Dragon puzzle box

After long time finally I made another puzzle box. Some time ago I watched a video about an antique Chinese puzzle box. There is a sweet competition between China and Japan. I like this. Chinese has tangram and Japans has Japanese tangram. Japans has Japanese puzzle boxes and Chinese has Chinese puzzle box. The mechanism of this Chinese box was very nice and I decided to make one. I made some changes and the result is this box. The name of this box is dragon box. I am planing to make a dragon ornament to side panels in next days with wood burning. Here my video about this box.

For making this box I used cherry and mahogany. Additionally some small padauk scraps from my workshop. This puzzle box is a complex box project (at least for me) and require a lot of drawing and explications. If you want make your own “Dragon puzzle box” you can download or preview free PDF file including photos , explications, plans , drawings etc from here (2.3 MB on secure server box.com) 

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Japanese puzzle box

This is my small Japanese puzzle box. A lot of people look for Japanese puzzle box plans with detailed instructions. Unfortunately Japanese puzzle boxes aren’t beginner projects. All of them are difficult to make because they require a precise work and they have a lot of parts. This box is one of the most simple Japanese puzzle box. For this reason I decided to prepare a document with plans and instructions.

This puzzle box has four removable sliding panel and a box frame. Box frame contains box compartment and top, bottom pieces. You can open or close the box by moving each panel one by one in turn. According to computer analysis this box opens with 10 -12 move but after 8 move this box became open. I prepared my document for a 12Tx12Tx12T box. All dimensions are according to material thickness. If you use a 5 mm thick wood you will obtain a 60x60x60 mm box. If you want you can change dimensions of this box and make some rectangular box for dimensions that you wish. If you want make your own puzzle box you can preview or download free PDF file with plans and instructions from here (1,2 MB on box.com secure server)

The box mechanic is same with the “Modified Matchbox” design of Bruce Viney. You can visit his website. You can see his art works and find some useful information about making puzzle boxes. You can download some free plans for beginners, or if you have experience about making puzzle boxes you can buy more complex box plans for very low prices.. You can read also experiences of Brian Pletcher about making his first puzzle box.

After making a cube puzzle box, you can make anything that you wish . I made my old movie camera puzzle box with this cube. A cube with clock , thermometer and barometer, cute robots, an old TV or radio are some ideas.

After sharing this puzzle box project in this blog, a puzzle friend Mr. Peter Stranks send me a spread sheet for calculating box dimensions as you wish. You enter wood thickness and additional dimension that you wish to add to 12T and you obtain easily all dimensions. Thanks from here to Mr.Stranks for this spreadsheet and for sharing this with us. If you want you can download this spreadsheet from here and you can make easily your custom dimension boxes. (12.5 KB on secure server box.com)

Mini tugboat box

This is a very small puzzle box. Total length is 75 mm (about 3 inch). My sister simplified my tugboat box design and made this from workshop scraps with a jewelry hand saw. Very small, may be used as a box for small ear rings. She used two type of wood. Mahogany and beech. Here I will not share detailed instructions for making this box. You can find instructions from my “Tugboat box project”. This is a simple project. You can find your dimensions according to your materials. But as a reference I prepared a drawing for this box with dimensions. Drawings are 1:1 scale. If you want you can use them as cutting and drilling template. You can preview or download free PDF file including drawings for this box from here (0.4 MB on secure server box.com)

Puzzler puzzle box

According to my blog stats a lot of people want make puzzle boxes but most of them search easy to make puzzle boxes. Unfortunately, puzzle boxes have some mechanisms and they aren’t easy to make. Most of the puzzle boxes require very precise wood work. I designed this box a few days ago. I am inspired from an antique wooden rattle and a Chinese puzzle. My aim was designing an easy to make puzzle box. I made this box in my workshop in half day. This is a very easy to make puzzle box. Opening mechanism is very simple but confusing for a lot of people. This box has 6 removable panel.

I think everything is visible from photo. One of the pieces is removable Three small wooden pin and two small but very strong magnet keep in it’s place this removable piece. My box outside dimensions are 100x100x100 mm and inside is 70x70x70 mm. There is a lot of space inside. For panels I used 5 mm olive and end pieces are made from 10×10 mm mahogany. You can make ornaments on panels or fake buttons etc for a more confusing box.

If you want make your own puzzle box you can preview or download free PDF file that I prepared including dimensions, assembly, drawings and craft tips from here. (0.6 MB on secure server box.com)

Old movie camera

This is one of the latest puzzles from my workshop. I was planing making a puzzle and in same time a desktop clock. I found some ideas and I decided to make this one. This is a puzzle box that all puzzle enthusiasts know very well. As you can guess the cube that construct the body of the camera is a 12 move traditional Japanese puzzle box. Normally two mahogany panel is the top and bottom panels of this box.

Some pieces of the camera are removable. You must remove them for opening the box. Other pieces are fixed and for decorative purposes. You can see the opened box here.

 Some people think puzzle boxes are for protecting some small objects or cash. I remember Lucky Luke and Daltons. Daltons mostly don’t try to open a safe in the bank. They steal the safe. Puzzle boxes are very small and easy to carry and all thieves can expect something valuable from a nice box impossible to open. I think your empty puzzle boxes too are in danger. This box don’t look like a puzzle box. But who can guarantee that your thief don’t steal desk top clocks?

For making the box, I made a model with famous burr puzzle solving software. I think this software is very useful for designing Japanese puzzle boxes. I prepared a detailed document with dimensions and instructions for making the cube part of this puzzle. If you want make your own old movie camera you can preview or download this free PDF file from here (1.2 MB on secure server box.com). If I can find some time I will add here later some drawings and instructions for other parts of this box.  The box mechanic is same with the “Modified Matchbox” design of Bruce Viney. You can visit his website. You can see his art works and find some useful information about making puzzle boxes. You can download some free plans for beginners, or if you have experience about making puzzle boxes you can buy more complex box plans for very low prices.

