Osamu Kasho Puzzle Box Designer/Craftsman

 I felt the urge to express my deep gratitude to Osamu and his lovely family who has seemingly popped into my life and uplifted my spirits as I navigate my time without my loving wife Barb at my side.

Osamu is taking year away from the Karakuri Creation Group and moved to my neck of the woods, Nova Scotia.  

His woodworking skills are incredible to say the least, however his PuzzleBox designs are simply astonishing.

I’ve taken photos of a few of his masterpieces and will add more as we continue to spend time together puzzling over his body of work.

As a side note, Osamu is a very talented musician as well!

Martin’s Menace or Four Fit - Stewart Coffin Design #217 by John Devost

I’ve made several of this design previously, this copy features Zebrawood pieces.  Tray is Black Limba with a Red Zebrawood Bottom.  Slipfeathers are Leopardwood.

Here’s Stewart’s description:

“For a while I became absorbed in the form of mathematical amusements that I call square root type puzzles. In 2001 I disseminated a 20-page report, Square Root Type Packing Problems, with limited distribution. A condensed version was included in the 2014 Appendix. I also wrote a couple articles on the subject and contributed to a third. Out of all that came a deluge of puzzle designs. Rather than clutter up this Compendium with all of them, I have selected just a few of the more unusual. I consider Martin’s Menace the best of all my numerous designs in this category, especially because of its deceptive simplicity. It was an IPP exchange puzzle under the original name Four Fit. It is all based on psychology. None of the four pieces rests comfortably in a corner or even touches two sides, so where does one start? Many puzzle experts have been baffled by it, even the great Martin Gardner, hence the change of name. To quote from one of his three furtive letters concerning it: “It’s the finest dissection puzzle of all time. It looks easy but is fiendishly difficult. I wasted a week trying vainly to solve it.” 

Five Woods - Stewart Coffin Design #177-A by John Devost

My memory is a little fuzzy on whether I’ve ever made any of this design before but I thought I should with some very nice Bloodwood, Zebrawood, Canarywood, Yellowheart and Black Palm, that I had on hand.  The Tray is Canarywood with some Slipfeathers of Leopardwood to strengthen up the mitres.

Here’s Stewart’s description:

“In case you haven’t already discovered, polyominoes is the name given to puzzle pieces made of squares joined different ways. A popular recreation is to fit them snugly into a square or rectangular tray. The long-time popularity of this pastime opens up opportunity for puzzle makers to exploit it by surreptitiously deviating from the regular grid. In this puzzle, all pieces are rotated by arctan ½, which is 26.6 degrees. With two pieces alike and two symmetrical it is not as difficult as some others, but an entertaining pastime and quite nice to contemplate and play with when made in five colorful woods.”

Oskar’s Cube - Oskar Van Deventer by John Devost

This cool cube design by Oskar features 5 ‘Z’ shaped pieces along with an ‘L’ and ‘I’ piece.  There’s three solutions of medium difficulty.

Pieces are Zebrawood with a Black Limba Box.  Sleeve is Leopardwood with Wenge Slipfeathers.

Unique Cube - Martin Gardner by John Devost

While I was making 3x3 cube puzzles I thought I’d make one of these and I’m glad that I did as it’s a pretty neat design.  It features 2 solutions.

Pieces are Zebrawood with a Canarywood Box, Sleevevis Red Zebrawood with Wenge Slipfeathers.

Kinder Cube - Kevin Holmes by John Devost

This puzzle is one of many cube designs by Kevin that he likely made and sold at his booth in England.  There’s 6 pieces with 13 solutions, which surprised me about this puzzle because the shape of a couple of the pieces tends to limit their placement within this 3x3 cube.

Pieces are Leopardwood with a Black Limba Box.  Sleeve is Leopardwood and Wenge Slipfeathers.

Amelia’s Puzzle - Stewart Coffin Design #188-A by John Devost

I’ve had this puzzle design on my to do list for quite some time, I originally wanted to make a copy of ‘Split Box’ however making a box that could convert into two different trays was futile.  I ultimately decided to make a Box that features a Sliding drawer that I think suits this design nicely!

Here’s Stewart’s description for both designs:

“The five solid polyomino puzzle pieces 

assemble into a 4x6 rectangle one way only, into a 3x8 rectangle two ways, and into its 2x3x4 box four ways. The two 

halves of the tricky box are held together with a rubber band, as it converts from a 2x3x4 box to a 4x6 tray. Inverted it forms a 3x8 tray. (In retrospect, a crazy idea - too complicated. See next.)

Same pieces as #188 above but five colorful woods in a simple 2x3x4 box with sliding cover. As usual, simpler really is better. There are four solutions. (Amelia is my granddaughter.)”

Pieces are Yellowheart/Padauk/Black Palm/Bocote/Zebrawood - Box & Drawer is Black Limba.