Adventures in Slab Cracking

[jingram058]

Originally Posted by G1911

I've probably cracked a thousand+ slabs and completely ruined POP reports for a couple sets. I hate BVG slabs, they're a pain to crack. PSA is the quickest, I've found. I like my sets uniform and raw, some in slabs some not is annoying, and I'm not paying an unknown person to tell me what my card is and how nice it is. My eyes tell me that for free. They also take up a lot less space in cardboard boxes, with no slabs or sleeves in sight, all raw.

Completely agree!

[egri]

I keep going back and forth about whether or not to crack out what I have slabbed. If PSA/SGC/Beckett all kick the bucket that will make the decision easier, but for now I'm leaving them in. Back when I was more active sending out TTMs, I remember cracking out a few SGC slabs. The process was fairly involved; I recall wrapping the card portion of the slab in a towel and sticking it in a vise, then using a hammer and chisel to crack open the label part of the slab, and from there just tearing the thing open. This was the first card I liberated in that way (unsigned at the time).

[IMG] [/IMG]

[Kutcher55]

Well as mentioned in the original posting, I had a '63 Aaron PSA 4 that I decided to crack, and here's how it went.

The card started out looking like this. Decent card, nothing special but nonetheless a great card of an all time great player. To me, there's Ruth, Aaron and everyone else:



Here's my pliers right before I pin down the card with my hand and rip open a top corner.



Here's the result. Not so precise, but that crack that went down the face did not damage the card, thankfully.



Here's where I used a flat screwdriver to crack open the two plexiglass slabs sandwiching the card. This process did not go smoothly. I came very close to gouging the card several times, but I think the fact that the card was recessed kept me from gouging the card. The guy who said to use the putty knife is probably 100% correct. I need to get one.



Here's the freed '63 Hank Aaron. What a beauty!



And finally here it is after I put it into a different slab, a one touch that I don't particularly like (Oh the irony). But I do like the way it looks next to the other raw cards. And so, I declare mission accomplished!



PS: Note to PSA - please remove card from pop count data.

[GasHouseGang]

Wait a minute. You busted it out of a PSA slab and then put it back into a different plastic slab? What's the point?

[Kutcher55]

Well at least this way I can take it out anytime I want, but yeah to your point there is no point.

[irv]

I followed Deepak100's, a member here, advice when I cracked a few BGS slabs. Worked mint for mint following his advice.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xzrEsDe7TqQ

[vintagebaseballcardguy]

Originally Posted by Kutcher55

Well as mentioned in the original posting, I had a '63 Aaron PSA 4 that I decided to crack, and here's how it went.

The card started out looking like this. Decent card, nothing special but nonetheless a great card of an all time great player. To me, there's Ruth, Aaron and everyone else:



Here's my pliers right before I pin down the card with my hand and rip open a top corner.



Here's the result. Not so precise, but that crack that went down the face did not damage the card, thankfully.



Here's where I used a flat screwdriver to crack open the two plexiglass slabs sandwiching the card. This process did not go smoothly. I came very close to gouging the card several times, but I think the fact that the card was recessed kept me from gouging the card. The guy who said to use the putty knife is probably 100% correct. I need to get one.



Here's the freed '63 Hank Aaron. What a beauty!



And finally here it is after I put it into a different slab, a one touch that I don't particularly like (Oh the irony). But I do like the way it looks next to the other raw cards. And so, I declare mission accomplished!



PS: Note to PSA - please remove card from pop count data.

Absolutely beautiful!