It has been done again. A good prop has been made into a great prop with a number of improvements. The Visible Arm Chopper is made from 5-ply finished 3/4″ birch plywood and finished birch paneling. It has an aluminum blade backed to tempered tile board. The blade has a solid aluminum piece that can be removed to sharpen. The arm chopper closed is over 25″ tall and 17″ wide at the blade tips. The two legs are sturdy and bolt into the chopper with nuts and bolts for easy assembly. An arm chopper or guillotine should look menacing, not pretty and painted.

In the effect the chopper is first shown with the “catch bag” partially removed so that the spectators can see that there is no “hanky-panky.” The catch bag is hooked up and the blade placed into the device for the first “empty” pass. All can begin to see that this is a menacing effect. The blade is removed and a carrot or potato is placed into the chopper. The blade cuts the vegetable in two pieces. The blade is retracted and the fun begins.

Any spectator’s arm, up to the wrist, is placed in the chopper. The blade is forced down thru the spectator’s wrist and the audience actually sees the hand seemingly being cut off. That’s right, the actual hand, not a fake is seen to drop off and fall into the bag below!

The ends of blade extend beyond sides of chopper and can be seen to move all the way from top to bottom. The entire effect is totally mechanical. Anyone from the audience can be used without prior instructions.