Puzzle Cabinet

This piece is veneered primarily in Etimoe with Amboyna Burl for the doors. The overall dimensions are about 42" long by 36" high by 16" deep. Essentially everything is veneered on this piece.

The inside of the cabinet is veneered in Curly Sycamore for contrast with the darker outside. I tend to do this on nearly all of my work as I like the bright interior and the surprise it gives the client.

There are 13 randomly placed sliding locks that hold the two doors closed. Each of the locks has a tongue that slides about 1/4" into a groove in the edge of the doors. Slide all the correct locks and the doors will open with the magnetic key. Both doors are held closed with magnets that are weaker than the one in the key so they stay closed but will open with the key. Since this piece was going overseas all the sliding parts are made up of cross laminations of veneer and thin baltic birch plywood for stability.

This is the only shot that shows the magnetic key used to open most of the compartments. It is a turned piece of Ebony that I decided need a bit more color, so in went a few Mother of Pearl dots. This image also show the 25 piece sliding tile puzzle hidden under the sliding cover. The pieces all move easily and it is quite difficult to solve if overly scrambled. The puzzle pieces are essentially three layers thick with the center layer offset about an 1/8" on two sides. The resulting tongue on one piece fits into the mating groove made on the next. That is a simplified version of what it took to create and the many hours that went into fine tuning the interaction between the puzzle pieces.

The hinged lid uses SOSS hinges and a folding lid stay with a black patina to match the black patina I did on the main door knife hinges.

The hinged lid in the top is access by pushing the button hidden under one of the puzzle pieces. The mechanism to open the lid is a simple teeter-totter assembly. The small spring holds the activating pin down until the button is pressed, it works surprisingly well