Category Archives: Puzzle Reviews

Six Piece Cube & Little Slide Plank by Gregory Benedetti

When it comes to co-ordinate motion puzzles, the master is generally regarded as Vinco, however Gregory Benedetti has been doing a lot of work in creating clever dissections which require co-ordinate motion. I was lucky enough to pick up a couple of his puzzles last year from Bernhard over at Puzzlewood. Seems that I’ve had them long enough that I should really write about them!

Two Co-ordinate motion puzzles from Gregory Benedetti

Gregory himself admits that he was influenced by Vinco, and his work on co-ordinate motion puzzles, which gave him the push to try to create some co-ordinate motion puzzles himself. There’s a great interview by fellow blogger Saul on his blog Seeking Ariadnes Thread with Gregory if you’d like to read about Gregory’s thoughts. It’s a great read and I highly recommend it.

Little Slide Plank

Little Slide Plank by Gregory Benedetti

The first, and smaller of the two puzzles is “Little Slide Plank” which is about as minimal as you can get from a co-ordinate motion puzzle. This three piece, 2×2 cube with one small void in the centre is a pretty elegant puzzle. It’s only 2″ cubed, made with a contrasting wood for the planks. If I were to guess, I’d say Ash for the main pieces, and Mahogany for the planks.

Little Slide Plank opening

While many people shy away from co-ordinate motion puzzles due to the challenge of reassembling them, this is great for any level of puzzler. The unique dissection leaves you with some very interestingly shaped pieces, and while it’s not difficult to take apart or re-assemble, it has that fiddle factor that makes a great puzzle. You just want to pick it up and play with it.

Little Slide Plank pieces

The pieces themselves are interesting, and all unique making this a very pleasing design. As I mentioned, it’s not difficult to find the correct orientation to put the pieces back together, and unlike many co-ordinate motion puzzles, you don’t need a third (or fourth) hand to get it together, nor the dexterity and precise positioning that is needed from some other puzzles in this category. Overall, I highly recommend it

6 Piece Cube

6 Piece Cube from Gregory Benedetti

The other design from Gregory is his “6 Piece Cube”. Interestingly, this cube is missing a couple of cubies, meaning it’s not really a cube, but I’ll not fault the design name based on that. Those missing cubies are very useful! This is the slightly larger of the two puzzles, at just under 2.5″ cubed made from walnut and Maple, the contrast of the checkerboard appearance is a good look.

Being a six piece puzzle, the difficulty in this one does go up a notch. Finding the correct grip on the puzzle to allow the pieces to start sliding past each other can be challenging until you know how to hold the puzzle, as often you’ll find a finger is blocking the motion you need. Remember I said those missing cubies were useful?

6 Piece Cube opening

Once you find the correct axis, the pieces will side past each other, creating some interesting triangular geometry in the voids between pieces. As with any other co-ordinate motion, the puzzle expands in size, right up tot the point where it falls apart in your lap. My copy is very well made, with excellent tolerances. The puzzle is tight as it expands, allowing the pieces to hold onto each other until the very last fibers before they crumble into a pile of six pieces.

6 Piece Cube pieces

The pieces in this puzzle are made from two sets of congruent pieces. It’s not too hard to see how the pieces go back together, however with six pieces, it takes a little longer than it does with the first puzzle. Then the real challenge starts. Once you have found the correct orientation, getting all the pieces back together is far more challenging. The puzzle needs to be expanded to near collapse to allow a piece to be inserted, and the easiest way I found was to add one piece at a time … so I had to do this more than once, and try not to mishandle a piece and put myself right back to the start of the assembly.

It’s a much more challenging puzzle, but has a great motion as it comes apart, and is achievable by most people. An experienced puzzler should have no problems, and will enjoy the interesting geometry in the puzzle. I do hope Gregory continues his exploration of the co-ordinate motions, as these two puzzles are a great start!

Magic Billet Box

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Back in October last year, I came across a kickstarter project for Krusen CNC offering up some interesting new options on the Magic Billet Box that Oli Reviewed years ago. I’d been on the lookout for one of these, however any time I went to the shop, they were unavailable. This seemed like a good way to finally get one of these boxes.

The Magic Billet Box in Red anodized aluminium.

The kickstarter was offering some new options for the anodisation of the aluminium, as well as some new external patterns for the boxes. Sadly the kickstarter didn’t reach its goal and was unsuccessful. That said, an offer was made for anyone who had backed the project to get a box of their choosing at the price they had backed the campaign. Seemed like a win-win. So in November, I received the box above with the “Vortex” pattern.

At 2″ cubed, and having a fair heft to it, this is a solid little puzzle box. Being made from 7072 Aluminium, otherwise known as “Aircraft grade”, it’s a very stable metal and is great for machining. Although it’s not easy to see, there’s a perfect sliding dovetail that form the ‘lid’ of the puzzle, which thanks to a big magnet has a reassuring snap when it’s slid on or off.

Unlike Oli’s copy which is in black anodized aluminium, the sliding lid is a little easier to see on my copy. The black hides the seam making it near invisible, where the red makes it stand out a little more. It’s not an issue, and certainly doesn’t affect the puzzle, but it is worth noting.

Even the internal space in the box is a good size, having 1.75″ x 1.75″ x 1.5″ of usable space inside. Great for storing mints on my desk. And because it’s aluminium and not wood, there’s no fear of whatever you put inside it staining the box, or becoming contaminated. A truly useful puzzle box.

The Magic Billet Box but it’s not open.

Sliding the lid off doesn’t get you into the hidden space though. Wouldn’t be much of a puzzle if that was the case. Instead you’re greeted with another lid, recessed into the box, and no apparent way to take it off. The big magnet on the sliding lid may be a hint though.

