Wooden Puzzles Books

Large collection of great patterns. A good way to get a lot of reward for a minimal amount of investment in terms of tools and materials. I have as much fun making them as the kids do playing with them. A decent range of patterns from simple shape/alphabet/number puzzles to more intricate circus scenes and map of USA, etc.

I am a beginner with the scroll saw and I wanted some easy and rewarding projects to start with. This book really fit the bill.

We are beginners with a scroll saw and came across this book. It is terrific! It gives a lot of how-to information and the patterns are wonderfully clear. We've already made the adorable alligator; we'll definitely be making more puzzles than we can give to our nieces and nephews; they are fun to make so we will begin to make some for charity!

My first and favorite scroll saw pattern book. Great stand up puzzles, inlays, and some unusual puzzles. Spielman's patterns are excellent designs, not just drawings cut into pieces. Quite a bit of how-to included, from sawing to painting and finishing tips. Most patterns are of animals (standups include: mouse, turtle, elephant, hippo, dog, bunnys...) (inlays include: bird, fish, turtle, whale...) (unusual include: apple with dowel piece, large dowel puzzle) (one jigsaw pattern and how-twos, and a stamp puzzle). A great book for any scroll saw library.

I bought this book so my husband could make christmas presents for our kids with his new scroll saw. I couldn't get him out of his shop. He found out what kind of wood to buy, how to use his new saw, and he made the coolest puzzles - much more original than anything I've seen in stores. The kids love their puzzles and play with them all day. I can't wait to see what else he creates from this book.

The book is excellent , a good price and delivered in a timely manner.

Profusely illustrated on every page, "Puzzle Projects For Woodworkers" by life-long woodworker Allan J. Boardman showcases fourteen original wooden puzzle projects designed by expert members of the international puzzle community. Each project contains images of the finished pieces, line drawings, and thoroughly 'user friendly' construction suggestions. Each project also includes step-by-step details on building and exploiting special purpose jigs to improve precision, as well as professional tips for producing professional quality results. With a strong focus on woodworking methods, procedures and techniques, "Puzzle Projects For Woodworkers" will enable even the most novice of weekend woodworkers to create fun puzzle projects of the highest standard -- and acquire skill sets that will enable them to create larger projects beyond the making of wooden puzzles. "Puzzle Projects For Woodworkers" is an ideal and highly recommended addition to both personal and community library Woodworking reference collections.

I LOVE Jan Brett's books! I buy them anytime I see them whether on sale, old ones on Amazon as remainders, or new.. They make great gifts. I have a backup of many to give to children, particularly my granddaughters. The illustrations in this one are so beautiful it is really a keepsake to save as well as enjoy. Give it as a gift and you will make some child very happy and a parent happy,too.

Beautiful illustrations reprinted from over 40 sources. All illustrations are credited on last page. Book measures 9"X11.5" Only down side was that the price changes by the day. One day it's almost $11 another it's $8.97. But that's just the way Amazon works; something to be aware of. (It's worked in my favor often while shopping at midnight--price suddenly went down!)

it's a classic, so of course you can't go wrong, but as far as the best one being out there... well, I'm sure there are much better illustrated ones out there than this one

The 5-star reviews for this book ignore the fact that Jan Brett's illustrations are Hollywoodesque and distracting from the classic poem itself. Betraying the golden rule -- If it isn't broken, don't fix it -- Brett inserts in to additional characters. Nearly a third of the book features two unnamed elves who play with the toys and generally cause havoc on the roof as Santa fills the stockings.

Instead of enhancing Clement Moore's poem, the illustrations scream for attention. The effect drowns out the lyrical quality of this classic story. Often on facing pages you are bombarded with two full-page illustrations bookended by six additional panels, three on each side. Your eyes can only skip and stutter across the pages or risk losing any semblance of a storyteller's cadence.

This book was especially disappointing because earlier during that same bedtime reading session we enjoyed Christmas Magic by Sue Stainton and illustrated by Eva Melhuish. That book is an excellent example of how the marriage of story and illustrations can work magic for children.

I wrote a 5-star review for a beautiful version of Clement Moore's The Night Before Christmas illustrated by Douglas W. Gorsline and recommend you buy that book instead. Don't give up hunting for an out-of-print copy, if necessary. Gorsline's illustrations are heartwarming and true to the original poem.

I bought this for my grandchildren last Christmas. The wording is traditional, and the illustrations are wonderful! This has become a part of the Christmas Eve tradition at my daughter's house.

I have made 5 of the 18 puzzles out of this book, but have found 3 mistakes in the book. So you need to be smarter then the author of the book to figure out the mistakes. I enjoyed the book and like the puzzles. The book just needs to be updated and mistakes fixed.

This book has proved to provide both interesting and in some cases challenging wood working exercises.

The resulting puzzles are a big hit with friends and family - the hints for presents are mounting.

Its also a great way to use up all those scraps of wood I've been hording but haven't been able to use.

This is a really great book. It has plans for a couple of sleds for the table saw and 18 puzzles. It has materials lists, easy to use instructions with solutions to all puzzles and lots of helpful tips. Highly Recommended.

Not a good value for the money even though it was on sale. All the puzzles are very similiar and once you have made one it doesn't seem to hold interest to make the rest.

New Wood Puzzle Designs: A Guide To The Construction Of Both New And Historic Puzzles is a detailed, involved and definitive woodworker's guide to creating timeless classic wooden puzzles as well as new and innovative wood puzzle types. Superbly illustrated throughout with full-color photographs and unambiguous sketches, New Wood Puzzle Designs is clearly and cleanly written in language the lay reader and novice woodworker can understand as readily as the long-devoted hobbyist. New Wood Puzzle Designs in a truly excellent and highly recommended book for woodcrafters of all ages and skill levels.

Not a fan of this book. It is more of a picture book than anything. The diagrams show some measurements and give you a little info on the project but there is no step-by-step directions if that is what you are looking for. Some neat little wood puzzles are in the book but most of them are the puzzles where you take the thing apart and wonder how you get it back together or look at it an wonder how it was made.

excellent puzzle, but the books does not have instructions, so you need good skill in woodworking, no beginner.

While depicting interesting marble-action games, the lack of dimensioned drawings and detailed construction instructions make the book pretty much useless for the casual woodworker interested in constructing the toys.

I was disappointed as well. I expected projects I could build, but nothing struck me as worth the time. The basic ideas are OK, marble rollers, and so on. But I would only use this stuff as a departure point for my own designs.

This book was a terrible disappointment. I wanted to give it no stars but that didn't seem to be an option. For most of these gadgets he begins the chapter by explaining that they don't actually work very well, they tend to jam and clog up requiring a certain amount of tilting and tapping to clear the device. Many of the mazes and such are non-functional - they are there to make the contraption look complicated. It's clear to me from looking at it that the dice substitute will never generate a 1, 2, or 6, and the thing is definitely not uniform like dice would be. The spirit of Rube Goldberg is represented by contraptions that do a lot but accomplish very little. The mechanisms in this book just don't do anything. I didn't find a single satisfying project in here and felt like it was a waste of twenty bucks. And what are metric conversion tables doing in here? An embarrassment if you ask me. If you like this kind of stuff get Making Wooden Mechanical Models by Alan and Gill Bridgewater. It is far superior.

In today's world not many woodworkers make things by hand. The book is hard to work with, difficult to find basic stock requirements and measurements. I would not buy again.

This book contains 10 ideas for games which seem to be what every child would enjoy. The problem is that most of the figures used in the book to give construction details leave a lot to be desired. Most of the photos are black and white and difficult to see any detail. The drawings are also in black and white and are also very difficault to follow.