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Making Puzzle Boxes
By: Randal Gatewood |
From
time to time, I am asked how do I make puzzle
boxes. "Where do you get the ideas?", is
another common question. These are very difficult
questions requiring lengthy complex answers. I've contemplated writing a more detailed
page on this subject and decided it best to to leave
the writing to the writers and I'll stick to building
the puzzle boxes. What I have done here is try to
provide a little insight for anyone with the
interest in puzzle box building. I have yet to find
any books that detail making puzzle boxes
specifically though there are a number books on the
subject of making wooden puzzles. Some are listed at
the bottom of this page.
The art of puzzle box designing and
building is truly unique as compared to any other
type of
woodworking that you might attempt. I've tried my hand at many phases of wood working
over the years
including: custom furniture, wood turnings, guitar
restoration to building custom aircraft cabinets (a
previous profession).
Nothing really compares to making puzzle boxes. It is more like being a
wood machinist in the sense that a lot of the
measuring tools and techniques used
by machinist will apply here also. Tools such as dial (or digital)
calipers, machinist straight edges and micrometers,
to name a few, must be used to maintain the tight
tolerances that are required. I try to keep a
tolerance finer than a human hair (about .005" -
five thousands of an inch) with my puzzle boxes. In
fact, maintaining cuts within .001 to .002 is not
uncommon nor is it very easy to do.
What you will definitely need is your basic shop equipment and hand tools
along with some tools that you normally wouldn't see
in a wood shop such as the machinist measuring tools
as
previously mentioned. And, we don't want to forget
those tools that you just can't buy - anywhere.
Those you will have to hand make yourself. Sleds,
braces, jigs... what ever it takes to handle those
special tasks for which there are no such tools
available. I have constructed more
of these tools in one year of puzzle box building
than I ever had in over 25 years of wood working.
Everything is focused on achieving the one goal of
absolute
accuracy. In the Quagmire Puzzle Box shop, it is old school wood
working all the way.
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I can't emphasize enough
that building quality mechanical
puzzles requires extreme accuracy. It also
requires the craftsman to really know
their tools intimately. (Easy there!)
What I mean is, they must know each
piece of equipment - as the cliché goes,
"...like the back of my hand."
We're talking about things like, knowing
every imperfection in the top of their
saw's table or how far out of true, to
the thousands of an inch, that the blade
is on the saw's arbor in
relations to the miter slots. You must
also know how to
correct the imperfections.
The better your setup, the smooth and
cleaner the cuts. And for the record, just because some
guy has got a shop full of fancy tools,
doesn't mean he's a
craftsman
by any means. It simply means that he had the
money to buy some fancy tools. My table
saw, jointer, radial arm saw, one of my
scroll saws and most of my hand planes
are all older than I am. (And I don't
mean all of them collectively either!)
It is the end product that comes from
those tools that is the "tell all" to
what kind of craftsman is operating
them.
I love new tools as much
as the next guy. But like every new
relationship, it takes time to get fully acquainted
with a new tool in
order to be efficient with it. This can
only be gained from really using it. As
much as I would enjoy, say... a
new table saw, there is that whole
process of getting to know a new tool
and all of its little idiosyncrasies.
Over the years, I've used new name brand
table saws of
which I've found everything from
inaccurate
scales , to warped table
tops. I've had my table saw for many,
many years. It's about as old as I am
(it is classified as vintage) and I've
had the machine down to its arbor bearings a number
of times and back together. I've spent
hours using machinist straight edges,
checking and adjusting the trueness of
the surface of the top. It doesn't
get much more intimate than that. And
though it certainly has its
idiosyncrasies, I know each and every
one of them and I wouldn't trade the
old saw for
a new one. The point here is simple,
evaluate what you do have before you
spend all of your lunch money on new
tools. You would be amazed at what and
how far a little ingenuity will get you
by.
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Designing these intricate puzzles is a
whole other story that involves hours of
contemplation, imagination, sketching,
fabricating, jig building, and
prototyping. And once that's been done,
you must be able to put the whole
process together in order to make more
of your new creation - if that is your
goal. As with my Double
Crossed puzzle box, I made three
prototypes before finally achieving what
I was looking for. And even though three
of these were made, a pile of little
pieces of hand tooled wooden parts
accumulated to the wayside as a result
of the process; each piece representing
many hours of hard work invested towards the attempt of perfect parts. |
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Once
it was all said and done, I had made 31
mini-jigs and built a number of sleds
to be able to reproduce the very intricate
and precision cuts involved with the Double
Crossed puzzle box. I must admit that this seems
rather extreme, especially since all of the
mini-jigs are completely proprietary to the Double
Crossed box design. But that is just
what it took! In the beginning of the
project, the completions seemed so far away.
The further I got into
the project, the more committed I became
until there was no turning back. I had
worked for so many hours and days on it
that I became more complacent with each jig
I made. With each jig that was accomplished, the light at the end of the tunnel got closer
and closer. I was
definitely invested in the Double Crossed
puzzle box project to say the least.
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None of these prototypes were made of
the actual wood from which the final box
was to be constructed. Therefore,
additional prototypes still had to be
made to represent the final box that you
can now see and purchase (when
available). Puzzle box designing and
building can be a very tedious process
that requires more patience than even I
have at times. And even though I may use
words like
tedious, I really do enjoy the
challenge that the process provides.
The end result for me is to produce high
quality puzzle
boxes that are as attractive as they are
intriguing and enjoyable to play with.
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If you are searching on how to build a
puzzle box yourself, be ready for a little adventure. Even if your an experience woodworker, you're bound to find the experience to be
very challenging and tasking,
especially if your planning to make your own design.
Here is a link to a site that has
instructions on building a Japanese
style puzzle box - <Amateur
Woodworker >. There are few
good books on building puzzles but non of them provide any really good detailed instructions and non
really touch on puzzle boxes specifically. Most plans are really written for
those with the knowledge and equipment to execute the instructions successfully and therefore, the real details are not provided. But, these might be a good place to start to "get the feel" of puzzle building. Cleverwood.com sells some puzzle related
books that you can look at here - <Cleverwood>. If
building puzzles or puzzle boxes turns out not to be for
you, there are always the Original Quagmire Puzzle Boxes available for your enjoyment!
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Here are a view books
of interest from the real writers. Some
may be out of print by the time of this
reading but may possibly be found
through online book stores: |
Wonders in Wood by: Edwin M. Wyatt -
46 Puzzles and other novelties to make
and solve.
Puzzles Old & New by: Jerry Slocum &
Jack Botermans - How to Make and Solve
Them
New Book of Puzzles by: Slocum and
Botermans - 101 Classic and Modern
Puzzles to Make and Solve
Creative Puzzles of the World by: Pieter
van Delft and Jack Botermans - Over 1000
puzzles to solve / craft projects to
make
New Wood Puzzle Designs by: James W.
Follette - A guide to the construction
of both new and historic puzzles
Making Working Wooden Locks by: Tim
Detweiler |
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Here is another very interesting read:
Puzzle Craft by Stewart Coffin - This is
a 1992 version and is available for
download FREE! (.pdf format: 3.4 M) at
G4G4
links page. |
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