FIVE FROGS WOODWORKING

In this post, I will discuss some issues I have encountered with my dry mount press. I will also review the manufacturer recommended maintenance on these. My particular press is a Seal Masterpiece 210M. This unit was designed for mounting images to a substrate up to 1″ thick. A picture of it is below.

This is an older unit (30+ years), but new ones are listed for sale on numerous sites such as Artgrafix, Blick Art Materials or B&H Photo. The company has changed names to Bienfang and then to D&K, who is selling them under the “Expression” brand. A new one lists for around $2500 and up plus shipping and sales tax. I found mine on eBay 12 years ago for a lot less money. I just did a quick perusal of current eBay listings, and they run from $300 to $800. Spare parts are available if needed.

This model has a platen size of 18.5″ deep (front to back) and 23″ wide. Other models of this exist with different size platens. On this model, there are two adjustment screws on either side of the on/off switch and indicator lights. These are for adjusting the clamping pressure. The smaller models only have one pressure adjustment screw.

You can use this to mount larger materials in multiple passes. You can manage something up to 23″ wide and as long as you want if you support the amount protruding out the front and the back. I have done this with a couple of larger puzzles that were 16″ x 24″.

To achieve a successful image mount, the standard mantra is that you need to limit moisture present in the materials, use the correct temperature for the adhesive and the image, and apply the correct pressure for the correct amount of time. I will add to this that you need to ensure the back of the image is not too slippery or contaminated with a slippery substance. I strongly encourage reading the applicable sections of a book entitled “The Mounting and Laminating Handbook“, 3rd edition, by Chris A Paschke.

Temperature and pressure are functions of the press, the other items depend on operator technique.

Temperature Control

Temperature control is the first issue I want to address. I had a series of puzzles where I had problems with the image peeling from the wood. The paper itself was not delaminating, but the adhesive was failing. After several bouts of extreme frustration, I discovered that the temperature gauge on the unit was reading higher than the actual temperature as measured by other devices. This meant my adhesive was not adequately activating.

When the press is first turned on, you have both indicator lights on.

In theory, when the press has reached the temperature set by the control dial, the orange “heat” lamp goes out and the red “power” light stays on. When you add new material or the press cools down, you will see the orange light cycle on and off. This particular unit has a problem. Adjusting the temperature dial does not result in that temperature, and the temperature gauge is wrong. I discovered this by using the long meat probe from my smoker and a temperature strip. I later additionally confirmed it with a multimeter that includes a temperature probe.

The picture below shows the issue. The control dial is set to 200, the temperature gauge is showing about 183, the “heat” lamp is out indicating the press has reached the desired temperature, my smoker probe is only showing 171, and the temperature strip is showing a temperature between 167 and 176. (The smoker probe is guaranteed accurate within 1.8 degrees.)

I use Fusion 4000 adhesive. It requires a minimum of 170 degrees to properly activate. So, basically the adhesive was not being heated enough to properly activate. You do not want to just crank up the temperature, because ink jet prints start to degrade over 200 degrees.

I found some directions in an internet forum on how to adjust the knob to be closer to the temperature gauge.

The way to do this is first remove the knob. Next with a small screwdriver adjust the small screw in the center of the knob shaft. Turn the small screw counterclockwise to increase the temp setting and clockwise to decrease the temp setting. Small increments can make quite a difference in temperature…try 1/8 turn to start and then after the temp stabilizes see whether the set temperature agrees with the indicated temperature.

I messed around with this for almost an hour. It takes a small diameter screwdriver with a blade that is at least 2″ long. The words “small increments” are a huge understatement. I was able to get the dial indicator closer to the indicated temperature, but they are still different. I finally decided it was not really worth any more effort, as the indicated temperature is still wrong no matter if the dial agrees or not.

For my next project, I used the temperature strip and my multimeter with a temperature probe to verify the temperature of the press. The temperature gauge on the press indicated about 198, the temperature strip indicated between 185 and 194, and the multimeter indicated 186. I could buy replacement parts, but now that I know about the issue, I can just check it like this.

Moral of the story is to verify the temperature of your press!

Adjusting the Clamping Pressure

The cam locking system develops a total clamping pressure of 1200 pounds if correctly adjusted. That works out to a couple of pounds per square inch if you have a project as big as the platen. It is more than that for smaller projects. That should be more than sufficient. If you want more clamping pressure than that, you will probably need to get a vacuum press.

