newest puzzle

[sawdustus]

I finally got one made that my wife said "not bad" to. It is completely interlocking and it was cut freehand. It's 10.875" x 8.25", 1/4" poplar ply, 80 pieces. I glued it down with Mod Podge and used a small J-roller (usually used for formica instillation) to smooth it out. Worked much better than a plastic scraper or card. I cut it with a 2/0 puzzle blade and sprayed the triple glaze after cutting. Seems to make the cutting lines disappear better. Any comments and criticisms are, of course, welcome.

George

[Rolf]

I will have to try that some time. It looks great.
Whose blade did you use.?

[Mike Crosa]

Looks very nice. Carter watch out!

[Doc249HMCS]

It looks really nice.
Where did you get the puzzle design and what blade did you use?
Thanks,

[Carter Johnson]

Nice puzzle, George, and nice creative pieces.

I must admit that one thing "puzzles" me and prompts a question: Why do you apply the glaze spray after you've cut the puzzle? If your purpose is to give it a shiny, protective coating, you have to spray it thick enuf to do so, and that would make the pieces stick together. How soon after you apply the spray do you take it apart? When you do so, aren't there remnants of the glaze spray on the edges of the pieces?

Maybe I'm missing something because I've encountered others who spray after cutting and I've never been able to determine what they gain, as opposed to applying one very thick coat before cutting - and making sure it completely dries.

Please help my 70-year-old confusion.

Carter

[utbva]

Nice puzzle. I like the picture and the shapes of the pieces. I need to get back to cutting some puzzles too.

[Big_red_S]

Looks excellent.

I have the same question as Carter.

[iohonnes]

Nice job George. How did you like cutting the poplar? I'm thinking of get some when I run out of my current BB stash.

John

[PeteB]

I'm surprised, too, that you can spray after cutting. The proof is in the pudding, as they say, and that looks darned good.

[sawdustus]

Thank you for all the nice comments. To answer all your questions...

I love cutting the poplar ply. Much easier to cut and as Carter says, a better fit for the pieces than the BB, which I have also tried.

The picture either came from a calendar or from a web site about Vermont that lets you copy and use the pictures. If I can find it again, I will let you puzzlers know.

The blades are from Advanced Machinery. I was trying to find a source of FD blades near me and the general search on google turned up Milltronics Machining Centers, Turning Centers, Bridge Mills, Knee Mills, Toolroom and Production Mills and Lathes, Lathes and Machine Tools at Advanced Machinery Concepts, Inc. - Dayton, Ohio When I went to the site, it came up Blade Values Direct. The site is easy to use. I went to skip tooth blades and found NK2/0 narrow kerf for extreamly intricate sawing. tpi 30 width 0.015 thickness 0.008 these are the same characteristics as the FD puzzle blades. I called them, 1-800-727-6553 and ordered a bunch. They were very nice and I had the blades by UPS within 4 days. The package says the blades were made in Germany by a company called Pulger's.

As to why I sprayed afterwards and not before. When I sprayed before cutting, the heat generated by the friction of the cutting seemed to melt the glaze along the cut line. This caused a pronounced white cut line to be visible, especially in areas that are dark. Slowing the speed down helped but made the cutting take much longer than I wanted it to take. Carter, I tried your trick of wiping with a warm damp cloth to remove the visible line, and it worked pretty well. When I cut first, the white line did not appear in most areas, and in the very dark areas (think horse bodies) it was much less pronounced. I put the assembled, and very tightly interlocking puzzle ( I can pick it up by any corner or side and turn it over), on a flat surface protected by paper and then sprayed three light to medium coats of triple thick glaze I instead of one thick one) to give it its shine and to protect the paper the picture was printed on. The pieces did not stick together at all and I have not noticed any glaze between the cut pieces. It works for me.

I hope this information helps and again thanks for the nice comments.

George