Sequential Discovery Burred Box

We released Sequential Discovery Burred Box yesterday. It is our last puzzle product to be released in 2018 and we are happy that we could have done that before Christmas. The puzzle looks like an ordinary six piece interlocking burr, but it is also a puzzle box and sequential discovery puzzle.

PNG Rosewood is used for the main part of the puzzle. The color of the timber varies from pale yellow to reddish brown. Some have streaks, and some have obvious multiple colors in a timber piece. We randomly pick up the assembled puzzles when they are sold. We hope our customers like the color and texture of the puzzle.

Juno wanted to produce more puzzles because it seems that there are big demands for puzzle box products, but during the complex production process, he lost roughly 15% of them. We put less than 70 of them on our shopping website, and thanks to our customers' support, more than two thirds were sold within 24 hours after the puzzle had been released. It is big surprise to us. We are able to enjoy a happy Christmas time.

The size of the puzzle is 101 mm x 101 mm x 101 mm. You might feel it is a bit chunky because the mass volume of the puzzle is three to four times bigger than the ordinary size six piece burr puzzles. It was necessary to have such a big size to contain a weird gimmick or mechanism in the puzzle.

We already have been working on our next puzzle products. The next puzzle would be a little different than what we have produced. It has a concrete and representational shape. I would like to say what shape it would be, I really would, but sorry this is a top secret now. At least, I can say lots of people would love it! I'm unsure but the release of the next puzzle will be next year. Please look forward to it! We wish we could produce more puzzles in 2019 and make you feel wow! and aha!

It may be a little early to say this, but ...
We hope your Holiday Season is fun with lots of puzzles, and full of sparkles!

Yukari

The 7th Auction Results

The auction we had held ended on 4th Nov.
The sales results are as follows:

T-16 (Jarraah Box): AUD $41.04
T-16 (Rosewood Box): AUD $26.55
6 Board Burr 5x8 #1: AUD $72.23
Level 8 Burr: AUD $76.00
Great Grate Puzzle: AUD $74.00

The total sales amount was AUD $289.82.

For donating half the amount of sales, we went to the Animal Welfare League QLD and met fluffy friends. Here is the receipt from Animal Welfare.

If we have got any 2nd grade puzzles or if I make mini-puzzles, we will hold an eBay auction someday again.

Yukari

Great Grate Puzzle is on sale

The eBay puzzle auction has finished successfully and next is the time to start selling our new puzzle, the "Great Grate Puzzle."
A second grade Great Grate Puzzle was on the auction, so some of the readers might have seen pictures of it.

This is a puzzle that requires 32 moves to take the first piece apart from the assembled shape. There are only 32 possible assemblies for the puzzle and only one among them can be assembled. It looks a simple design, but I'm sure it is difficult to solve.

This puzzle was made from laminated plywood pieces. The number of puzzles is not many.

This is a type of puzzle I like. I like puzzles in which all the mechanism can be seen. I can scrutinize all the notches and it makes me think that it can be solved. In fact, most of the time what I thought that I was able to solve is a fantasy. Every time I grumble and mutter to myself, " What's this?", "What's wrong?", "Oops!" If I say, "Aha!" while I am playing, it is a high possibility to be solved.

I hope you enjoy playing with the Great Grate Puzzle.

Yukari

Five puzzles to auction

If you are a regular reader of this blog, maybe you are thinking that it is about time that the next puzzle auction started. Yes, you are right!

We have put four kinds of puzzles, in total five puzzles, up for auction on eBay! This time, there is one puzzle that has never been produced before and I think this is a big opportunity to get it.
We are going to donate half of the sold amount of this auction to The Animal Welfare League Queensland as we have always done.

The great Grate Puzzle puzzle which is second grade will be selling after the auction on our online shop. Four puzzles are small puzzles that were made by me (Yukari).

The details of each puzzle are here:

T-16
Juno designed this packing puzzle in 1990. The puzzle consists of all 16 T-shaped pieces that have four to seven cubic volumes. He produced only two or three of these puzzles in the past as his woodworking hobby.
The packed puzzle pieces make two layers in the box, a 6 x 6 square for the upper layer and an 8 x 8 square for the lower layer.

6 Board Burr 5x8 #1
The puzzle was designed in 2007 and it has never been produced because no one except Juno himself knew the puzzle. He neither did open the puzzle design to the public. So, this is the first time the puzzle has been sold. The puzzle has a unique level 5-11-4-3-3 solution.

