Making puzzles

[Mabel H.]

When making puzzles, what materiel do most people use, and what is a good blade to use?

[New Guy]

I use 1/8" BBPLY  and a FlyingDutchman puzzle blade.

1/4" BBPLY and the smallest blade you have like a #1 if you don't have the puzzle blade.

If you search puzzle you will find other opinions.

[CMHN]

I like the puzzle blade also, but if you don't have one, use one that has all the teeth going in the same direction.  It will help keep the image in place.   Some of the blades with reverse teeth on them will pull the image off the wood while you cut.  At least for me they have.

[Mabel H.]

I have the puzzle blade, and tested it on 1/4 inch and didn't do very well. I switched to some birch plywood that is 3/16 and did good, but I slowed the blade speed down as well, so maybe that made the difference. I like the 1/4 inch so will try again.

[Lucky2]

Mabel, you can run your saw at to slow of a speed also, maybe if you tried practising on a scrap piece of wood. Then you will know what speed best suits your cutting style, I try cutting at different speeds on different projects. It all depends on what I'm cutting.

Len

[orangeman]

I'll add my 2 cents worth. I've been cutting puzzles for over 10 years now.

 

Most of my puzzles are self standing and I use 3/4" soft maple for my colored puzzles and a variety of hardwoods, all 3/4" thick, for my natural oiled puzzles. For these puzzles the best blade I have found is the Pegas modified geometry blades #5 and 7. Those blades will cut hardwoods with ease.

 

For my Christmas card puzzles I use 1/4" Baltic Birch and the Flying Dutchman puzzle blade.

 

For my stamp puzzles I will use 1/4" Baltic Birch and jeweler blades from Sloan's.

 

Hope this helps.

[terrylee]

A Puzzle Blade ??? Is that joke or I'M missing something here     

[ONELUNG]

no joke there is such a blade      Wooden Teddy Bear has them     FD Blade   they work great

[Mabel H.]

Thanks for the info.

I have heard of the free standing puzzle, but don't know what it is. Could you explain that for me?

[orangeman]

Mable H.:

 

check out my website at www.pickenspuzzles.com.

 

All my puzzles are self standing with the exception of our state wildlife puzzles.

[dgman]

Just to clarify, there are two basic types of puzzles we scrollers cut. Jig saw puzzles, and standup puzzles. Jig saw puzzles are usually cut from a good quality 1/4" plywood like Baltic birch. Stand up puzzles are usually cut from 3/4" -1" woods. You assemble them laying down, then you can stand them up.

The puzzle blades are a 3/0 skip tooth blade and are designed for jig saw puzzles.

For stand up puzzles, I use either a #3 or a # 5 Flying Dutchman Ultra Reverse blade.

Edited October 15, 2015 by dgman

[amazingkevin]

When making puzzles, what materiel do most people use, and what is a good blade to use?

Mabel ,Go to the top of this page and to the right corner,In the search box type puzzles then chose forum then click the green area which is search .You'll come up with 5 pages of puzzle talk,enjoy! :cool: :cool:

[Mabel H.]

I have done that, but have more of the information I was looking for in my posted question, Thank You.

[Southern Scroller]

I use the FD puzzle blade and have found 5 ply 1/4" poplar to be easier to cut than 5 ply BB for my jigsaw puzzles.  I order the poplar ply on Ebay from Midwestern.  Their quality seems to be equal to others and have a good price.