In the style of box I ordered, simply placing the lid onto the box doesn’t open the inner lid, although there is a box offered where the opening mechanism is this simple. For me there’s a little extra work required. And if you try to solve this box with it sitting on the table, you’ll never open it!

The Magic Billet Box opened.

Most of you will have figured out how this works, but I’ll not give away it’s secrets. Instead, I suggest you go get one of these great little boxes. They’re well machined, and the tolerances are spot on to make this a solid box that will last many years, and take a lot of abuse.

Trapped Coin by Bill Sheckels

Rail Box

Marbled Walnut Sheet Cake

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I have been an admirer of Perry McDaniel for quite some time, having come across his work through my own woodworking, and the exposure to Incra jigs. Perry works for Incra and has published books relating to the use of the Incra jigs in making repeatable precise joinery. Nowhere is that more true than in puzzle making.

I was recently fortunate enough to be able to add Perry’s IPP26 puzzle the Marbled Walnut Sheet Cake to my collection.

Marbled Walnut Sheet Cake by Perry McDaniel

This striking puzzle is classic of the dovetail work that Perry produces, with amazing accuracy, and a level of fit that makes me strive to be a better woodworker.

Measuring in at a little over 2.5″ x 2″ it’s a rectangular cake slice made from Walnut and Maple. The figured Walnut used at the top of the slice really makes this look all the more like a chocolate sponge, and from a distance it could be easily mistaken. Without looking closely, you’ll not even see the join the two walnut halves, and the dovetail on each side is near invisible.

Marbled Walnut Sheet Cake side view

The side view shows just how invisible that joint is. The level of accuracy that is achieved here is stunning. And it’s even more impressive when you realise that this is only one of 200 copies made, and every one is made to this standard. Even with this level of accuracy, when you find out how to start opening the box, the movement is so smooth it’s incredible. The measurement here is so precise that there’s no gap, but equally no binding of the pieces. I really do consider this a master class in joinery! (Sorry, I’ll stop gushing now).

Marbled Walnut Sheet Cake Nutrition

Perry added a great touch by putting some nutritional information on the side of the box. It’s a great touch, and really adds some character to the puzzle. I do hope that the boxes survive with the puzzle as it does add to the charm.

Getting back to the puzzle itself, on initial inspection there’s not much movement, but the twin dovetail will give you a good idea of what needs to happen to open the puzzle. Turning the box around, there’s a distinct rattling coming from the box. At this point there’s no real indication as to whether that will be helpful or not. I had the distinct feeling that it’s not. (Am I getting cynical?) After a short time exploring I found a move which would allow some movement of the puzzle, and the two halves of the cake started to slide apart. It wasn’t the end though, as the sliding movement (which is so incredibly smooth) stops a little under half way, and reveals nothing about the mechanism keeping the box locked, or the source of that rattling!

Marbled Walnut Sheet Cake Open

I have to admit that I was rather stumped at this point for quite some time, and as with the best puzzles in my collection, when I finally found the final step required, and solved the puzzle, the realisation that the mechanism is so simple, yet stumped me, makes the Aha moment even better when it comes. Understanding how the mechanism work, it’s easy to re-open it quickly, and despite saying it more than once already, the accuracy of the joints, and the silky smooth operation easily makes this one of the best made puzzles in my collection. As you can see from the photo above, the source of the rattling is pretty obvious when the puzzle is open. I’m very pleased to have added this, and would highly recommend picking up a copy if you happen to come across one.

I did pick up a copy of Perry’s Incra book, and have a few of his projects planned. If I can get even half as close to the level of accuracy he is able to achieve I’ll be ecstatic.

The Illusion Puzzle

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I’ve reviewed a couple of Michael Toulouzas’ puzzles and each time I receive a new puzzle from him, I’m stunned by the look and quality of his work. The latest piece I received is “The Illusion Puzzle”, a six piece interlocking puzzle, that as Mike himself points out is not quite what it seems.

The Illusion Puzzle by Mike Toulouzas

By the time I saw this puzzle, and decided that I wanted a copy, Mike had already sold through his initial run, but agreed to let me know when he had more available. It took a little time, but true to his word, he got in touch to offer me a copy. I didn’t hesitate, and before too long, the box arrived from Mike.

My initial exploration didn’t reveal much, and the puzzle seemed to be fairly well locked up. Of course with some careful finger placement, I found a little movement, and before I knew what had happened, I had six dissimilar pieces in my lap, and no idea where they went in relation to each other, and no real idea about the motion needed to put it back together. Guess I was going to have to truly solve this one with no hints, or reference from the solved puzzle.

One of the pieces from the Illusion Puzzle

Looking at the pieces, there’s some interesting pyramids which stick out and really do a great job of getting the way of solving the puzzle. That said, they also give you a clue as to how each piece must be oriented in the solution, since those blocks fit into cutouts in the other pieces. With some analysis, it’s possible to minimise the possible combinations and significantly reduce the permutations you need to try. Of course there’s only one way that the pieces will come together, and I had many attempts where I thought I had the orientation correct to be thwarted by one of those pyramids stopping the pieces from coming together.

Two halves make a whole

Despite the puzzle exploding when I took it apart, this works very similar to a Sliding Star puzzle, and two halves glide together smoothly once the pieces are in the correct orientation, and you have the correct two sub assemblies created. I can now take it apart and put it back together without it exploding, and each time marvel at the design which created such a complicated set of interactions in what looks like a simple puzzle.

If you like this type of interlocking polyhedral puzzle, I highly recommend The Illusion, or any of Mike’s work, if you can get a copy.

Neil's Puzzle Building Blog

The journey from puzzler to puzzle creator.