I can say Japanese puzzle boxes aren’t beginner projects. I think you must have at least a little box making experience. If you like make a Japanese puzzle box I can advise first reading the experiences of Brian Pletcher from here. Making an excel data sheet is a very nice idea of Brian. There a lot of pieces. I can advise additionally sort this data according the dimensions and cut all same dimensions with one fence setup of your table saw.

After making a cube puzzle box, you can make anything that you like . A cube with clock, thermometer and barometer, cute robots, an old TV or radio are some ideas.

Tugboat puzzle box

  Another small matchbox safe from my workshop. This puzzle box is very similar to my “Cargo boat” puzzle box. I started both of them in same time. But the mechanism of this box is slightly different from other. This box looks like a child toy but I made this box as a matchbox safe. It’s possible also to put inside some small jewelry items like rings or earrings. If you want a bigger box, you can upscale this one.

If you want make your own box you can download from here free PDF file including drawings, plans, photos and craft tips from here. (0.8 MB on secure server box.com)

Secret of Binders

In 21 th century inspiration comes sometimes with google image search. Before 1-2 months ago I was looking for a wooden olive oil press for making a small scale model in a bottle. I saw an antique book press sold in an auction. The drawer of the book press inspired me for designing this book press puzzle.

I call this puzzle “The secret of binders”. Because I have a story about a binding master of the royal library that build this press with a secret drawer for protecting his golden sheets used for book ornaments. I like puzzles with stories like Sam Loyd puzzles.

If you don’t say anything, this puzzle looks like a small scale model. After learning it’s very easy to guess where is the secret box. But finding how to open it isn’t so easy. For opening the box you must solve three different puzzles. Puzzles aren’t difficult to solve for puzzle enthusiasts but there are some nice surprises and also there are some wrong road signs for solution.

This puzzle is a small size model of the original. The overall dimension are about 92x170x250 mm. For me, finding the right material for puzzle craft is more difficult than all puzzles. I designed this puzzles according to my materials and made some small changes according to my workshop capabilities. The most difficult challenge was finding a small knob for drawer. I used mahogany and beech. For the book cover I used padauk. And in the inside of the book I used olive. Olive texture looks like a real old paper.My blog followers know the source of olive and padauk from my old projects.

If you like to play with this puzzle you must make one copy for you. If you like make your own book press puzzle you can download this free PDf files including building plans, drawings and craft tips. This files include also a lot of photo.

Secret of binders puzzle box plans (0.6 MB on secure server box.com)
Secret of binders craft tips and more photos (2.4 MB on secure server box.com)

Cargo Boat

Another small and unusual puzzle design from my workshop. The cargo of this boat is a matchbox. I designed this puzzle as a tricky opening matchbox safe. But I don’t advise to put matchbox inside of an object attractive for children.

This box has not an ingenious mechanism but an easy and funny project. Opening this box isn’t difficult. But can you guess this ? It looks like a small wooden boat. At first look it’s a child toy. But when you open it, inside there are a hidden compartment. If you make this box bigger, you can obtain a big box.

If you like make your own puzzle, you can preview or download from here free PDF file (1.1 MB on secure server box.com) including more photos, plans, drawings and craft tips.

Lobster Box

This puzzle box is my another design. I can say this is third generation of “Twin Lock Box” This time there aren’t any visible keys or holes. For opening the box you must use gravity and magnetism. And lobster is a mile stone for the solution

I made the box from ovenghaul. It’s a nice hard wood with a rich texture. First I was planing a red lobster. For this reason I selected a clear wood for box. After some try, I decided to this color for lobster. On this box, I also rounded all edges. I think the box looks better. Overall dimensions of this box is 92x92x150 mm.

I carved the lobster from a hard wood. For my box ornaments I read a book about traditional Japanese small scale wood carvings called “Netsuke”. The name of this book is “Carving Netsuke”. A nice book for learning method and tools. Thanks for this free e book to Mr.Tom Sterling. You can visit his web site and learn more about carving netsuke and you can see his art works and download this free ebook. This lobster is my first attempt. I like use that type of carvings in my future projects.

The lobster on this box is only for hiding a small magnet. If you don’t have enough carving experience or ıf you don’t like carve a lobster, you can make a different ornament for hiding the magnet.

If you like make your own puzzle box, you can download from here free PDF file (1.4 MB on secure server box.com)

Toothpick Box

I call this box “Toothpick Box”. Mechanic of the box is exactly same with “Twin Lock Box”. For this box I made side panels longer for hiding wooden keys. On each side of the box there are five small hole (5 mm diameter) For opening the box you must configure wooden keys by pushing them. Because of production clearances there are a small clearance on box cover. That makes easier to find the cover but it’s not important. Because finding the cover don’t help to open the box.

I made this box from padauk. They call some time “ Blood wood” I was expecting an orange color. But its red. I am not sure is that true color or the wood is exposed to sun light on seller shop. Because on woodworker sites they say this wood becomes darker when exposed to sun light.

Box cover detail

Box cover

Box construction detail

Box inside view

This is my first puzzle with padauk. All workshop, my clothes and me became red because of sanding dust It paint everything like an oil pastel. This is a little bigger box (82x92x150 mm) Dimensions are planned for less scrap from my material.

From photos, you can see some inside details. If you like make your own puzzle box, you can download from here free PDF file (0.8 MB on secure server box.com)