Traditional Box (Stickman No 32)

puzzle box

Oct 20

Traditions Old and New

When it comes to traditional puzzle boxes, the history books direct us to the Hakone mountain region south of Tokyo in Japan. The thousand year old wood marquetry technique known as yosegi-zaiku is the region’s greatest claim to fame. The secret opening boxes which feature the marquetry are a much more recent development, relatively speaking. Much has changed with puzzle boxes in Hakone over the past two hundred years or so, but the allure of the “traditional” sliding panel, yosegi covered box remains.

Traditional Box (Stickman No. 32) by Robert Yarger

The creations of puzzle box artist Robert Yarger are a far cry from the standard mechanics of traditional Japanese puzzle boxes. I'm a huge fan of traditional Japanese boxes, which require exceptional skill and precision to make, and can be incredibly complex. They are a dying art form. The movements required to open them are, however, often routine and mostly repetitive, once you know how they work. Progressive thinking and ingenious artistry championed by Akio Kamei and the Karakuri Creation Group in Hakone have saved the art form and advanced its boundaries. In the same way, Robert Yarger has never settled for the routine. His puzzle creations in wood are among the most complex, diverse and creative in the world, and his Stickman boxes came to life in parallel with the new school of developers in Japan.

Rob relates a story of his brother and himself having traditional Japanese puzzle boxes when they were kids, which were somehow lost over time. The Stickman Puzzle Box Company began from Rob deciding to replace these old boxes with new ones of his own creation, the “Oak Wood Slide” boxes (Stickman No. 1). Those original Stickman boxes were nothing like a traditional Japanese box, especially on the inside. They contain a mechanism which links drawer compartments and automates movements. Rob’s designs have only gotten more complex and interesting.

This introduction is simply to point out that when he finally released what he named his “Traditional” Box (Stickman No. 32), an homage to the puzzle box’s Japanese origins, he didn’t really settle for “traditional”. It should come as no surprise that the inner workings of the box are anything but standard. In fact the name is both a serious nod to the origins of this art form and an ironic spoof on that idea as well. The box does have a very traditional look and feel to it, being approximately 5 “sun” in measurement, incorporating kannuki sliding key sections embedded within each end piece, and being covered in yosegi wood marquetry. This last detail, the yosegi, is actually what inspired Rob to create the Traditional Box in the first place. His apprentice Rick Jenkins had been interested in learning the technique, and they used it to finish the final Stickman No. 1 Oak Wood Slide box for a special touch. Rob ended up learning the technique as well, and used it to tremendous effect on the Traditional Box.

Beautiful yosegi creates a 3D effect

Rob relates a common pitfall for making yosegi which he learned the hard way. Using the traditional Japanese hand planer requires the blocks of wood to have the grain patterns lined up in the right direction for "pull" planing - otherwise the planer hits a dead end snag. He designed a number of beautiful patterns including the three dimensional geometric pattern seen on the top and bottom. It's incredibly unusual and really stands out, framing the more traditional “kikkou” pattern in the center. Along the sides is a hexagonal yosegi pattern created by Jenkins.

Exploring the box reveals another surprise. Unlike traditional boxes, on which the kannuki slider bar(s) move independently and usually just in the center of the end piece, the ends of the Traditional Box are divided into multiple kannuki bars which all move in unpredictable ways. Sometimes they move independently, other times together. Repeat movements don't always have the same result ... quite reminiscent of Rob's 3-Lock Box .... There’s just a lot of movement which starts to happen, all around the box, and in unpredictable ways. It can get confusing, and complicated! Another surprise – there are four compartments in all to discover here, and the finale, getting the lid off completely, involves a truly unique mechanism unlike anything ever seen on a “traditional” box. In total there are a minimum of 47 moves required to find all four compartments and remove the lid. Ironically, Rob says that these boxes are set to the easiest solution, but a much harder (“insane”, according to Rob) configuration is also possible, which was too complicated to even try to describe in the solution booklets. I really think that this version is hard enough! Keeping the tradition alive could not have been made better.

Bon Iver (Good Winter)

My own collection started when I was a boy, with a four move traditional Japanese puzzle box I got from my parents which is a little loose these days. My prize possession back then was a more complicated box a got from them soon after that, having demonstrated a keen interest. It still works perfectly. I’ve had it in mind for a long time to pair that old traditional box with an old classic cocktail called the “Old Pal”. The Old Pal traces its origins to 1927 and the friendship between Paris based sportswriter William “Sparrow” Robinson and Harry McElhone, the famed proprietor at Harry’s New York Bar in Paris. Robinson liked to call every “My Old Pal”. He loved the combination of rye, dry vermouth and Campari that Harry would fix for him, and the drink became legend. Like a Negroni, with whiskey rather than gin, the Old Pal is also a great drink to modify by simply varying the ingredients from the same family of spirits. Instead of whiskey, for example, we could use apple brandy, a wonderful spirit this time of year.

Apple, cedar and sapele make this the perfect fireside sipper

To toast the Stickman Traditional Box I thought it would be nice to take this idea and make it a bit more special. It seemed in keeping with the unique nature of the box, which takes its starting origins and adds a whole lot more. It’s also nice to be toasting Rob with what is essentially a fancy Old Pal. For this version, which is a perfect fall and winter drink, as mentioned I substituted the whiskey for apple brandy from Laird’s, America’s oldest continuously operated distillery. They provided the “spirit” ration to George Washington’s troops in the American Revolution. Instead of regular vermouth, I used the delicious aromatized Italian wine called Barolo Chinato, which is similar to vermouth but full of rich and intense flavors of bitter orange and cinnamon spice. Finally rather than Campari I used Meletti, another bitter Italian aperitivo which features orange and saffron notes.

Tying all these flavors together, I added a few dashes of charred cedar bitters, which evoke a wintry scene of forest and fireside, and lastly a few dashes of Rob’s own homemade Stickman Sapele Bitters. These last are an amazing tincture made from actual sapele wood, which he uses often in his puzzle boxes. He discovered the flavor quite by accident, when wood chips fell into his beer one day. The taste is mellow and sweet, very different from an oak flavor one might expect from barrel aged wine or bourbon. The sapele adds one more incredible layer to this delicious drink which has made it a favorite I’ll be enjoying over and again this season. I agree that this may not be the most accessible list of ingredients for most people, but I argue that neither is a Stickman Box often found on many a shelf. Here’s to good pals, old and new. Cheers!