Level 8 Burr
One day, Juno realized there were leftovers of reasonable size of plywood. He designed this puzzle so the pieces fit in those remaining plywood. This 12-piece board burr puzzle has 1104 solutions, and all of these require 8 moves to take the first piece apart from the assembled shape. The same as 6 Board Burr 5x8 #1, this is the first time the puzzle has become public and is being sold.

Great Grate Puzzle (2nd grade)
After the auction, we are going to release this board burr puzzle at a retail price of AU $96.00. Because this particular one has several marks of mending, we don't want to sell it as our regular product and decided to put it on auction. The puzzle has a very complex level 32-6-7-3-4 unique solution.

We are waiting for you to join the eBay auction!

Yukari

Spade Case and two burr puzzles

It's been a while since the last time we have released puzzles.
We have started selling following three new puzzles!

Spade Case is the last one of our trump card series puzzle boxes. Each of three former puzzle boxes, Diamond Case, Club Case and Heart Case has a unique mechanism to open. Spade Case is not an exception. We believe that many puzzle box collectors would say, "I have never seen this kind of trick."

Grooved 6 Board Burr #1 requires 22 moves to take the first piece apart from the assembled shape. As you see on the image, there are several grooves on the surface of the puzzle pieces. The internal hidden pin travels along the grooves and this feature restricts the movement of the pieces. Sometimes when you disassemble the puzzle, you might think that the first piece almost comes apart. Then you notice that it is still on the half way of the disassembling process. The ends of each piece are reinforced by the darker timber Jarrah to gives strength and good contrast.

Tangled Clip Burr is a very solid and heavy 12-piece board burr puzzle. To produce very complex puzzle pieces with tough durability, Juno laminated three layers of thin timbers crossing the grains at a right angle. This is an extremely difficult puzzle and I think most human beings cannot assemble the puzzle without any clue or computer aids. Once the puzzle is assembled, it really stands out by the higher symmetry and colors of the laminated timbers.

Hope you will love our puzzles!

Yukari

Our private jet

We bought a private jet in June. I know you are wondering how someone who runs a family business of puzzle making could buy such an expensive and luxurious airplane. What we really bought is a product of JET company; drum sander JET JWDS-1836. It costs one thousandth of a private jet.

We have started using Burmese Teak since we produced Quartet Box. The timber is a gorgeous material, but it dulls the edge of the blades of our machinery tools, like the table saw, jointer and thicknesser. To change the blades of machines requires extra time and it costs dozens of dollars for the tungsten carbide blades of the thicknesser. So, Juno wanted to do something for the issue.

In Australia, the end of June is a fiscal year-end. We have sold puzzles so-so this year and had money to spare to buy some new machinery. We thought we are going to need a drum sander in the future anyway and it might be a good idea to buy it now. Then we headed to our favorite shop, "Carbatec."

Juno has done several customizing operations to the drum sander that we bought. We knew that a genuine product of an in/out feed table is sold, but it is not designed as folding, so it takes room when it is not in use. Juno bought L-shaped foldable brackets and made the in/out feed table which can be folded when it is not in use.

The height of the conveyor belt of the JET JWDS-1836 drum sander can be adjusted. Therefore, if the height of the conveyor belt has changed, there can be a step between the conveyor belt and the in/out feed table. Juno added an adjustment function to the in/out feed table, and made both the in/out feed table and the conveyor belt to be able to be the same level.

When we make puzzles, we always pay attention to even under 0.1mm measurements. Even if Juno adjusts the drum sander very carefully, if the position where he put the timber through is different, the thickness of timber would be slightly varied. To avoid this issue, he made the T-shaped fence and made it adjustable to the in/out feed table. Letting timber go through along the fence, there would be almost no discrepancy of the thickness of the timber that comes out. Furthermore, the fence makes it easier to put through multiple timber butting their front and back ends to prevent snipe that usually occurs on both ends of the timber.

He also attached the DRO (digital read out) to the drum sander. The DRO is helpful for fine adjustment for the height of the sanding head.

When he changes the sanding belt, the simple stick helps to keep the top cover open. To fix the top cover in a closed position, the star nob can be used that was changed from the original screw. The star knob can be turned without using any tools and it is very convenient. These are using a little ingenuity, as each such customization contributes to increasing the efficiency of the work.

