This is a hand cut, one of a kind, interlocking, wooden jigsaw puzzle cut by me, Chris, and it’s designed to last, no matter how many people want to do it. It was hand cut using an electric scroll saw. One where the wood is hand fed/guided onto the blade- NOT a laser or water jet cutter that uses the help of a computer. For strength and durability it’s cut from 5 ply, 6mm (1/4″) thick birch plywood. I use the finest scroll saw blades I can get hold of, they are only 0.008″ thick, so give really nice tight fitting pieces. Each piece is cut separately, freehand. They are then hand finished, giving a smooth satin like surface, that’s nice to hold. There’s no further treatment given to the wood, basically because I like the natural feel of it and I hope you do too.
The overall finished puzzle size is 198mm (7.8″) diameter. There are 135 pieces and and every one is a different shape. That works out at 2.7 pieces per square inch ie way too small to be suitable for small children. All the pieces are interlocking.
The image is a photographic print from one of my ‘played’ with encaustic images. It’s stuck to the wood using a strong, long life, acrylic glue that’s designed not to go brittle with age so it’s going to stay put. Like traditional jigsaws, there is no guide picture. It comes completed in the box shown, a shallow tray type box in silver grey, measuring 274mm x 201mm x 18mm (10.8″ x 7.9″ x 0.7″). There’s a sticker inside the lid giving details of the puzzle (title, number of pieces, date, who it was cut by and what from, etc) and I have signed and dated the back for a couple of the pieces. It’s not meant to be an easy puzzle to do. After all if you are going to go to the trouble of cutting a one off jigsaw, there’s no point in making it an easy one. The best place to start is at the center and work your way out.