To adjust the clamping pressure, you need to first load the materials to be mounted into the press. Close the press, but do not apply pressure by locking it. If it is adjusted properly, the lever arms should be at a 45-degree angle. Refer to the scanned pages of the Owner’s Manual below on how to make the adjustment.

This is where I recently ran into an issue. The locking nuts had corroded onto the pressure adjusting screws. The asterisked direction above to lock the press to remove the pressure on the locking nuts did not work. I had to use some pliers to get them to come loose. I kept the press closed and completely removed the locking nuts. It was a battle most of the way.

I then used a wire brush and a small wire wheel in a Dremel type rotary tool to remove as much corrosion as possible from the threads of both the adjusting screws and the locking nuts. (If you do this, make sure to collect all the debris to keep from contaminating future projects!) To prevent future problems, I coated the threads with anti-seize before reassembling. (Note that this is not included or recommended in the owner’s manual anywhere.) The anti-seize I had in my shop was the high temperature variety and is gold in color.

A note of caution. This stuff goes everywhere. I once heard someone joke that if you use anti-seize, even after you take a shower you will wake up in the morning with your pillowcase coated with this stuff. Be warned!

So, how often do you need to adjust the clamping pressure? If you set it and keep using the same materials, probably never! But, as you experiment and change your backing material thickness, you should check it every time.

For the picture below, the setting has not changed between three different thicknesses of plywood. The leftmost image is nominal 1/4″ Cherry Appleply, the middle image is 6mm okoume plywood, and the right side is nominal 1/2″ cabinet grade maple plywood.

The difference between the left and right images is pretty clear. The adjustment screws need to be adjusted to achieve the correct pressure for the 1/2″ plywood. Actually, you may have a very difficult time closing the press like this.

Maintenance

The owner’s manual has a short list of recommended maintenance items.

1. Cleaning – the first one on the list is critical. The upper platen lifts when you open the press. It is a flat piece of steel. This is the piece of the press that heats up. If it has deposits or build ups on it, it can cause impressions in the surface of the mounted image. If you notice your mounted puzzle image has little divots in it, you probably need to go check the upper platen for smoothness. They make a cleaning solution for this.

This cleaning guidance also applies to the release paper. The press is loaded from bottom to top with:

• release paper
• plywood
• adhesive
• printed image
• release paper

If the platen has any bumps on it, those bumps will press through the top piece of release paper and put a dimple in the image. If the top piece of release paper has any residual adhesive from the last project, that adhesive will melt into the image and ruin it. Here is an example of this.

I now scrape the release paper between each project with an expired credit card. School of hard knocks here.

2. Check the sponge pad. On the bottom of the press is a thick sponge pad the size of the platens. It is relatively heavy. The material can begin to degrade with time. For people who are mounting prints to foam board to put in a picture frame, soft spots can cause uneven pressure across the image when clamping. Uneven pressure can lead to poor adhesion. In our case, where we are mounting prints to plywood, I do not see it as a critical issue. I have checked mine and it is fine. That is a good thing, as the replacement pads are about $140.00. Something to consider if you are looking at purchasing a used press.

3. Check the temperature – I have already beat this topic to death. It does say to use Seal Temperature Indicator Strips, but I found some other brand online. You just need to pick some that cover the temperature range you want. These came with a sticky back. I attached one to a piece of scrap plywood and throw it in the press when warming it up to do a quick temperature check.

4/5/6. No real discussion needed. I did find a loose nut on one of the pivot points once.

I sat down to write a short entry about the dry mount press and ended up writing another small booklet! If you have managed to read through the entire thing, I hope you find it helpful.

My owner’s manual came with my press when I bought it. It was printed in 1990. I found a newer one online from 2005. It was while they were labeled as Bienfang and owned by Elmers Glue! Everything is pretty much the same other than being reformatted and the name change. Here is the link to that. Bienfang Owner’s Manual.

As always, happy puzzling!

Bob

There have been numerous postings about boxes on several puzzle related Facebook groups. Some people insist that custom puzzles deserve a wooden box, others detest wooden boxes. One fellow indicated that if the puzzle comes in a wooden box, he throws the box away and puts the puzzle in a box of his choosing. Some people indicate they do not like puzzles to come in a bag of any sort. Most people agree that the puzzles should not be in airtight plastic containers to prevent mold growth. Some people do not like cheap boxes, which I can truly understand. (I guess I use somewhat cheap boxes.) But, for every person who expresses an opinion one way, there is someone else who likes the opposite. As a puzzle cutter, I read these discussions with interest. I do need to keep my customers satisfied, after all. I had toyed with the idea of making wooden boxes until I saw how many negative comments there were about wooden puzzle boxes.

