeves inside a binder (each card is also in its own individual soft sleeve), but it can be hot and humid a decent amount of the time, will they still be fine or should I take them out and put them into hard plastic toploaders? Which would be better?
 
You'll probably still get some slight curving in the binder, but much less than if they were left out, of if they were in sleeves but not in a binder. Putting them in toploaders would get rid of the curving completely. It all depends on how much curving is acceptable to you.
 
Putting them in toploaders is the best, but will still allow for a bit of curving. My Xerneas EX FA was all weird when I took it out a few days ago, not curved like most holos do but all wavy (yeah, I suck at explaining). It's between some books now and I think it'll be fine. The weather here is being stupid and my room is always cold, I think that's the problem.
 
How to stop cards curving slightly and the ulitmate guard brand.

I know there is a thread about card sleeves but i couldn't exactly find my answer in there.

I have started to collect pokemon cards again and i wanted some advice on storing them.

I have been using 9 pocket pages by ultra pro and have been storing my cards in them to keep them safe. But for extra protection i have been using ultra pro pro fit sleeves, however i find them a little too tight. i have noticed that some of my cards have started very slightly to curve now bare in my mind this is a very slight curve on one side, but its only happened to my holo cards.

Is this because they are holo cards and are more prone to curve and is there a way to stop it. I have heard some people say put the card in a pro fit sleeves then a deck protector and then in the folder page. Would this fit easily and stop them from curving?

What is a good way to make them straight again?

Last of all, there is a new range of card supplies out in the uk from a German company called ultimate guard the products look sound but i was wondering if anyone has used them?

sorry for a wall of text
 
pokemonexpert22 said:
If I keep my cards in a 9-card sleeves inside a binder (each card is also in its own individual soft sleeve), but it can be hot and humid a decent amount of the time, will they still be fine or should I take them out and put them into hard plastic toploaders? Which would be better?
Click to expand...

I've kept my cards much the same almost 20 years now; when I got them, they went immediately into a sleeve and into my binder pages. They've been kept pressed together in my binder for many years over several moves. I live in South Carolina in the US, and it's ALWAYS humid and awful in some way or another, and they've been fine over the years. No signs of curving or anything. Now, I did notice when I went back to collecting that some of the sleeves I used had clouded. It may have been a chemical reaction of whatever the sleeves were made of against the residual oils left by my fingertips, and those I carefully removed and slid into newer penny sleeves. Some binder pages (what brand is MBW??? and some didn't even have a brand on them! ha!) had to be replaced with UltraPro pages I got for stupid cheap ($0.05 each) at a general store in the area, because they had "dulled" and showed signs of potential cracking and breakdown, but the cards themselves are fine.

Now, if you have old bulk, I'd suggest toploaders if you only have like, 100 (and these were like the non-holo rares from base set and jungle and so forth) but with the commons and stuff, I'd say boxing them with the silica is your better bet. Really, it all boils down to what space you have available to keep bulk; if you don't have enough space to accomodate how you'd prefer storing them, it's probably better to put the box on Craigslist and let ppl hunt it down for curiousity's sake ;)
 
mattynicklin said:
How to stop cards curving slightly and the ulitmate guard brand.

Last of all, there is a new range of card supplies out in the uk from a German company called ultimate guard the products look sound but i was wondering if anyone has used them?
Click to expand...

I've been using their Flip'n'Tray Deck box for a little while now, and the quality is pretty fantastic
 
Have you tried sticking the cards in a vice then winding the handle until it is tight? I know this may sound awkward but this actually may work if you put them in sleeves first. Never put them in bare or you could potentially damage the card(s). If you want the full card in the vice make sure you hold it underneath until it is fully in the vice before closing and make sure the cards do not get stuck in the threads while closing the vice. This is risky but if you are careful and done properly it will work.:)
 
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