Robert Harbin’s Bending Rod by Limited Edition Magic

Robert Harbin’s Bending Rod (aka Harbin’s Final Trick) c. 1977 – is not only an unusual and clever bending rod illusion, but a true piece of magic history. The background/method is detailed in The Genius of Robert Harbin book. It’s the last effect that Harbin ever created, which came at a time when Uri Geller’s metal bending was all the rage. Harbin designed the effect, which was crafted perfectly by Eric Lewis (with some input from Bayard Grimshaw), and presented to Harbin shortly before his death.

Effect:
The performer displays a solid metal rod app. 7″ in length, resting on a small wooden serving tray. The rod is never touched by the performer (or his assistant) as it’s carried down to the audience for inspection. The rod is fully examined, found to be solid, and placed back on the tray which is returned to the stage. The performer now takes the rod and holds it clearly at his fingertips. Amazingly, the rod slowly starts to bend while held at the very tips of his fingers. The rod then slowly bends back to the way it was at the start of the routine.

The method is bold and clever. The ingeniously designed tray does most of the work for you. A great piece of mechanical magic with strong association to one of magic’s greatest thinkers. This new Ltd Edition is a perfect replication of the apparatus made originally for Harbin by Eric Lewis. The clever walnut switching tray is beautifully finished with inlay work around the sides. It could probably be used for other effects involving pencils, billets or anything of similar size/shape. The tray is app. 8″ x 11″.

The Ltd Edition includes the mechanical tray, steel rod, matching gaffed rod, copy of the details from the Harbin book mentioned above, and a photocopy of the original note from Bayard Grimshaw which provides some additional details regarding its creation by Harbin. (Grimshaw refers to the prop as “an abandoned idea”, but Eric Lewis believed the effect was indeed most likely performed by Harbin on his final cruise shows).

(Description supplied with permission by Joe Long)

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