One set of Facebook comments concentrated on what the puzzle box should be able to withstand. One criterion was to be able to support 75 pounds of weight. I cannot argue for or against this seemingly arbitrary number. I shudder to think of a shelf of puzzles that have 75 pounds of weight on the puzzle boxes. My puzzles are usually under 2 pounds in weight, so that would be a stack of more than 38 puzzles piled towards the ceiling. Alternatively, I would hope that no one is keeping their dumbbells or curl bar on top of expensive puzzles!

The comments also indicated the lid should be firmly attached in a manner that is easy to get off but does not fall off easily if the box tumbles on the ground. Who wants to play 336-piece pickup keep away with a puzzle while there are two dogs in the room?

This particular discussion really piqued my interest. How much weight could one of my boxes endure? Would the puzzle box fly open when dropped? Are my boxes horrible? I set out to find some answers, which has led to this blog posting.

I use folding boxes that I buy through US Box. Here is an example of a box as it is received. The size of this particular box is 8″ x 8″ x 3″, which is my medium sized box. I also use 6″ x 6″ x 3″ and 10″ x 10″ x 6″ boxes of this same style.

These boxes are easy to assemble. First, you open them up.

Next, you start folding the bottom flaps down.

I have not done so before now, but I am going to start using a hot melt glue gun to glue these flaps together as I build the boxes. I have been applying a piece of packing tape to the inside flap. I will keep doing that as well.

For my first test, I am going to use this newly assembled 8 x 8 x 3 box. I am not going to tape it or glue it together, just put the lid on it. I am going to leave it empty, so the contents do not provide any structural support. And then I am going to start stacking known weights on top of it until it starts to deform or collapse.

I have a number of heavy boxes full of cast iron and lead. I use these to apply force to newly mounted puzzles while they are cooling down from the dry mount press. I weighed these individual boxes with a postal scale and then started stacking them on my empty puzzle box. This was the first box. This one is a cast iron vise that will be installed on my in-house work bench when I finish building it.

This next set of boxes weighs 21 pounds and 11 ounces. On the right side of the picture, you can see the first box above is stacked on the puzzle box.

This continued until I noticed deformation of the box. This was the last picture I remembered to take before it started to collapse, but it does not stop here. At this point, it has 67 pounds and 11 ounces piled on it. The box still looks nice and straight and square all around.

I continued stacking more boxes until the puzzle box started to fail. At this point, the box is supporting 124 pounds and 10 ounces of cast iron and lead. The stage before this one was 113 pounds and 2 ounces. So, these boxes do meet that arbitrary criterion of supporting 75 pounds.

Here is a side view of the collapsing box.

Another view.

With everything removed and the lid off, here is the inside of the box.

The next criterion was to not fall open and spill its contents when knocked off the counter. I took another new 8″ x 8″ x 3″ box for this test. I filled it with the multi-age unicorn puzzle from my last blog entry. It had been previously stored in a little plastic rubber maid container and needed an upgraded home. I decided it could be a potentially sacrificial test subject. It was already missing one piece, so….

As you can see, the box is only about one half full. That is a complaint I have noticed in the Facebook groups. People do not like it if the puzzle rattles around too much in the box. That is one of the nice things about these folding boxes. You can custom fit them to the size of the actual puzzle it is being used for. In this next picture, I am trimming the box to fit with a straight edge and a razor. (You can see the bent box from earlier, too.) When doing this, you do need to remember to leave room for tissue paper padding and whatever brochure or other paraphernalia you might enclose in the box with the puzzle.

I taped the bottom flap of the box like I have been doing with my puzzles up to this point.

I like to use a couple of sheets of tissue paper to line the box.

Next is to fill the box.

Fold the tissue paper over.

Next was to put a lid on it and smack it off the counter!

The first hit was not very hard. It only flew a couple of feet.

Not very exciting. I then smacked it harder, and it flew about 6 feet across the room. It would have gone farther, but it hit a metal stand that was in the way and fell to the floor early.

I tried it upside down as well.

It still stayed together. Pretty boring test.

How about if we put it on its side and make sure it tumbles as it falls?

This one had some different results! The lid came off the box.

I kind of pinched everything together and lifted it all up onto the counter. No pieces fell out onto the floor as I did this.

