How to do the swing cut

The swing cut moves part of the deck from one hand to the other in one smooth swing. Hold the deck from above in your right hand, lift off the top half with your forefinger, swing it to the left with your thumb as the hinge, and let it settle into your left hand. Rhythm matters more than speed.

What is the swing cut?

The swing cut is a simple card flourish. Wikipedia’s cardistry article describes it as a move where the deck is held “in biddle grip in the dominant hand” and a packet is “pivoted on the thumb” and dropped into the other hand. The process is repeated until the whole deck has moved across.

You’ll also hear it called a swivel cut. Writing in M-U-M in 1998, Tom Interval noted that “most card workers today refer to the move as a Swing Cut or Swivel Cut.” Wikipedia lists the two separately: in its swivel cut, the packet pivots around the forefinger instead of the thumb. Don’t worry too much about the names. The move below is the thumb-hinged version.

How do you hold the deck?

Start in Biddle grip. These steps are for a right-handed person, so swap hands if you’re left-handed.

• Right hand above the deck. Joker and the Thief’s guide says: “In the right hand hold the deck palm down; with the thumb gripping the short edge closest to you.”
• Forefinger on top. Your forefinger rests lightly on the back of the deck, ready to do the work.
• Left hand waiting. Hold your left hand palm up just below and to the left of the deck.

How do you do the swing cut?

1. Lift off a packet. Joker and the Thief: “With the index finger, break off half of the deck.” Tom Interval’s description picks off the top third, so you don’t need to be exact.
2. Let it hinge on your thumb. The upper packet stays held at its inner end by your thumb. Joker and the Thief says the packet should split and form “a ‘v’ shape, pivoting off your thumb.”
3. Swing it left. Use your forefinger to swing the packet out to the left, around your thumb. Interval describes the packet swivelling “to the left, using the right thumb as a fulcrum.”
4. Catch it in your left hand. Joker and the Thief: “Clip the swivelled packet in the crotch of the left hand, between the thumb and your palm.” Wikipedia simply says the packet is “dropped onto the other hand.”
5. Keep going. Swing off the next packet the same way. Wikipedia says the process “should be repeated until the deck is transferred from the dominant hand to the non-dominant hand.”

Once you can do it slowly, tidy the deck square in your left hand at the end. That’s the whole move.

What if it keeps going wrong?

• It feels rushed and jerky. Slow down. Interval’s advice for his swivel-style cuts is that “speed is not as important as rhythm.”
• The packet won’t swing freely. Check that your thumb is the only thing holding the packet’s inner end. Joker and the Thief notes that once the packet is clipped, “you can swivel the now suspended packet fairly freely.”
• Cards spray out of the packet. Our suggestion: lighten your forefinger. It should guide the packet, not squeeze it.
• You keep dropping cards. Practise over a table or a bed, so a slip costs you nothing. See our guide on how to practise magic for building a habit.

Where does it fit with other moves?

Wikipedia groups the swing cut with other cardistry cuts, and it pairs naturally with them. If you’re learning the deck from scratch, try these next:

• How to do a one-handed cut, the Charlier cut, for when you want one hand free.
• How to do the Hindu shuffle, a quick way to mix the cards before your swing cut.
• How to fan a deck of cards, so you can offer a choice of card once the deck is mixed.

What helps you take it further?

• Royal Road to Card Magic (eBook) by Jean Hugard and Frederick Braue. Its contents list flourishes, false shuffles and cuts, and a chapter of miscellaneous card flourishes, among many sleights. A 307-page PDF.
• Expert Card Technique by Jean Hugard and Fred Braue. Its description says it teaches the basic manipulations and the more advanced flourishes before moving on to tricks. A 448-page softbound, illustrated book.

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