My Mr Puzzle Limited Edition Burr

Lost Day, 2001 Limited Edition, Mr Puzzle

I had seen sketches of a 8 burr bounding frame before, but never actually seen one constructed until Brian Young, aka Mr Puzzle of Australia, created one in 2001 as a special edition.  This was one of my first special editions from Brian, and I have been collecting them ever since.

The puzzle is nicknamed "Lost Day", based on the time it will take to solve it.  Many people joke it is more like a lost weekend.  To quote Brian's website: "David Bruce designed this puzzle in 1985 and although he designed it by hand he did later have a computer check it’s assembly to ensure it was unique.  ...  The goal of the design was to make sure each of the eight corners was a different burr and that all were notchable burrs with no key piece".   The special editions for this puzzle are long gone, and about the only way to acquire one would be to find it on ebay or and auction site, or as many craftsmen might want to do, simply make it yourself.

 

AutoCAD for Mac Model of the Lost Day

This became one of the first puzzles that really inspired my thinking about making a habitable space.  The fact that each burr in "Lost Day" is different makes it nearly impossible to do at the scale of a timber frame, because it would be very difficult to raise and slide the timber and frame as you manipulate the puzzle.  This is easy when the sticks are a few ounces, but not when a 6 x 6 by 16 feet at about 130 lbs each.  On the Burr Puzzle Cabin, I made the burrs the same and designed them to be able to be assembled in a logical sequence, but when constructed it looks exactly like the "Lost Day" with 8 burrs.  Well actually the Burr Puzzle Cabin has evolved to 16 burrs when I added the roof structure. As you will see, it has become a lot more complicated.

My Burrs

I have collected many burr and burr-like puzzles over the years. They include false burrs such as the three piece burr which actually is more of a kumiki puzzle than a burr, to a great grandpapachuck which has 150 pieces. Here are a few of my favorites.  I'll add more in other blogs to give you a flavor of the variety.

"Leaning Tower of Altekruse" by Stewart Coffin

"Decemburr" by Brian Young, aka Mr Puzzle

"Vertigo" by Pentangle

"Windmill Burr", designed by Junichi Yananose, crafted by Brian Young, aka Mr Puzzle

"Visible Burr" Designed by Bill Cutler, crafted by Brian Young

"The Big Crystal"

My Favorite 15 Puzzle Sites

My collection of puzzles grew once I began to travel to countries in Europe and had an opportunity to find special stores, like Hamley's in London.  But the real passion blossomed with the growth of the internet and tools such as Ebay that helped create a worldwide marketplace.  The best puzzles are not mass produced, and are not in your local stores, and are often made in limited production by skilled craftsmen worldwide.  The internet has been a way to share information and bind together a worldwide community of creators, collectors and enthusiasts.  Though my list is long (a few hundred links) and in seemingly constant flux, here is my attempt to list and organize some of my favorite puzzle sites.

Okay I give up... this is a taste of the sites.  Many others have made a job of sorting and organizing them and I will not attempt to duplicate there feat.  I actually went back through this list and reduced the number of entries on this list three times, to give you my top 15.   The title of this blog started as my "Top puzzle sites", then "My top 40 puzzle sites", and finally "My top 15".  Lol   Happy surfing!

Resources:

The best puzzle site, without equal, has been Puzzle World at http://www.johnrausch.com/puzzleworld/.  This site was created by John Rausch, and is a fantastic collection of images that spans the collection of puzzles.  Although it has not been heavily updated in recent years, it is still a repository of the best work available over the last few decades.

Puzzle Place is the best wiki out there that I have found, and is continually updated.  Anything you want to know is probably on or linked from this site. The gallery alone has 2300 puzzle images. I think this is the current best source of information. : http://www.puzzle-place.com/wiki/Main_Page

The Puzzle Museum:  http://www.puzzlemuseum.com/

IBM's Burr Site: http://www.research.ibm.com/BurrPuzzles/

It is all about the geometry: http://www.puzzleman.com/

And More Geometry, in this case VRML: http://www.polyhedra.jp/index-e.html


Puzzles for Sale: 

In my opinion Mr Puzzle, of Australia, is one of the best sources for quality burr puzzles.  Brian and Sue Young have given me years of wonderful service and fantastic puzzles, especially the limited editions that Brian has made over the years.  http://www.mrpuzzle.com.au/  You will see in a future blogs that they have played a special role in my inspiration.

Bill Cutler's Burr site, which is one of the best designers and craftsman in the market world:  http://home.comcast.net/~billcutler/index.html 

I first discovered Pentangle Puzzles in Hamleys of London, before the internet:  http://www.pentanglepuzzles.co.uk/

On of the best sources for Kumiki Puzzles:  http://www.cleverwood.com/

A great site for reselling your puzzles and open discussions: http://www.cubicdissection.com/

Puzzle Software:

This free software has really improved over the years.  if you are a serious designer or enthusaist you have to have this tool.  and of course please donate to the cause. : http://burrtools.sourceforge.net/

Blogs

My new favorite puzzle blog, Brian's Damn Puzzle Blog, has lead me to many other bloggers on puzzles: http://mechanical-puzzles.blogspot.com/

Puzzle Organizations:

The Nederlandse Kubus Club or "Dutch Cubist Club" is a club of puzzle-enthusiasts founded in 1981. : http://cff.helm.lu/

Puzzling Art

Great bronze puzzling sculptures.  A fantastic example of digital metal printing:
http://bulatov.org/