I gently opened the tissue paper, and shook everything, and the pieces all fell back into place in the box! Put the lid back on, and it is good to go! Wrapping it with the tissue paper helps to contain the pieces if the lid comes off. Some people put their pieces in a nice velvet/felt bag, which would be nice as well.

I ended up knocking the box on the floor 10 times while doing all this, so the box was starting to look a little rough at the end.

So, my cheap little boxes stand up pretty well. Are they the best thing? Of course not! I would love to use some nice sturdy boxes. On several occasions over the last 10 years, I have spent hours searching for a source of rigid stand up boxes that does not break my bank account or fill my space with empty boxes. Unfortunately, most box vendors want you to make a minimum order of 500 boxes. If you cut different sizes of puzzles, you would then need to order and stock maybe 3 sizes of boxes. 1500 boxes stored in my basement workshop! Or the guest room? Not happening! As one person has noted, I am not a prolific cutter of puzzles. I think the greatest number of puzzles I have cut in one year is on the order of 25 or so. With that many boxes and my low production rate, my future heirs would be dealing with stacks and stacks of empty boxes.

Furthermore, buying 500 boxes does not really make the empty box affordable to me. I have been quoted up to $20 a box, plus shipping! $10,000 (or $30,000 if you get three sizes) in boxes that my heirs can fight over! And, if it is a $200 puzzle, you just added 10% to the price of the puzzle.

I can buy a fairly decent box at the local Hobby Lobby for around $6, but they usually only have a couple of them in stock. If you need one for a small puzzle, the box will be a cube shape, which I do not care for. And, when I go back to get more, the box has somehow changed its shape. Or it now has polka dots and stripes. I really would like my boxes to be consistently colored and shaped. I think the white box with green lid is fairly recognizable to a few people.

I buy these boxes in three sizes, 50 at a time. They store flat other than the lids. The lids do take up space, but they can kind of accordion together and fit in a relatively small space. The ones I have been working my way through had green lids, but those are no longer available from this vendor. Future lids will be the same color of white as the boxes themselves.

I could rattle on about boxes. I have played with making wooden boxes. I have used little jewelry boxes for small puzzles. But this blog article was really about the boxes I do use and how they stand up to some torture tests. It has gone too long as it is.

Checkout the puzzles I may have listed on my Etsy store. FiveFrogsWoodworking – Etsy

Happy Puzzling!

Bob

This is a continuation of my last blog post. This project is taking longer than expected. I have cut seven of the different wood samples. I will post my findings of these seven, as I am not sure how long it will take me to get to the rest of them.

I decided to make these test puzzles as close to the same as possible. So, I cut them all using the same saw, the same brand, size, and style of sawblades, and the same puzzle piece style. These are all 8″ x 8″ blanks (except for one I will discuss when I get to it). I cut the puzzles using my DeWalt scroll saw with Pegas 2/0R MGT blades. I cut them in what I call the dragon tail piece style. They all seven have roughly 40 pieces (except for the smaller one).

The samples I have managed to cut at this point are the five varieties from the Boulter sample pack, a piece of cherry Appleply, and the piece of MDF core with maple face veneer. I also cut additional puzzles from the extra sapele, okoume, and meranti blanks. These three additional puzzles are not the dragon tails style of puzzle piece.

I share below my experiences with these woods. As always, these are my personal experiences. Others may disagree with me, which is fine. Some of the pictures you will see are greatly magnified to better show what I have learned. I took these magnified pictures with a Carson xOrb Digital Viewer which magnifies 68X on a 27″ monitor. They do not look as drastic in real life as some of these photos might indicate!

Meranti

I started with the meranti. It intrigued me due to its rather neutral look. It is not bland like Baltic birch but has a very consistent looking grain structure. It was lighter than some of the other woods. The piece on top in the below picture has Danish oil on it to bring out the grain.

I did discover that the surface was what a wood worker would call an “open grain”, which means it was rather porous. Open grain woods do not typically take stains very evenly. Even uncut and sanded, this surface was rough looking. This photo taken with my cell phone while I was sitting at the saw shows the open cell structure of the meranti wood.

I found this wood to splinter rather easily. I could see pieces flaking off along the grain as I was cutting it. This was on the top surface as I cut, which is where the teeth of the blade are pressing down into the wood. You often have splintering on the bottom side, but this was happening on the top side. The below photo was taken with my cell phone camera while cutting. This was the worst of all the woods tested for this.

The backside was much worse, with entire pieces being torn out. The picture below shows the worst incidence of this with a .5 mm mechanical pencil for comparison. Photo taken with zOrb.

