Mechanical Puzzles: Wood
Burrs, kumiki, packing puzzles, and the woodcraft behind interlocking design.
Wood Selection for Puzzles: Grain, Stability, and Movement
A puzzle piece with a clearance of a few thousandths of an inch lives or dies by how much its wood moves. Here is what shrinkage numbers act…
Burr Notation and How Solvers Talk About Pieces
Burr collectors describe puzzles with numbers rather than photographs. Here is what the piece codes and level notation actually encode, and …
Hands-On Skills: What Wooden Puzzles Teach Beyond Solving
Spatial skills training shows solid effects in young children, and hands gather information eyes cannot. Here is what the evidence supports …
Finishing Wooden Puzzles: Oils, Waxes, and What to Avoid
A puzzle running a few thousandths of an inch of clearance cannot afford a film finish. Here is why penetrating finishes are the standard ch…
Pentominoes: The Puzzle That Became a Field of Math
Twelve shapes made of five squares each, a combined area of sixty, and a set of rectangle puzzles with wildly different solution counts. Pen…
How Humidity Changes the Fit of a Wooden Puzzle
A puzzle that slid apart easily in August can lock solid in January. The cause is equilibrium moisture content, and understanding it tells y…
Soma Cube and the Puzzles of Piet Hein
Seven small polycube pieces, one three by three by three target, and 240 distinct ways to get there. Here is how the Soma cube works, where …