Here are some questions people have asked me, or I thought they should have asked.
All these puzzles are designed and cut by hand. It isn't clear how a computer would help, unless I had a computerized water jet cutter. These cost 10's of thousands of dollars, and are very noisy.
It depends on how large they are. For small puzzles, the preparations (gule up, trimming, sanding) can easily take longer than the piece cutting. Large (1000 pieces) can take many days to cut. I only work for an hour or two in any session.
I have a kit saw from a company that is no longer in business. It is 26 inches deep. (Blade to pivot). This allows me to cut 18 by 18 inch puzzles with no difficulty. I can cut 36 by 36 puzzles with a little planning. In theory, I could cut a puzzle 4 feet wide of unlimited length, and still have all the pieces interlock. Trust me, I worked it out one day.
The blades are 0.008 by 0.015 inches. They are from Woodworkers supply of New mexico,and are about 25 cents each. A blade will cut about 300 pieces.
Somewhere between 20 and 50 thousand. I count the pieces in each puzzle, but did not keep good records until recently.
If the gluing isn't exact, sometimes the picture will lift of the piece. By handling every piece after it is sanded, I can tell if there is a problem. ALso, I like to put the figure pieces on top when I deliver the puzzle. People are impressed. Counting also shakes off most of the saw dust.
There are a number of things - First off, I place lots of figures in the puzzle - animals, people, common objects. Some times they relate to the image, other times to the person getting the puzzle. Next, I cut along color lines. That makes it difficult to see how pieces go together. One must be judicious about it, to much color line cutting and the puzzle won't stick together.
I also make false corners and edges, especially on irregualrily shaped puzzels. Many people begin a puzzle with the edge. If the edge doesn't fit correctly, they are stumped. I will stack several pieces and cut them together, creating pieces that interlock, but don't belong together. Very confusing.
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