Of the seven varieties discussed here, I feel this was the second weakest as far as structural strength. The first thing cut with these puzzles is the edge all around the puzzle. I tested all of the edge debris, and this was the second easiest to break. This was obviously not scientific with gauges and meters and such, but I did this to all seven plywood varieties using several pieces of debris from each puzzle.

This puzzle I opted to finish with acrylic spray paint. You can see how the grain structure did not allow for a very smooth surface. I do not think this hurts the puzzle but gives it maybe a rustic appearance.

Here is a closeup of the paint.

Also, the weakness of the wood was proven when removing the pieces from the sacrificial cardboard used while painting. One of the pieces broke! You can see it in the below picture as well as the above picture. I have glued it back together. It is probably stronger than it was but will always be a little weak. I will be listing this puzzle for sale on Etsy but will point out the broken and mended piece. It will be shipped with the adjacent piece inserted for support.

I was disappointed with the other puzzle I cut from this as well. The below picture is a little out of focus, but you can see all of the tear out from the bottom.

Here is a closeup some of the tear out.

I find this to be unacceptable. I have not made up my mind on what I will do with this puzzle. I have done nothing to finish it yet. It may just go in the kindling pile.

I personally will not buy any more meranti plywood for making puzzles.

Okoume

Next was the okoume. At 7mm, this was the thickest of the Boulter samples. The piece on top in the below picture has Danish oil on it to bring out the grain.

This wood was subject to a lot less splintering than the meranti was.

Here is a close up of the worst spot I could find on the top, with a .5mm pencil lead for comparison.

The bottom side was fuzzy, like most wood is after being cut with a saw.

Below is a picture of the edge cut done at the beginning of any my dragon tails puzzles. For this wood comparison test, I was breaking these in multiple locations to get a feel for the strength of the plywood. The okoume was as good as any of them.

I did find one location with a small void.

Here is the finished and painted puzzle. This puzzle will be listed on Etsy.

You can see the grain structure through the paint on the okoume as well, but it is much less severe than the meranti or the sapelle. Here is a close up.

I did a second puzzle with the okoume. It was cut in my usual piece style, but with a small frog border.

This puzzle I opted to finish with 5 different colors of Danish oil finish. This puzzle will be listed on Etsy.

I felt this was a decent plywood to work with for puzzle cutting. I have not found it locally, and I like the Appleply I have been using, so I probably will not be making many puzzles from it. If it was sourced locally, I would use it.

Sapelle

Next came the sapelle. The piece on top in the below picture has Danish oil finish applied to bring out the wood beauty.

This wood splintered on the top as it was cut, but nowhere nearly as bad as the meranti. The picture below shows one such location on the right by the .5mm pencil lead. It also shows a tip blow out on the left. Remember, this was taken with the zOrb device, and does not look bad to the naked eye.

The backside had some as well.

The finished puzzle is fine. You can see more grain structure than with the okoume, but less than the meranti.

Here is a close up.

The other panel, I cut differently and coated it with just a neutral Danish oil finish. I will probably list this on Etsy, but I am tempted to keep it for myself. I was unable to capture it with my photographic skills, but that piece shimmers in the light as you move it around. It is just flat out gorgeous in its iridescence.

I do notice with this wood that it is very difficult to pick this puzzle up to flip it over. There is almost no friction between the pieces and if you pick it up, it will fall apart. I have to use two pieces of cardboard to sandwich it to flip it over.

Like the okoume, I would not hesitate to use this in the future but would not go out of my way to obtain more.

Boulter provided cherry single ply core

This wood was extremely frustrating to me. I love cherry and had high hopes for this stuff. Like the previous wood selections, the top panel below has a coat of Danish oil finish on it.

This wood is very thin, and very light. It offers almost no resistance to the blade as you are cutting. It was almost like pushing through water or something. I found it to be uncontrollable. I could not spin the wood around the blade without over running my target. I ruined the first panel and tossed it in the fire. I started the second panel and gave up early. I could not even cut the edge of the puzzle off, much less attempt to cut the more challenging dragon tail pieces. I ended up cutting a chunk off to remove the evidence of my efforts.

I moved on to the Baltic birch. As I was cutting the Baltic birch, I decided to give this cherry another shot by using a dull blade. I cut in the Baltic birch until the blade was bending quite a bit from pushing hard enough to get it to cut. I then switched to the cherry and cut the entire puzzle (now smaller than desired) with one extremely dull blade.

