Tube It In - William Strijbos 15th Anniversary Edition by John Devost - ‘Canuck’

 

In 2006 I decided to make a run of William’s clever metal design and thought it would be a perfect candidate for my box making technique of mitered joints reinforced with Slipfeathers.  

I only ever made ten sale copies (in Bubinga that were sold at Cubicdissection) along with a couple of prototypes.  Years later after Eric released his much smaller version I would sometimes get asked about my original version and if I could make more.

I had long since retired from puzzlemaking but recently decided to give this design another go.  I won’t go into how labour intensive these puzzles are to make but trust me it’s a crazy endeavour to say the least.

Thankfully I still had access to my niece Tara’s original prototype to use as a pattern, that going through the meticulous process of redoing that would have likely vetoed this altogether.  My woodworking skills have diminished somewhat as I approach 60 years old now that it’s taking me much longer than anticipated to streamline the steps involved to complete these copies.  This Anniversary Edition will include a Stand to display the puzzle as well as keep it all together once it’s put away.

Here’s some pics of my journey so far, John ‘Canuck’

Yard Schtick by Kelly Snache

This wonderful PuzzleBox is the second in a Limited Edition release from Kel using vintage wood yardsticks from days gone by.

In 2017 Kel first offered me the first in this series called ‘Pinch an inch’, of course I jumped at the chance to acquire this entire run of 10 puzzleboxes.

Please see my initial blog about his first release.  ‘Pinch an Inch’

Here’s Kel’s description of this 2nd offering:

“Yard Schtick - Design #2/10.  Made from 2 vintage yard sticks.  

There are 3 knobs and 3 buttons and only one way in.  

An interesting concept I worked through was making it so that the two faces are removable, hmmm.

I think it's more of a challenge coming up with the puzzle's name, lol, and now only 8 more designs to go!”

Crooked Notches - Stewart Coffin Design #97 by Mark McCallum

There is only one craftsman that does such a fabulous job of Stewart Coffin’s designs and of course it’s Mark!

If you haven’t had the privilege of owning one of his flawless puzzles, you are missing out!

I was fortunate to acquire this copy at auction so obviously very pleased to add it to my personal collection.

Crafted in Claro Walnut in 2008 (15 sale copies at CubicDissection)

Stewart wrote:

“This is a variation of the familiar six-

piece diagonal burr, but here compressed along a three-fold axis, 

making the sticks rectangular cross-section rather than square, and 

the notches crooked. I made 100 of these of southern yellow pine for 

the 1994 IPP puzzle exchange. It looks simple enough. Two identical V-shaped notches in each piece. Two kinds of pieces, three of each. It is assembled by mating two subassemblies that are mirror images.  But recently, when I attempted to make one to round out my 

collection, I found it too taxing to easily achieve the required accuracy in the saw cuts for the notches in my makeshift workshop and gave up.”

Queer Gear - Stewart Coffin Design #92 by Mark McCallum

This is an absolutely beautiful and stunning puzzle by Mark!

Not only is this a great design by Stewart but it’s also magnificently crafted by Mark in 2014 from Macacauba (I was convinced that it was Canarywood thankfully Mark corrected me.)

This beauty will sit nicely among my Bart Buie puzzles in my personal collection.

Stewart wrote:

“The six dissimilar pieces of Queer Gear

assemble by mating two halves along a surprising diagonal axis to form a Star of David prism. The two end faces lend 

themselves to being sanded and polished to bring out the natural beauty of the wood. Note the mirror-image symmetry of the three pairs of pieces.”

Cast Equa - Oskar Van Deventer by Hanayama

I recently acquired this fun little puzzle and you really can’t go wrong for the price!

If you’d like to read more about it please see Kevin’s Blog.

I really liked the finish on this puzzle and it reminds me of the fidget craze that now seems to have fizzled out, it just begs to be picked up and played with!

Go grab yourself a copy at Puzzlemaster 

Excaliburr - Stephan Baumegger by Pelikan

This is another cool design by Stephan, nobody pulls off these theme type puzzles quite like him!  He usually makes limited copies as well but this one is expertly crafted by Pelikan.

Of course I should mention that this beast has a nasty level of 79.18.5.5.5.2.1.2!

If you’d like to give this high level burr a go, drop by Puzzlemaster to grab a copy, you can thank me later.

The Rune Cube - Kagen Sound

I probably could ramble on about this beauty but I’ll just drop Kagen’s Description, be sure to drop by his website to see what he’s up to these days!  

(Note this puzzle is still available at Puzzlemaster)

“A magician's magician is someone so skilled at performing magic that even their peers cannot figure out how they do it. If a puzzle could be called a puzzle maker's puzzle this would be it.

