Cubit by Kelly Snache

This is the 3rd in Kelly’s ‘Yardstick’ themed puzzle box series and features 6 moves to open.  I’m continually amazed at Kel’s ingenuity and this cool puzzlebox just puts a huge grin on my face once solved!

The idea behind this series of very limited puzzle boxes was conceived by Kel with the first being ‘Pinch an Inch’ back in 2017.  

They are all to be custom made using old fashion ‘Yardstick’ rulers that are becoming increasingly hard to come by.

Kel has been crafting these as he accumulates enough yardsticks to complete one box and contacts me once complete.

You can read more about his previous editions in one of my blog post.

Slide Packing - Hajime Katsumoto by Tom Lensch

Tom’s superb craftsmanship is on full display with this gorgeous packing puzzle.  The Mahogany box has such a smooth sliding action that I spent a considerable amount of time simply admiring it, and then finally turned my attention to attempting to solve this very clever design.  Pieces are East Indian Rosewood with a Walnut Box.

For some reason this post was never uploaded, I just recently acquired a new version by Dr. Volker Latussek and that post will appear here soon.

Kevin Blogged about it, here’s an excerpt:

“It is a "simple" packing puzzle but was so clever that it won the Puzzler's award in the design competition. How could I possibly decline the opportunity to own and solve such a brilliant challenge. The cleverness in the design is that the 4 pieces consist of 3 C shapes and a single crooked S shape. They are to be fitted into a 3x3x3 space within that he box - the twist in the tale is that the lid of the box slides in place and would be blocked by anything more than 2 units high. There are several ways to make the pieces fit into a 3x3x3 cube but not starting with a shape that is only 2 units high!”

Camel - Theo Geerinck by Pelikan

 

I was thrilled to see that Jakub had mentioned on FB that they had made a prototype of this ‘Kumiki’ styled design by Theo.  I suppose it could be considered a follow up to Theo’s previous design crafted by Pelikan called ‘Rhino’.

Kevin Sadler wrote about it: 

“Yes!!!! I adore the animal-themed puzzles that Jakub and Jaroslav produce. I know they are often very difficult to design and manufacture but they are just so lovely and give me an excuse to keep another one on display in my living room. Mrs S was away when this batch came in and when I showed her the photo of the delivery even she admitted the camel was very cute and incredibly realistic. It has been crafted from American Cherry which gives it a rich brown “camel” colour. This is a collaboration with a master designer and craftsman, Theo Geerinck which means that the solution will be interesting as well as good looking.

When first playing with it, only 3 pieces move and I comically pushed and pulled them and then tried to rip the legs and head off the poor creature. Of course, that won’t work. I don’t think any self-respecting camel will let you tear a leg or head off without complaining vigorously at you. I was stumped at this point for a rather embarrassingly long time. The fun thing with these sorts of layered constructions is that you cannot tell by looking at them which parts are supposed to be mobile and which are glued together. This leaves you pushing and pulling pretty much everything that you can get a grip on. After a whole day of getting nowhere, I tried a new technique and there was a “click”. Aha! Then another click and another before I was able to remove a piece of camel anatomy. Having done human dissection as a medical student, this was a nice fun way to do it without any mess! Before long I had the poor animal in pieces on my table and was able to see the ingenious locking mechanism which included a couple of pieces that are hidden inside. I scrambled the pieces and left it for a couple of hours and attempted the reassembly. Whilst not impossibly difficult, even that was a fun challenge as I had lost my orientation of several pieces and had to spend quite a while working out how things should be oriented. This is wonderful and perfect to display as part of your puzzle menagerie.” 

I recently made a Box to store my Camel inside using Padauk with Holly Slipfeathers and a Black Limba Sleeve.

Eleventh Hour - Goh Pit Khiam by Tom Lensch

I recently acquired this awesome puzzle that ‘Zenpuzzler’ recently wrote about after IPP 41 in Texas.  

It has 4 pieces that neatly come together in a 4x4 cube.  Tom also included a very nicely made box that the puzzle can be stored in once assembled.

Although it’s not an overly difficult take apart design it most definitely is a very difficult assembly design with some clever movements throughout!

I highly recommend you grab a copy should they become available.