I found that it did not have any splintering problems. Here is a representative picture of the top side taken with the zOrb showing the quality of the cut.

The backside was typically fuzzy.

I finished this puzzle using Danish oil.

The puzzle looks great. However, I find the wood to be very weak. The strength test I described above showed the wood to break with almost no effort at all. In fact, one of the pieces broke while I was just rubbing a little finish on it.

Yes, I can glue it, but I think it is symptomatic of problems the entire puzzle will have. I do not think I will list this for sale. I think it will be a loaner demo puzzle until it is nothing but splinters and toothpicks.

I found this wood to be unacceptable for my puzzle purposes.

Baltic Birch

I have used a lot of Baltic birch in the past and will use more in the future. It seems to be easy to find locally and is usually of fairly good quality.

One of the issues with Baltic birch is that sometimes it has a surface patch on it. The picture below is an example of such a patch. It is not shown in the above photo, but one of those panels does have a surface patch.

This sample of Baltic birch splintered quite a bit more than I expected it to. I have noticed this is becoming more common with the Baltic birch I have been using. A couple of other puzzle cutters have commented on this issue in a Facebook puzzle group I am a member of. This is one of the reasons I have been looking for a different wood to use. In the picture below, you can see the splintered wood laying on the surface, and to the left and slightly below that you can see the divot it came out of.

Here is the cut puzzle.

Since this is pretty boring wood, I opted to spray paint this one as well. You can see the grain lines show through the paint with this wood as well.

Here is a close up of the painted wood. Some of the grooves are natural to the wood, and a couple are from the missing splinters.

Here is the surface patch.

I have no problem using Baltic birch but was really looking for something better.

Cherry Appleply

This brings us to the cherry Appleply sample. This was top of my list going into this, and it has pretty much stayed there.

This stuff is a joy to cut. There is really no splintering top or bottom while cutting. This is the worst spot I could find on the top of the panel. Remember, this is magnified something like 60 times by the zOrb.

This is the worst spot I could find on the bottom of the panel. All of those whiskers go away with a little bit of sanding when done cutting. No divots or grooves left behind.

Here is the cut but unfinished puzzle.

I opted to finish this with 5 different shades of Danish oil. This picture does not do it justice.

Once the Danish oil finish has cured, this will be listed on Etsy. It is cool in my workspace right now, so it is taking longer to cure than I planned for.

MDF core maple panel

This was the big surprise for me. I tend to sneer at MDF for certain things, such as skinny puzzle pieces. This actually is a good product worth looking for more of. I apparently failed to get a standalone picture of the uncut panel, but here is the cut puzzle.

This stuff cut beautifully. It seems to be as strong as the majority of the plywood samples. It did produce much finer dust than the rest of them. Like the Appleply, splintering was basically non-existent. Here is a view of the top side.

And here is a view of the backside.

Light sanding after cutting removed all of the little whiskers.

Once again, I opted to finish this with five shades of Danish oil finish. This is a little bit different, as the previous examples finished with the Danish oil were on darker woods. This being maple, the same colors of finish produced wildly different results.

The difference is very subtle, but the light-colored pieces in the picture below are actually two different shades of finish.

This will also be listed on Etsy.

Summary

I still have more varieties of wood choices to cut. But from what I have done so far, the cherry Appleply is my wood of choice. Second to that would be the MDF core maple panel product. I think the Meranti and the single ply cherry core plywood are unacceptable for what I do.

As far as any hard analytical data, I kept records of the number of blades used and the amount of time spent on cutting each puzzle. They are listed in the table below. It is a pretty small sample size for real conclusions.

Note that the cutting time is not the vast majority of time spent on these overall. Applying finish, sanding, etc take up a considerable amount of time. Add in time for boxing, labeling, picture taking and editing for Etsy listings, creating the Etsy listing, etc, come close to doubling the time in some cases. The smaller the puzzle, the more relative “admin” time involved.

Some of these are already listed on my Etsy website at FiveFrogsWoodworking, and more will be as time moves on. I was hoping to get these listed earlier in the month to allow for more time before Christmas, but life sometimes interferes in manmade plans.

Happy Puzzling!

