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Introduction

Why interlocking and freestanding puzzles?

I like puzzles. These days, when I’m not making my own puzzles, I’m likely to be doing someone else’s. I didn’t, however, plan to go into business designing and making jigsaw puzzles. I bought a scroll saw because I have always liked wood and because I was fascinated by the scroll saw work I saw at an art show. In 1989, when my family and I made our annual trek to a nearby Renaissance Fair, I bought a five-piece puzzle as a souvenir. While it was attractive, it was not interlocking, so you really couldn’t pick it up without having it fall apart.

When I began designing my own puzzles, I decided all of them would be interlocking so that they could be handled. The puzzles in this book reflect that decision I made in 1990—all of them are interlocking. This means that, once you have the puzzles in a standing position, you can pick them up by any piece and turn them completely around without having them fall apart. But, you have to make sure you keep them vertical and don’t tip them!

The first project I cut out when I brought home that wonderful new toy, my first scroll saw, was a three-piece rabbit. As a woodworker of long standing, I used lumber I had in my workshop. It was an old piece of 1" x 4" pine. One of the things I liked about the puzzle was that it was thick enough to stand. The concept of a “freestanding” puzzle stayed with me as I moved on to using hardwoods.

Why animals?

Like everyone else I know who bought a scroll saw, I started not with my own designs but with patterns in the public domain from library books. I then traced the patterns onto the boards—which often took longer than cutting them out!

The first few original designs I did were of dinosaurs. But one can only design so many of anything before monotony sets in. I did three elephant patterns and then designed the Mama Rabbit with Babies puzzle (See the in-process photos in this book, here.).

Deciding what to design next got easier once I started selling my puzzles. That’s because people told me what their interests were. (If you’re going to design a new puzzle, you might as well design one that people are more likely to want to buy.) People asked for animal puzzles, which reinforced my own interest in them. My own interests combined with my customers’ requests made a powerful reason for designing new animal puzzles.

Why hardwoods?

1. They’re naturally beautiful. As a “lover” of hardwoods, I have a natural aversion to painting them. They’re beautiful in their own right. Besides that, hardwoods occur naturally in a wide variety of colors. Why cut a tiger out of a piece of pine and then paint it when you can cut it from a tiger-colored wood complete with stripes? But more about that later.

2. The harder the wood, the less chip-out you get. The structure of hardwoods appears to be more uniform. Uniform density makes your cutting more consistent. You’ll spend less time overall and end up with a more pleasing result.

3. The increased density also results in a surface that can be more easily sanded smooth. To paraphrase something we said in our first two books, Dinosaur Puzzles for the Scroll Saw and Fantasy & Legend Puzzles for the Scroll Saw: silky translates into sales at an art show.

Where can you buy hardwoods?

Look in the yellow pages of your phone book under “Lumber, Hardwood.” Ask your woodworking friends. Check out the ads in your favorite scroll sawing or woodworking magazine; some of these magazines may be available at your local library, specialty woodworking retailers, or hobby shop. Keep your eyes open as you drive through unfamiliar areas. We’re on the road a lot driving to and from shows. We found one of our best and most reliable suppliers in Ohio that way. If you have access to the Internet, use a search engine to find “Hardwood Lumber Dealers.”

For more information about wood, your local public library is a source that’s available to everyone. If you have a home computer, the door to almost unlimited information is open to you. This is especially true if you also have access to the Internet. Here are a few of the resources available to those with access to computers and the Internet:

www.windsorplywood.com – An amazing site, giving information on the wood from hundreds of different trees.

www.woodworkerssource.net – This is the Website for a hardwood dealer in Arizona. The site offers information about many hardwoods. I have found this dealer to be an excellent and reliable source for much of the exotic lumber I buy.

How do I choose wood for color and cutting characteristics?

I try to choose woods suitable for the item being cut. For instance, polar bears only come in white, so I always cut them from aspen. I also pay attention to my customers. Moose almost always sell best in black walnut. Evidently most people think that’s the right color for Moose.

Almost every puzzle has a wood in which it sells best. I know that I might not have found the perfect wood for a particular pattern yet, and that knowledge keeps me searching for new and wonderful woods.

Most of my puzzles are cut in native North American hardwoods. Cherry, walnut, and maple are widely available in this area. Cherry appears to be the wood of choice (at the moment), but walnut is gaining in popularity. Maple is less popular because many parents don’t want to buy light-colored toys for small children. I also use a smaller amount of butternut, aspen, and catalpa. These woods are locally available in limited quantities.

From time to time, I use sweet gum, mesquite, sassafras, and other regionally-grown woods. All of these woods have advantages and disadvantages. Many truly beautiful woods are too hard (or almost too hard) to cut with a scroll saw. Most of these types are exotics. When I run across a new species, I pick up a board. If it’s heavier than a similar-sized board of hard maple, I put it back.

I always look at every board I buy. I’m looking for color and figure. I want the richest color for that species and any figure I can find—wavy, quilted, fiddleback, etc. (You will need to learn “Lumberspeak.” See the tip box on here.) I also like the contrast between heartwood and sapwood. (See the gallery photo of the dolphin on here.) While you’re at it, contrast the finished item with the photo of the dolphin with carrier prior to drum sanding. (See the photo on here.)

What are some of the advantages and disadvantages of various hardwoods?

The biggest disadvantage of hardwoods is price. Most hardwoods are more expensive than most softwoods. However, if you’re using hardwoods, you don’t have to buy 87 kinds of paint, learn to paint, or spend the time painting your projects.

The biggest advantage of hardwoods is beauty. With careful selection, you can produce a really good-looking puzzle.

There is one characteristic of hardwoods that’s both an advantage and a disadvantage: the hardness. It takes longer to cut a puzzle in hardwood, but the finished piece is stronger. This is a great selling point for children’s toys (and for puzzles for clumsy adults).