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[Canuck]

Hi Robert, just wondering if you could at some point when your not so busy, post a puzzleograhpy of your entire line of puzzleboxes?  I'm sure others would like to know more as well, maybe a listing with production notes with amounts made?  I'm also very curious about knowing more about your early unnumbered boxes, thanks from your greatest admirer, john.

[Peter Wiltshire]

Hi Robert,  I too would be interested in this, also with your designs being so original; any input into what made you come up with the particular design would be very interesting to hear.

A second admirer 

[Robert Yarger]

I will put one together in the near future and post it here, but Damn if I am not busy right now.  The only complete onine collection of my work can be viewed on the James  Strayer gallery (a link is availble from the cubicdissection website under "links"), but this does not have limited edition numbers. 

As a side note, all my boxes were numbered from the very beginning, except for the snowflake and chopstick.  However, before I made boxes, I dabbled in making pipes, but it never really took off and there were too many restrictions on the sale of pipes.

As a second side note Peter, I have found one blueprint for a magic box, but have not yet found the rest.  This box is just a simple box with a trapdoor on the bottom.  You hold it in your hand and have someone put a coin in the slot in the top.  You jingle it around so everyone knows it is in there, but as you are holding it, you slide the panel up with your thumb, and the coin falls into your palm and goes down your sleeve to your elbow.  You then slide back the lid so that you can show that the coin is gone, and if you pass it around with the lid open, the secret panel will not move in this state, so nobody knows how you did it.  It takes a bit of sleight of hand, but you can take the box back and lower your arm (palming the coin) and put it back into the box through the secret trapdoor in a single motion.  The only problem is that the trapdoor panel is accessible when the lid is closed, so you can't let anyone inspect the box, except when the the lid is slid open.  The whole thing works from just simple use of your thumb and works really well in theory, although I have never actually made the box.  Also, the box is very simple to produce, so it could be made quite easily.

I do not have a scanner for a PDF but I could fax a copy of it to you when I have time, or I can mail it as well.  Or, I can just wait until I find more of my sketches.  My sketches leave a lot to be desired, so I would probably have to include some written directions as well.

[Peter Wiltshire]

Thanks Robert,

The box sounds interesting.  I am wondering if a "special ring"  on the magician might make the box examinable in the closed position. I don't have a fax so mailing it might be our best option, or if you have a digital camera you could take a snap of it and email that?  I am not too fussy, and a photo may give me the general idea.

No worries on doing this right away, I understand your quite busy, so when there's time that would be great, also don't fuss with writing extra instructions.  If once I see it I can't figure something out; I can email you to describe it, this way it will save you some time.

Again thanks for digging this blueprint up.

[Robert Yarger]

If you want to go the magnet route, then that is pretty close to the box that MAtt Dawson wanted.  Anyway, magnets are really easy to install into boxes for secret locking mechanisms, and this box would be no different.  Basically, you just have to drill a hole and drop 2 bar magnets inside with reversing polarities.  It works like a spring latch, but it is unlatched by use of a third external magnet.  Both Eric and I use them this way all the time.

Go to that www.kjmagnetics.com link that Eric and I both put into our "supplies" threads and look at what they have.  There are some really cool magnets there - top quality and good prices.  Personally, I would just order so to play around with so you can get some ideas.  Also, last time I checked they had a special magnet kit for around $65 that will allow a metal ball to float in the air.  Something like that would make a great levitating magic trick.

Robert   

[Robert Yarger]

Yes you all caught me.  I am just responding to my own response so that I will have my name as last response on all areas in the fourm at the same time.  Kinda anal you all think, but it had been bugging me for a while

[Canuck]

Now you're not

[Canuck]

Hey Mushroom, I'm still waiting on your PUZZLEBOX HISTORY, give us something

[Robert Yarger]

Sorry John,  Here


Woodworking artist Robert Yarger first began crafting his unique style of solid wood boxes as a hobby in 1989. Using only scrap wood and an old radial arm saw, Mr. Yarger fashioned several boxes each year as presents for friends and relatives. Most boxes from this era were low in quality, simple in design and bland in appearance, but through it Robert developed his love for producing unique and interesting box styles.

The Stickman Box Company was founded in 2001 when Robert produced a small line of puzzle boxes as Christmas gifts. Although somewhat simple in design, the No. 1 puzzle box quickly became an overwhelming success, and unsolicited orders for additional boxes soon began pouring in. Encouraged by his wife Jeannie and their son Camaro, Mr. Yarger resigned from 8 years as a restaurant manager, sold his window washing company, and began working on making unique boxes full time. His first boxes were sold under his pen name "Roby Charles", through which he had also published several science fiction novels.

Today, Robert Yarger continues to hand craft unique boxes from the small garage woodshop in his Oklahoma home. Although the old radial arm saw has long been replaced with more modern equipment, Robert still uses his same basic "forced into a corner" technique that has become a lasting trademark for all of his box items. Armed with a concept that seems impossible to achieve, Mr. Yarger begins cutting the initial components to his boxes without any idea of how he will eventually make them work. Although somewhat erratic in its method, Stickman boxes tend to design themselves as each impossible concept is manipulated into reality through necessity. The end results are extremely unique boxes that even the artist did not fully envision.

[Kerry Verne]

I never knew you were a SF writer..

[Robert Yarger]

Yeah, I failed at a lot of things before I started making puzzle boxes.  Sometimes it takes a while to find your niche in the world.  That quote that you see at the bottom of every John Devost posting is a from one of my books.  Roby Charles was my pen name.
 

[Canuck]

Hey Mushroom, why do you have Madison, Wisconsin as your location in you profile?

[Robert Yarger]

I changed it.  Madison was where I was born.  Perhaps I need to learn how to read.

[Scott Peterson]

You're a Cheesehead!   

I never knew you were born in Madison (aka Mad City).  I was born in Antigo, WI - about 2.5 hours north.  (yes, I'm a Cheesehead too).

By the way - my dad lives in Fremont, WI (fellow beekeeper).

[Canuck]

Hey let's not forget Wisconsin is also well-known for Harley-Davidson!!!!