Bob

Boulter sample pack

The catalyst for this puzzle board comparison was the announced availability of sampler packs from Boulter Plywood with five 8″ x 8″ samples of different varieties of plywood. Dee Rogers on her Facebook group page explained that Chris Boulter had arranged for these sampler packs so puzzle cutters could try out five different types of plywood and see how they like them. BoulterPlywood.com

I thought “Why not?” In August, I finally got around to calling to order a sampler pack. It was pointed out that shipping costs might make it worthwhile to order more than one pack to reduce the impact per order. So, I ordered three packs. $24 of wood, and $17.20 in shipping charges from the east coast to the Spokane, Washington area. So that is 960 square inches of material for $41.20, or $6.18 per square foot. Just in comparison, two weeks later, I bought six 4′ x 4′ panels of Appleply from States Industries in Oregon. The total cost was $585.83 delivered (only $71 of that was shipping). That equates to $6.10 per square foot. The last Baltic birch I bought locally was $61.03 for a 5′ x 5′ panel, or $2.44 per square foot.

The price per square foot is probably not a fair comparison, as I suspect larger pieces from Boulter Plywood to here would be pretty expensive to ship. If you have a local lumber store or specialty store, that is probably your best source price wise. Many of them will also order wood they do not normally carry.

Here is a sampler pack. They are helpfully marked on one edge with a single letter corresponding to the species name.

Since I have three packs, I decided to put a coat of Danish Oil on one side of each variety to see what color is brought out. I also want to see if a finish of some sort reduces the amount of splintering on the back side of the puzzle while cutting, so the oiled samples will be cut with the oil side down (once the oil dries).

The Danish oil really brought out the grain and shows what the wood looks like. Well, except for the Baltic birch. Baltic Birch just looks… bland? The sapele sample is almost iridescent as you tilt it around in the light.

Okoume – Okoume comes from the central African country of Gabon. If you are interested, information about it is available on The Wood Database. I wanted to verify it is not listed on the bad list. It is shown as vulnerable but not on the CITES list. This particular sample is the thickest of them, advertised as 7mm. I measured all of the samples with a dial caliper, and this was actually 7mm. All layers are made of rotary cut okoume. This piece is marine grade plywood, meaning the adhesive meets a specific standard for being water and boil proof (WBP).

Sapelle – Sapelle is from tropical Africa. It is one of the very many woods often lumped together under the mahogany label, although it is not a true mahogany. The Wood Database has good information on it. Like the okoume, it is not listed on the CITES list, but is considered vulnerable. This is also a marine grade plywood. All layers are made of rotary cut sapelle.

Meranti – Meranti is one of many different species that is referred to as Philippine Mahogany, which is no relation to real mahogany from Honduras. It is found throughout Southeast Asia, and although some varieties are vulnerable, some Meranti comes from sustainable sources. Dark Red Meranti | The Wood Database. This is also a marine grade plywood. All layers are made of rotary cut meranti.

Boulter provided cherry – This is the first product examined that is made of two different materials. The outer face veneer is obviously cherry. It is plain sliced. The single inner veneer is poplar. Here are the Wood Database pages for both of those woods.

• Yellow poplar | The Wood Database,
• Poplar, Cottonwood, and Aspen: What’s What? | The Wood Database, and
• Black Cherry | The Wood Database (Hardwood) (wood-database.com).

Notice that most poplar wood used for furniture is not really poplar but comes from the tulip tree. Actual wood from a poplar tree is kind of a trash wood and is used for stuff like pallets, firewood, and making paper. Confusing, right?

This is the thinnest of the samples so far. In the edge view picture below, you can see how thin the face veneers are. Since there is only a single inner ply, I have included a view of both the end grain and the side grain of the inner ply.

Baltic birch – I have been able to easily find this just about everywhere I have lived (residences in 13 different locales in 40 years). Most of it is from nations in the Baltic area, such as Russia, Finland, etc. Baltic Birch | The Wood Database. Baltic birch is a great product even though it is visually boring. It is strong, stable, and flat. I have been using different thicknesses of it for years to make shop jigs, shop cabinets, shop tools, etc. I turned to the 1/4″ version to make puzzles when I decided to get serious about puzzles. All layers are made with rotary cut birch. You can see there are five fairly equally thick layers.

Appleply

Appleply is a product made in Oregon by States Industries. If you cannot find it locally, you can order it direct from ApplePly Hardwood Plywood. They are sometimes out of stock in the sheet size you want, but it may be available in other sizes. I buy the 4′ x 4′ sheets. If you do, I recommend you buy it in groups of four to get the most out of your shipping dollar. They ship them UPS in a big box with up to four sheets in one box. A nice protector sheet of packing material is between each plywood sheet, and edge protectors of thick hardened cardboard do a great job. I have ordered from them twice and have not been disappointed.

