Nutcase by John Devost

 I’ve decided to re-upload this blog post as I’ve now made yet another ‘nutcase’ for my exquisite copy of Mark’s ‘Peanut Puzzle’:

If you’re a frequent reader of this blog you’re probably wondering about the title of this particular blog, first let me say it’s not a puzzlebox but a box to contain a puzzle.

The origin of this hexagonal box stems from a run of three square presentation boxes I had made last year to house copies of Mark McCallum’s most exquisite ‘Peanut’ puzzle designed by Stewart Coffin in the 70’s.

Those boxes were square and you can read more about it and Mark’s puzzle at Boxes and Booze blog where it was dubbed ‘Nutcase’, definitely a fitting name.  I had let go of my personal copy as I figured I would eventually make myself another one.  

As I set out to make hexagonal boxes for Brian Young’s ‘Crown of Thorns’ puzzle, it struck me that a hexagonal shaped box would be perfect for a replacement of my box for my Peanut puzzle.

I had some nicely figured ‘Roasted Birds Eye Maple’ on hand that was perfect for the carcass and used some ‘Roasted Ash’ for the bottom and top finished off with Wenge Slipfeathers and sleeve.

I ended up making yet another ‘nutcase’ as this previous copy had yet found another home.  This one was made from Walnut with a Mahogany Bottom and Holly Slipfeathers.

You’ll notice that I included some nice artwork from my eldest Son Kyle adorning the Lid.

I have now made yet another ‘Nutcase’..

And another!

And a couple more!

Four in the Vice - Stephane Chomine (2012) by Maurice Vigouroux

This very cool burr design by Stephane was beautifully crafted by Maurice and it was generously gifted to me by a fellow puzzle friend.

I was I initially confused by it as it appears to be an 8 piece burr, however it actually has a couple of the burr pieces melded together effectively turning them into frame pieces making it a 6 piece burr (4 burr pieces in 2 frame pieces).

It features a rather high level move count of 12.1.2.1. and is surprisingly difficult to take apart! 

This design was also crafted by Brian Young and Frans de Vreugd used it as his IPP Exchange gift in Washington.  I wonder how many puzzlers still have it ‘unsolved’ in their collection, lol.

Coincidentally this is the first puzzle I’ve ever had that was crafted by Maurice so thought I should share his biography from Puzzle Place:

“Maurice Vigouroux has been making puzzles for 50 years in his workshop in Saugues, a village located in the high plateau called Massif Central in France.

In the 1990's, he starts to study the possibility to add layers of pieces to existing puzzles in order to make bigger ones. This period culminates with the making of an amazing version of the Altekruse burr puzzle made of 88 copies of the original Altekruse puzzle all linked together. The final move consisting of pushing 144 of the pieces at once into the 144 others ! At the same time, he made a 330 piece traditionnal burr, some diagonal burrs including the 102 piece design by John Pinnel, that can be seen in Stewart Coffin's books, a lot of different 6-piece crosses, copies of the famous 66 piece Cutler cube, and many more various designs. All of these puzzles were made in Carolina pine.

Then, in the 2000's he starts working with exotic woods and sells his puzzles in local craftsmanship fairs. Copies of Stewart Coffin's Jupiter puzzle, and some complicated caged burrs found in Ishino's Puzzle Will Be Played repository were made during this period.

Around 2010, the meeting with Stéphane Chomine and Guillaume Largounez starts the race to make the highest level burrs, while Jean-Baptiste Jacquin opens Arteludes, a web shop devoted to Maurice Vigouroux's works. Since then, designs by Alfons Eyckmans, Stéphane Chomine, Donald Osselaer, Gregory Benedetti and many others are regularly made in small quantites. The Millenium, a board burr featuring 1000 moves to get the two first pieces out, the Supernova, the 166 move 18 piece burr of Alfons Eyckmans and Jack Krijnen, as well as the miniature 18 piece puzzle in brass, no bigger than a nail, are from this period.

Maurice Vigouroux's puzzles are usually made without gluing. The internal angles are made with a horizontal mortiser and a chisel. Gluing pieces is only used as a last resort, for cages like in the Nickel Box, for frames like in the Millenium, of for very complex parts, like in the Daedalus or in the Blind Burr.”

Penta Roof 2 by Osanori Yamamoto (2014)

This wonderful puzzle by Osanori is a great example of ‘good things come to those who wait’.  I had noticed on Osanori’s Facebook page (last fall) that he had decided to make this design (originally conceived in 2014), so I sent him a message asking for a copy.  Shipping to Canada wasn’t available so I asked him to include with an order to a fellow puzzler in the U.S.

I was thrilled to have received it this week and as usual Osanori’s work is spectacular with remarkable accuracy.

As you can imagine from the title your goal is to place the familiar 12 pentomino pieces onto the very elaborate ‘roof’ shaped frame.

As I mentioned above the 12 solid pentomino pieces represent every combination of cubic blocks joined flat all possible ways, ‘P-V-T-Z-W-I-U-X-L-Y-N-F’.

Stewart Coffin used this magical set of puzzle pieces in his 3rd design and aptly named it ‘Pentablock’.  One of my first puzzles was one crafted by Wayne Daniel offered by ‘Interlocking Puzzles’ back in the early 2000’s.

They pack into a 3x4x5 box over 3900 different ways with none being easy, there are also a myriad of other shapes possible with these incredible pieces.

Diagonal Twins - Stuart Gee by Brian Young

I was recently tasked with assembling this very neat design.  It was designed by Australian Puzzle Creator Stuart Gee.

This design was Brian’s inspiration for his ‘Crown of Thorns’ puzzle that I previously blogged about here.

Here’s Brian’s description from Mr Puzzle:

“The object of the puzzle is to disassemble the eleven pieces and reassemble them into the twin burrs.

An Aussie puzzle friend, Stuart Gee, found many interesting shapes could be made using square stock cut on a 45º diagonal whilst experimenting with puzzles made from folded paper pieces. These elegant designs seemed very appropriate to present at the 2005 International Puzzle Party in Helsinki considering Finland’s long association with the diagonal Burr. In the National Museum in Helsinki there is a puzzle from Kontiolahti which dates from 1910. However, rather than having a solid locking piece traditionally used in Finnish designs this one is a coordination puzzle.
The puzzle is made from Red Silky Oak, a native Australian wood.”