Thread: puzzle box

Withdrawing the lid reveals the attached guts of the box with multiple compartments and my makers mark. The shell of the box reveals the housing of the push rod mechanisms and hidden in the bottom of one, you can just see a second tool poking its head out. This magnetic tool is needed to release most of the locks on the internal compartments. One compartment is a drawer that is show being withdrawn with the tool. To be continued...

Mic, you have a seriously devious mind - good work!

love this, so much!!!

all i could muster was a drawer with a hidden locking mech...

So good to see others making their own puzzle boxes. Lovely work Mic......and I assume you had a few sleepless nights nutting out how to make it!
Please continue..........................

Once that small drawer is fully withdrawn, the magnetic tool is placed elsewhere to deactivate the lock holding the drawer front in place. This can then be slipped downwards a little (first photo) just enough to allow the lid to slide off and that's the drawer done. There is another big compartment with my makers mark on it. This is also released by the magnetic tool (photo 3). Lifting the compartment out reveals a bit of handcut marquetry. My first go at marquetry and cut with a nice truss fret saw. The reverse veneers were assembled into a birthday card, and looked better than this colour match. You may notice in photo 3 the wooden tab on the central block. This along with a matching one on the other side are the springs that lock the lid and which are unlocked by the brass pushrods. To be continued....

Dear reader, you may have noticed the rather agricultural and incoherent construction of this puzzle box. It was constructed from BB plywood offcuts and although the joinery is neat, the intention of this box was to prototype the hidden locking mechanisms more than aesthetics - at least on the inside. So I wanted to hide a nice little treasure inside as well. This is revealed inside the marquetry compartment. A simple little jewellery box made of rose butternut and jarrah leftovers. Another motive for constructing this little box was to perfect the method of releasing the lid from the box, needed for another important project. This was achieved with two perfectly aligned routed trenches, one made on the inside before assembly and the other cut after glue up to release the lid. That's all I'm going to reveal, I'll keep some secrets to myself. thank you for reading.

Good to see you back posting mic-d

What is the overall size of the box?

Looks great and quite devious.

Originally Posted by Acco

Good to see you back posting mic-d

What is the overall size of the box?

Looks great and quite devious.

Thanks, I like to pop in every couple of years and get rid of a backlog of photos
The dimension of the cube was 180mm

Cheers

Very clever craftsmanship sir....