Looking for best/near best quality sources for:

disappearing cane
appearing cane
card stabbing sword (gimmicked)

Thank you for any information.

Here is my opinion based on 35 years of work with canes. Others may, of course, disagree.

You first need to determine whether a metal or "plastic" cane is required for the type of effect you want to perform. If it requires a metal cane to work properly (e.g. torch-to-cane), use a metal cane. If it doesn't then I personally prefer to use a plastic one for a variety of reasons.

The best plastic canes were made by Fantasio. They are no longer manufactured but can be found on the secondary market at still reasonable prices, though that may change quickly. Fantasio candles are already becoming scarce and expensive and canes may follow same path. Try places like Hocus Pocus, FAB Magic, Don's Magic Books, The Mystery Emporium (though they may have recently closed), used magic 4 sale, and the various auction sites. If you are doing closer-up work, then the Fantasio canes in matte black are ideal, but they are very hard to find. Be careful of listings of "Fantasio-style" canes. These are typically low-end canes that are noisy, flimsy, and don't hold up to regular use.

For metal canes, there are several good choices. Arguably the best-of-the-best are Harakhan canes. They work very smoothly, are fast, and don't require oiling. These can be found on the secondary market like the Fantasio canes. I wish I hadn't sold my set. The Bond Lee ones are currently manufactured and are solidly built but from reports (not my personal experience) are subject to more scratching. I have heard that the Handsome Criss and Taiwan Ben canes from Taiwan are pretty good too, but have not had a chance to handle them.

Thank you Frank!

You are welcome, nicetodd. By the way, if you are new to canes (or even an expert!), the Fantasio book and lecture is amazing. They give 99%+ of the method info one needs with lots of performance ideas. And right now they are 80% off at Daytona Magic. A deal like this doesn't come along often.

https://magiconsale.com/shop/80-off-flas......io-book/
https://magiconsale.com/shop/80-off-flas......sio-dvd/
https://magiconsale.com/shop/80-off-flas......sio-dvd/

There are no card swords currently on the market, I just looked at the websites that usually sell them, but zero results. If you are in England or Italy, you can inquire at your local magic shops. These countries usually manufacture them these days.

Just received an email from Trick Supply, they just got a supply of Card swords. price $399.00