The Rune Cube is the next version of the Rune Box and the Maze Burr. It is a puzzle box like the original Rune Box with fixed shifting sides and grants access to a interior compartment after the sides are shifted. It is also like the Maze Burr since the maze and peg mechanism can be seen.

After it is solved there is a hex key hidden inside that allows the ability to remove the sides and rearrange the box locking it to a new sequence. Like the Maze Burr the sides may also be flipped, which was not the case for the first Rune Boxes. The key allows back door access to the box for the owner, but unless someone else has the same size key, they must solve the problem to open and close it.

Over the years I have collaborated with John Rausch who coded a program to search for interesting problems based on specific 3x3 mazes I use for the Rune Box and Maze Burr. His contribution had really transformed this concept into a wonderful modeling puzzle where hundreds of possible problems exist in a similar way that you could sort through a stack of Tangram cards and attempt solving different pictures. The Rune Cube represents the purest form of this idea after 20 years of evolution and it is a design I am very proud of.”

Lego Zelda PuzzleBox by Skywardbrick

I don’t normally blog about puzzleboxes and less so about Lego but I acquired this Sequential Discovery themed PuzzleBox so thought I might give it my take on it.

Obviously removing the sword is your goal but oh there’s much more to it than that.

I’m not going to spoil the fun for anyone by revealing to much about this very cool PuzzleBox except to say that it is cleverly designed so if you get a chance to pick one up then you really should!

Kepler Packing Puzzle by Felix Ure

We’ll shortly after having acquired Felix’s wonderful Titan puzzle I snagged his third offering which coincidentally is a Packing puzzle that is of course my favourite genre of puzzle.

You may want to follow Felix on instagram as he frequently posts pics of his most recent projects.

Here's Eric's description from Cubicdissection:

“Kepler is Felix Ure's third design and his first packing puzzle. Typical of Felix's work, the solution is elegant and surprising. Felix describes Kepler as:

"The aim is to put all 11 balls inside the enclosure, then insert the lid. A pocket-sized packing puzzle that seems very simple, until it isn't."

The puzzle is not solved until all eleven balls are in the container with the lid flush against the opening.

Precision machined from solid aluminum and brass, Kepler weighs 155g (.34 lbs) and measures 55mm x 31mm x 33mm, in the solved state. The brass is left unfinished, leaving it to slowly patinate and darken with use. Felix rates the difficulty as 6/10”

Titan by Felix Ure

 I’ve only ever had a few metal puzzles, although I really do like them I’ve always been afraid of draining my bank account by trying to acquire everything available.

Felix’s first puzzle certainly doesn’t look like someone who’s just started down the puzzle path, the fit and finish is quite spectacular!

You may want to follow Felix on instagram as he frequently posts pics of his most recent projects.

Here's Eric's description from Cubicdissection:

“Titan is a simple-looking, yet highly challenging take-apart puzzle. The first design by Felix Ure, it's widely regarded as being both incredibly difficult and very satisfying to solve. The goal is to open the sphere but to do so you must defeat the mechanism which keeps the two spheres together.

Machined from solid brass, Titan measures 2 inches (50mm) in diameter and weighs 515g or approximately one lb. The brass is left unfinished, leaving it to slowly patinate and darken with use. Difficulty: 9/10.

Puzzle Mad wrote an excellent blog post; Mr. Puzzle's video review is excellent but does contain spoilers”

Casino - Dr. Volker Latussek - Lego Version

This is a very neat packing design from Dr. Volker.  I never did get this puzzle when it was available from CubicDissection or Puzzlemaster so I was pleasantly surprised to receive this very cool Lego version from Kris on the Discord.  I’m not sure who deserves the credit for finding all the assortment of stock Lego pieces for not only the box but the pieces to make up the casino chips but whoever you are, kudos!

T-Box - Haym Hirsh by Wood Wonders

When I first seen pics of this design I immediately thought I had to try and get one but it just didn’t work out so thankfully I was finally able to acquire one in a trade!

Here's what Brian said:  Please visit Wood Wonders to stay informed of his wonderful puzzle offerings!

“When I saw the name for this, my mind immediately went to creating an old fashioned "Tea Box". I thought the simple box with it's relatively small obstructions and rather plain "T'" shaped pieces provide quite the challenge, but I felt it could use something to make it look a little fancier. The laser work on the box added a good bit of time, but I thought the end product was worth the time. This was Haym's exchange puzzle at IPP a few years ago.

Simply pack the 6 identical pieces into the box and close the lid!”

Bloodwood Box with Bird’s Eye Maple Pieces

Cubed Burr - Dic Sonneveld by Wood Wonders

This is a classic puzzle design, instantly recognizable by its shape alone, I’m familiar with Tom Lensch’s version from years ago but Brian put his smooth crafting touch on this beautiful copy!

Here's what Brian said:  Please visit Wood Wonders to stay informed of his wonderful puzzle offerings!

