Whether a deck is smooth or textured/linen/air-cushion/linoid/cambric/bumpy is all in the stock, not the finish. It's a marketing misnomer that many companies like to use. The stock for the Fournier 605 is smooth, and Fournier has their own formula for their finish. Furthermore, I think the 605s may be "dip-coated" or somehow finished after the cards have been cut, because the edge is also protected by the finish - it's why you can actually wash a pack of 605s in water, if you're careful and follow Lee Asher's directions. You wouldn't dream of doing that with any USPC Kentucky or Ohio deck made from at least the '80s forward to today.
from I start to collect I just saw the "air-cushion finish" on 808 box, or "linoid finish" on tallyho box
does the "finish" mean "the last work for card paper after printing"?
and from some information I got before
air-cushion / smooth finish for bicycle stock
linoid finish for tallyho stock
cambric/ivory finish for bee stock
I'm not sure that 605's finish protect its card edge or not
(I think not, because I think it's to expensive for make some finish for single card)
and 605 just write down "plastic- coated" on 4 of clubs
I think I just try water wash 605 next time (when my 605 get dirty)
Before you go washing your cards, download the PDF on the subject at leeasher.com! He also has a good article on the care and feeding of Jerry's Nugget decks which has a lot of sound advice for more garden-variety decks as well. In the 605s PDF, he explains how the cards are coated with finish, which protects not just the back and face but also the edges - the finish was applied after the card was printed and cut. Pretty much all American-made decks coat the paper before the cards are cut.
The "finish" is the layer of clear varnish added to a deck sheet after it's been printed, but before it's been cut. I've written many posts on the subject of USPC finishes and stocks, but this is probably the most comprehensive of them. The topic was about the Doomsday deck, but the topic took a tangent when I mentioned that the newest CARC Bee Erdnase deck, the black and metallic silver deck, was the first Erdnase deck to use Magic Finish and that the "Ivory" version was the first smooth card to use Magic Finish.
http://aethercards.com/discourse/index.php?topic=756.msg35810#msg35810The short version of that post is that there are exactly two finishes in the entire USPC catalog (a third one is in development and being tested on a small percentage of the Vortex decks). There's also exactly four different stocks, though there are many variants of them. Any branding regarding Linoid, Cambric, Air Cushion, Linen, etc. is just that, branding - different ways of describing the same exact thing. Texture differences are not in the finish, despite what the marketing convinces people, but in the stock.