We are currently making three kinds of puzzles. The drum sander contributed significantly to produce those three puzzles. Our private jet cannot fly, we still love it very much.

We assume that we can start selling our one or two new puzzles in October.
We are working on them very hard almost every day.
Please wait a little more until our unique puzzles are released.

Yukari

Five Puzzles Auction Ended

The puzzle auction we had held was ended on 6th September successfully. We had put in 5 puzzles, including 3 mini puzzles.
The results are as follows:

Meanders Box (2nd grade) AUD 83.00
3D Shuriken (Test version) AUD 51.00
H Burr (Mini puzzle) AUD 125.95
6 Board Burr #1 (Mini puzzle) AUD 33.10
6 Board Burr #2 (Mini puzzle) AUD 63.00

As we promised, we donated half the sales amount to the local animal shelter, AWLQ today. Here's some pictures we had taken at the AWLQ.

The donated money will be used for these cats and dogs' food and treatment cost.

I'm completely pleased with the results this time and have begun to make new mini puzzles. It's a little early to tell, but I'm making mini puzzles including new puzzles that we haven't sold before.

These are pictures of puzzles in production now. Can you guess what types of puzzle they are?
Please look forward to the next auction!

Yukari

Five puzzles to auction

We have put five puzzles up for auction on eBay!
Every puzzle starts from $1.00 AUD!
Please have a look at the Pluredro eBay shop and join the auctions.

Meanders Box (2nd grade)
This is a 172 steps version of Meanders Box. As you see on the image, there is an obvious chipout on the grooved lid. There is also a hairline crack on one of the upper white rail piece. The puzzle has no problem to play with but we don't want sell the puzzle as our regular product.

3D Shuriken (test version)
Juno made the test version of 3D Shuriken using Utile timber before the production of the regular Burmese Teak version. The puzzle has a bit of a loose fitting compared to the regular version and sanding and arrising are also plain.

The following three miniature puzzles are made by Yukari, one of the owner of Pluredro Shop. Please also have a look at her blog entry about the miniature puzzle.

H Burr (made by Yukari)
The puzzle is made by Yukari. Solid Burmese Teak is used for the puzzle.

6 Board Burr #1 (made by Yukari)
Plywood of American Black Walnut and Koto is used for the puzzle. This classic puzzle designed in 1990 has a slanted checkout and the solution is a bit unusual.

6 Board Burr #2 (made by Yukari)
Plywood of Blackbean and Sliverash is used for the puzzle. The larger version of this puzzle was exchanged at the 16th International Puzzle Party held in Luxembourg in 1996.

The above puzzles, H Burr, 6 Board Burr #1 and 6 Board Burr #2 that I (Yukari) made are small but can be played with.

As serious cat lovers, we are going to donate half of the sold amount of this auction to The Animal Welfare League Queensland. They also support stranded dogs, houses and other small animals as well, so we also welcome all animal lovers to attend the auction.


Yukari

3D Shuriken

We have released a very difficult interlocking burr puzzle, 3D Shuriken.

Shuriken is a kind of weapon also called a Ninja star. There are various types of shurikens that have symmetrical and flat shapes. Juno designed the puzzle preserving its highly symmetrical shape and he made it three dimensional, so he named the puzzle as 3D Shuriken.

It is a very difficult puzzle and Juno says that it is almost impossible for human beings to assemble the puzzle if the puzzle pieces are handed disassembled and you have no preliminary clue about the orientation of the pieces. There are a possible 297 assemblies to the puzzle but only one can be assembled in three-dimensional space.

The timber used for the puzzle is Burmese Teak sold as "second grade" because there are lots of knots on the surface and the grains are very woven. These kinds of timber are not popular for boat builders because they don't want knots, but we could avoid dead knots when we cut the pieces and also Juno really likes the character of the timber. We had a win-win situation with a Teak lumber dealer and happily bought this gorgeous and precious timber.

Juno made a test version of the puzzle during the production and we are planning to put it on eBay auction in early September. A few of my miniature puzzles would be put on auction as well, so if you buy something else together, the shipping cost of the miniature puzzle is free because the puzzle has almost no weight and it can be combined for shipping without extra charge.

If you would like to get and enjoy the puzzle very soon, yep, they are available at our online shop.

Yukari