Spoon Bending

[Susan Gerbic]

At TAM6 we were treated to a narrative from Teller explaining how to divert attention from a stressed spoon at causal gatherings. The spoons that Dr. W. gave us were all pre-stressed and you could see that clearly on the spoon.

What I want to know is how can you prestress a spoon without someone being able to tell just by glancing at it. I know that when you are doing the trick you hold your fingers over the stress part so no one can see it. And before the trick begins they don't suspect that anything is strange about the spoon until you pick it up and start the trick.

But on the Johnny Carson show for example, Uri Geller was presented with a small table of spoons. Would it have been very clear to everyone that these spoons were not pre-stressed? Also when Uri Geller would perform on different venues they did the same thing, but he (one way to cheat) might sneek a pre-stressed spoon into the provided mix and pull it out as the one to be bended with his mind.

I have to do a small presentation to my Spanish class, and I thought showing people how it was done would be fun, and kinda easy to transulate into Spanish. The problem is that all the spoons that I am pre-stressing show they are pre-stressed. So how can that be a trick when everyone looking at the spoon can see the mark?

Am I missing something here?

Susan

 

[TobiasTheViking]

But on the Johnny Carson show for example, Uri Geller was presented with a small table of spoons. Would it have been very clear to everyone that these spoons were not pre-stressed?

In that case the spoons were not pre-stressed, and he thus didn't do the test.. that was actually a stunt be johnny carson and randi.

Also when Uri Geller would perform on different venues they did the same thing, but he (one way to cheat) might sneek a pre-stressed spoon into the provided mix and pull it out as the one to be bended with his mind.

I have to do a small presentation to my Spanish class, and I thought showing people how it was done would be fun, and kinda easy to transulate into Spanish. The problem is that all the spoons that I am pre-stressing show they are pre-stressed. So how can that be a trick when everyone looking at the spoon can see the mark?

Am I missing something here?

Susan

In this lecture you will see the clip from the Johnny Carson show, and also see how randi does the trick... then you can replay it(he also says what he is doing so you can follow it pretty easily)
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=4665376168764022836&q=randi&ei=yFpuSNjSMIm-igKpwtSpDw
btw, the rest of this show (randi at princeton) is really great

 

[Gromit]

At TAM6 we were treated to a narrative from Teller explaining how to divert attention from a stressed spoon at causal gatherings. The spoons that Dr. W. gave us were all pre-stressed and you could see that clearly on the spoon.

Bear in mind that in order to get 900 spoons stressed, Wiseman had to get them punched in a machine, which is why you could see the deep indentations. Stressing it with your hands is not nearly as noticeable.
Well, that's my theory, anyway.

 

[tkingdoll]

Bear in mind that in order to get 900 spoons stressed, Wiseman had to get them punched in a machine, which is why you could see the deep indentations.

Wiseman did no such thing.

Stressing them with your hands leaves a visible stress fracture, although the indentation on the TAM spoons was more noticeable, as everyone doing the video was in on the trick it really didn't matter. There is no close-up in the video.

To the op: the method I used for the TAM spoons can actually be done entirely from the back, which would leave the front of the spoon completely intact. I actually have a few prototypes like that but it would have taken too long so the back and front method was used for speed.

The only way to disguise any sort of stress fracture is to use sleight of hand, I'm afraid. My punch-from-the-back method is the only one I know of that leaves the front looking normal, though. Try writing a trick that involves you having the pre-stressed spoon, and giving your 'victim' a normal spoon. You'll have to figure out the rest yourself

PS, talk of the devil, the site is up:

www.spoonscience.com/

There's a video on there of the 'science of spoon bending' which explains what happens when you stress fracture a spoon, and of course the video of the event itself.

 

[DrugFreeAlcoholic]

When I do this trick, I use Walmart spoons. 5 low quality spoons for $1, and they're very easy to fracture.

Also, here's a website with Randi videos translated into Spanish: http://www.geocities.com/drugfreealcoholic

Scroll down towards the bottom.

 

[Senex]

I don't believe I am breaking any rules by saying that during the hieght of the Uri Geller spoon bending fad I purchased a unique spoon bending trick from Lou Tannen's magic store. It was bending, broken and restored spoon.

It consisted of a real spoon and a partial gimmick. I bought it blindly and looked at the instructions and laughed and said I could never pull this off. It's in my parent's attic never even practiced once. With the renewed interest in spoon bending I bet the twist of the restoration will catch people by surprise. I think I'm good at misdirection but I'm clumsy at difficult sleights. This one is a hummdinger to pull off.

 

[HeyLeroy]

I have a good one where the spoon 'bends' while wrapped in a hanky that the mark is holding. No gimmicked spoon needed.

I did it once for a bunch of kids and one smarta** little bugger asked me if I could 'unbend' it in the same fashion. I'd never done it before but I ad-libbed it and nailed it!

 

[DrugFreeAlcoholic]

I have a good one where the spoon 'bends' while wrapped in a hanky that the mark is holding. No gimmicked spoon needed.

I did it once for a bunch of kids and one smarta** little bugger asked me if I could 'unbend' it in the same fashion. I'd never done it before but I ad-libbed it and nailed it!

Was it Jay Sankey's spoon bending trick?

 

[treble_head]

if you're clever enough, there's a great spoon bending routine involving a baby spoon (yeah, those exist). very little preperation, and great pay-off. IM me if you want to know more. I figgered it out via the interwebs, but I am more than happy to share.

 

[The Professor]

Why is Metal bending still so popular? I just saw a cool video of a mentalist in Canada doing it, and the TV folks were AMAZED. Why are they still interested? Seems like "Old News" to me. (But) The Baby Spoon thing sounds fun.

 

[treble_head]

Why is Metal bending still so popular? I just saw a cool video of a mentalist in Canada doing it, and the TV folks were AMAZED. Why are they still interested? Seems like "Old News" to me. (But) The Baby Spoon thing sounds fun.

Metal bending has been and always will be impressive, as is most mentalism. The reason is that people who believe you are doing it with the power of your mind will try to repeat it themselves later, to no avail. Card tricks don't hold as much sway. They figure that there's SOMETHING there that they don't get.

If it was a good metal bending trick, skeptics will also try to replicate the idea, and if it's a good trick, to no avail. It's the simplest attemptedly replicatable effect that anyone who wonders, will wonder about.

Put it this way... Hold out a coin or a deck of cards that you produced, and give a dynamite effect, (god... I sound like Richard Osterlind), and people will go, "Well, it's his coin or deck..." They'll be impressed, but there's something lacking.

Pick a fork or spoon off the table at a restaurant and just DO IT, then it seems SO much more magical. You used a supposedly non-planted, non-gaffed thing and did magic with it. THAT is why it holds so much interest. Make the audience feel clever and then mess with them.

That's why the simple coin trick, "Scotch and Soda" is still really popular, and still one of my favorites. Make someone feel that they figured it out, or in the case of good metal bending, make them think they could figure it out, and then do something so different, they can't help but wonder.

 

[HeyLeroy]

Was it Jay Sankey's spoon bending trick?

Wow, I was google searching for an entirely different post and found this thread.

Yes, it was Jay Sankey's trick!