“I made this terrific puzzle a few times over the past 10 years but I think this one is the nicest looking version I have made. This is a "must have" for every collector. They don't often go up for sale or auction but even when they do they are tough to get. Lots of rotations and fun moves make this a real challenge. This version has a Walnut and Alder Box with Redheart Pieces.

Moves: 9.13.4”

Lift by Andrew Crowell

When I first got this puzzle I immediately noticed something rattling inside the puzzle, I don’t recall having seen this sort of thing since Bill Cutler’s ‘Ball Bearing Burr’ puzzle from 1986.

Well that certainly changes the game, this bumps up the difficulty level considerably.  This copy in particular was a Christmas gift from a fellow Discord member who printed this very cool puzzle, thanks Kris!

Be sure to visit Kris (Hustle) website:

Skill Required

to see what he has available, his stock is constantly changing so it’s best to keep an eye out for special puzzles he offers on occasion.

Stacked Sticks by John Devost (Canuck)

This puzzle design has been around for as long as I can remember, I first spotted it at John Rausch’s Puzzle World where there’s a couple of examples of Tom Lensch’s version.

I recall making this design many years ago however the sticks I used then had a flatter profile, and was never really happy with how it turned out.  I happened to have some BAZ stock that suited this puzzle much better so decided to make a few.  

Although there’s only four pieces to assemble into a cubic shape, however the solution can still be confusing to find.

                                                                  

                                              

                                                            

                                                 

Groove - Alexander Magyarics by Wood Wonders

Brian’s work is simply fantastic, I was lucky enough to snag this special copy (that was crafted in some gorgeous Spalted Tamarind) in his yearly Holiday Quiz Puzzle Sale at Wood Wonders.

Here's what Brian said:  Please visit Wood Wonders to stay informed of his wonderful puzzle offerings!

“Alexander has been busy! I have quite a backlog of his designs at this point. But this box really was calling to me. I love odd boxes or frames and this one was definitely odd. It took me a while to make too. Alexander has been creating some really good packing puzzles, and i think this might be my favorite so far. No rotations, just simple manipulation of the 3 pieces. Go for it! Just insert the 3 pieces and fill all the openings, that's the hard part! Moves: 11.9.3

NOTE: Spalted Tamarind box may contain worm holes or small inclusions. Grain pattern varies greatly too. Purpleheart pieces.”

Grooved 6 Board Burr #6 by Juno

This is a follow up to Juno’s #5 and what a masterpiece it is, here’s the description from Pluredro

“This little beast requires a maximum of 35 moves among the Grooved 6 Board Burr series to remove the first piece from the assembled shape. During the solving process, you may feel that the pieces are no longer interlocking together, but none of the pieces will come apart in a simple way. A few pieces tend to partially rotate and become very unstable especially around 14 moves from the assembled shape but there seems to be no shortcut solution for the first piece using rotational movements. It is somehow like playing with cast puzzles.

The configuration of this version is very similar to version #3 but the shape of the pins is different. Juno was a bit reluctant to produce this version as it requires milling or drilling work from four directions, which is a time-consuming process and requires precision work. The middle layer of the plywood has to be thick to accommodate pins otherwise the pins cut through grain and the pieces lose durability. It ends up with a thinner outer layer of plywood and there is lots of waste material. Despite these hurdles, we have been able to keep the retail price the same as version #4, partly due to the slightly higher production lot size given our capacity.

The number of possible assemblies is 481 which is coincidentally the same as version #5. It will be very challenging to assemble the puzzle even if you know the assembly that can lead to the unique solution, so please refer to the images below if you lose track of the orientation of the pieces rather than relying on computer aids.

The puzzle is made of our original plywood. Satin Sycamore is used for the outer layer and the yellowish timber used for the inner layer is PNG Rosewood.”

Grooved 6 Board Burr #5 by Juno

Juno’s puzzles are just works of art that you can play with, I don’t think I need to say anymore, be sure to drop by Juno’s website to see all that’s available, here’s the description from Pluredro

“This is the fifth version of the Grooved 6 Board Burr series, and its configuration is very similar to the first version. Also, the number of moves needed to disassemble the first piece is the same as #1, 22 but #5 has a tricky feature. That was the reason why Juno thought he should produce this version.

Remember that he is a person who always tries to outmaneuver others with his designed puzzles. Many of our customers may notice the true characteristic of the puzzle when they try to assemble it.

The grooves are set to have a symmetrical orientation when assembled to give unification, but not to spoil the unique solution. A few grooves are added or extended more than necessary. Thus, not all the grooves are used during the solving process. The number of possible assemblies is relatively small at 481, so finding which piece goes where might be possible without computer aid or any clues even though it is quite tough.

The puzzle is made of our original plywood. American Rock Maple is used for the outer layer and the darker timber used for the inner layer is Amora.”