Appleply is made with inner layers of birch or alder. They have various options to choose from for the face veneer. I usually pick cherry, but I recently included a sheet of their white maple. There are a lot of maple species, but since they are located in the Pacific Northwest, I am going to assume they are using Bigleaf maple. I am also assuming the inner layers are rotary cut with the face layers plain cut. Some of the cherry I have has beautiful book matching grain. Here are the Wood Database pages for the new species introduced.

• Red Alder | The Wood Database
• Bigleaf maple | The Wood Database

You can see this wood has four inner veneers with two fairly thin face veneers.

Cabinet shop off-cuts

Cabinet grade plywood – There is a cabinet shop located nearby that makes and sells high quality cabinets to a nationwide market. They used to have an outlet store where you could obtain pallets full of scraps and quality reject wood pieces. By this I mean they would cut a drawer front, and if there was a small splinter it would be rejected. You might have a 6″ x 24″ of 3/4″ thick maple that was in good shape except for a little nick on one corner. I frequented this place quite often, as the wood projects I make are often of a smaller size. One time, I was able to pick up a pallet of sheet goods at a price that I still cannot believe. The 1/2″ thick panels are 2′ x 2′, and the 1/4″ panels are 16″ x 18″. The face veneers are maple, and I assume the inner layers are birch or alder. The 1/2″ sample has seven inner plies and two face veneers. The 1/4″ sample has three inner plies and two face veneers.

The stacks are considerably shorter than they were, but you can see there is quite a bit of plywood there. As an added bonus, they are finished on the good side with some sort of varnish or lacquer. I thought I was going to make unique puzzles from this, but the 1/2″ material is really too thick. I have sold a few, and exchanged some at a Puzzle Parley, but that is all. The 1/4″ plywood is quality wood but is not as good for puzzle making as Baltic birch and Appleply. I use scraps of it for practicing different or new puzzle piece styles. I will include one blank of each of this stuff in my little comparison project.

MDF core panels – included in the same pallet were some thinner panels that have an MDF core and face veneers of maple and alder. These are nominally about 3/16″. I have not used these for puzzles before but will include some in this test. If you look at the upper right-hand corner, you can see what happens if you sand this thin face veneer too long!

Miscellaneous scraps

Poking around through my scrap pile, I found some other pieces of material to use for this comparison test. I may not even cut these, depending on how done with the project I am by the time I get to them!

Construction grade plywood – This is a piece of 1/4″ construction grade plywood, like I made my first puzzles with. It has three layers of veneer made from some flavor of evergreen tree, like Douglas Fir or spruce or something.

Solid maple hardwood – This is actually a piece of a panel I made from 8/4 hardwood maple I resawed on my bandsaw. The maple was originally a scrap from making a poster bed for my daughter 30 years ago. This maple came from Steve Wall Lumber Co. in North Carolina. I bought it when we lived in Georgia and have been carrying the scraps around since then.

Masonite (hardboard) – I really searched for some solid hardboard to test as a puzzle. I did not find any. However, I did find a small piece of pegboard which is the same stuff with holes in it. Now, can I make a presentable puzzle from a piece of pegboard? I have no idea, but we might find out! The one drawback is that this is not 1/4″ hardboard, but rather 1/8″.

Cutting preparation

All of these samples (except the pegboard) were sanded on both sides (except any pre-finished sides were not sanded) up through 320 grit. The thickness of each sample was measured with a dial caliper both before sanding and after sanding. Each sanded panel was weighed. The results of the measurements can be seen in the below table. The red measurements are common measurements to use as reference to compare the various wood thicknesses to.

Please note that many woods are sold as a nominal measurement. In other words, a lot of material sold as 1/4″ is not actually 1/4″ thick. It is often 1/32″ thinner. So, if someone sells you a puzzle that is made of 1/4″ material, and you measure it and it is only 7/32″ thick, they were not lying to you. They told you the nominal thickness of the material. Another example of this would be if you go to the big box store and buy a 2 x 4 stud, you might think it will be 2″ thick and 4″ wide. No, that was the rough-cut measurement as it came out of the saws. Once it comes out of the saw, it is run through the planer to remove all the rough material and splinters. When it settles in the stack at the box store, it is nominally 1 1/2″ thick and 3 3/4″ wide. Note that is still a nominal measurement. Wood shrinks and swells, different sawing/planing machinery is set to different tolerances, etc.

So, that wraps this segment up. Now to take some time and go cut puzzles!

Happy Puzzling!

Bob