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 On July 5th of 2001, we received this email message:
“Hi, my name is Jonathan McCabe. I'm 18 and starting college next year. I make
puzzle boxes. I've been making boxes since seventh grade. I started crudely because of the
limited tools and woods at my disposal, but over time I accumulated a planer and table saw
greatly expanding the possibilities.  Up
until recently all my boxes have been one of a kind prototypes just to prove the concept.
. . .”
All the puzzle boxes shown on this page were made by Jonathan. You can see his
ideas and woodworking skills develop in these one-of-a-kind prototypes. We asked Jonathan
how he got interested in puzzle boxes. Here’s his story — |
 “When I was
just a kid, 10-12 years old, I heard a story from my mother about a puzzle box she had
received when she was a kid herself. In the fondness of memory it was, of course, very
nifty, but it had been lost or broken ages ago so that I couldn't satisfy my curiosity
about it's true nature. This frustration drove me to seek out puzzle boxes from all
available outlets.  I ordered
from several catalogs and was quite disappointed in the plastic, one-step rip-offs that I
got. In a final attempt, I went to a store on the main street of our town called The
Puzzle Box.  Surely they’d
have something here. The complete absence of anything resembling a puzzle box disappointed
me for the last time. I resolved to make my own. It was now the summer before I started
7th grade.
 I got my
father to rip some wood 2x4's into 1/4 inch slabs and I used my radial arm saw to make a
box with a sliding lid. It was crude, and none of the pieces were quite square, but it
closed. From there I went on to add more panels and less conspicuous mechanisms. I now
have more than 12 specific box designs with at least seven totally different methods for
opening. Among these are the sliding panel
boxes, the tumbler box types, and boxes in which numerous rods must be moved in perfect
order. 
I have long been fascinated with electronics and robotics, My other interests include
computer programming and graphical design, as well as cross country running and paintball.
All through high school I've been in track and cross country: long distance running in the
fall, and sprinting in the spring. In school I am interested in the sciences and even
mathematics. I have an  overall GPA of 3.94
and I'm a National Merit Scholar finalist.
I will be attending college at University of Wisconsin, Madison. My intended major is in
Engineering Mechanics and Astronautics. I am very interested in the space program and hope
to co-op with NASA in the summer semesters, but I intend to never stop making puzzle
boxes.” |
 Charlie is very excited about Jonathan. We believe that he
will prove himself to be a brilliant puzzle box craftsman. For at least the next four
years, Jonathan will be producing his designs as a Cleverwood
Artist. Jonathan’s most recent puzzle box is the Tumbler Box (shown
below.) But,
in order to produce his designs professionally, Jonathan needed some new tools. Puzzle box
making is more like making jewelry than woodworking. His tools need to be very accurate
and precisely adjustable by very tiny amounts. Among other things, he especially needed a
new router, router table, and top of the line micro-adjustable router fence. So, in order
to raise money for Jonathan’s new tools, Cleverwood
held a fund raising auction.
 Jonathan had 8 Tumbler Boxes that
were auctioned in September 2001 for a total of $2,423 - all of which went directly to
Jonathan for his new tools. In addition to the puzzle box, the winning bidders also won the first eight places at the top of the waiting list for all of
Jonathan’s future work as a Cleverwood Artist.
Since then, Jonathan has worked with Charlie on refining his very clever new box.
He’s redesigned it to the fine woodworking standards that distinguish Kagen Schaefer’s work. Jonathan produced a batch of 15
high quality redesigned Tumbler Puzzle Boxes late in 2001.
Click here to go to the New Tumbler
Puzzle Box page.
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Jonathan’s conceptualization and preliminary puzzle box design process
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