10 Advanced Puzzle Cutting Techniques

This guide describes 10 cutting techniques used by a puzzle cutter to make the hand cut wooden jigsaw puzzle more unique or difficult to solve. The use of these special techniques often makes the puzzle more valuable or desirable because it takes additional time to design and cut. They will also make the puzzle more visually appealing and interesting as well.

  
1. Figure Pieces

   
figure pieces (abstract)                    figure pieces (real)

A figure piece is a special shaped piece usually made by cutting around a fixed pattern or template. They can be abstract or real, representing an object, person or animal for example. These fun shaped puzzle pieces are often referred to as figurals, silhouettes or whimsies.

Figure pieces make a puzzle more interesting and increase the value of the puzzle among collectors. It takes additional time to plan, design and cut figurals into a puzzle than to cut the same puzzle without any. However, figure pieces will usually make the puzzle a little easier to solve. The other 9 techniques described here all increase the difficulty of the puzzle.

2. Color-Line Cutting

color-line cutting

Color-line cutting (CLC) is one of the hallmarks of a hand cut wooden jigsaw puzzle. The maker interacts with the picture by cutting along color boundaries in order to produce pieces that will either be one color or the other (but not both) and potentially stump the assembler. A puzzle that is color-line cut is always more difficult to solve than one that is not. Usually, puzzles are not completely color-line cut, but do have occasional knobs along color boundaries to keep the puzzle interlocking.

 
3. Dropouts

dropouts

Dropouts are pieces of the puzzle that are purposely cut out and discarded in order to make the puzzle more visually appealing and more challenging to solve. Because there are no physical pieces that make up the dropout, it is essentially a void or “hole” in the puzzle. There can be one or many dropouts in a puzzle depending on the effect the cutter wants to achieve. In the example above, the four paw prints are actually made up of 20 separate dropouts.

4. Indirectly Interlocking Edge Pieces

indirectly interlocking edge pieces

 
Indirectly interlocking edge pieces are intended to challenge all future assemblers of the puzzle! Since one strategy often used by puzzle solvers is to separate out the straight edge pieces and put them together first, the puzzle maker attempts to eliminate this strategy by making it nearly impossible to solve the edges first. This is possible by carefully cutting the edge pieces in such a way that so they do not interlock directly with each other, but instead, with the interior of the puzzle! Anyone attempting to work the puzzle by solving the perimeter first will be in for a nasty surprise. (Or a pleasant one, if you like this sort of challenge.)

 
5. Disguised (deceptive) Edge or Corner Pieces

 
disguised edge piece

A deceptive or disguised edge piece is found along the edge of the puzzle, but does not appear to be an edge piece (no obvious straight end, for example). It has been disguised to deceive the assembler into thinking it is an interior piece, when in fact it is an edge piece.

Disguised corners work the same way. The corner piece can be cut to resemble a normal edge piece so that when you are looking for the corner, it is not obvious which piece it is. It can be split by cutting a line right into the corner itself or it can be cut to mimic an indirectly-interlocking edge piece.

6. False (trick) Edge or Corner Pieces

false edges and corners
(all pieces belong in the interior of the puzzle)

A false edge piece (also called a trick edge piece) is a piece that appears to be an edge piece (it has a straight edge for example) but actually belongs in the interior of the puzzle. It has purposely been cut with a straight edge to resemble an edge piece! This tricks the assembler into thinking it belongs with the other edge pieces.

False corners work the same way. A false corner can either be an interior piece cut with two straight edges to resemble the corner piece, or it can be a real edge piece with another straight edge added by the cutter to make it appear as if it belongs in the corner.

 
7. Dropout/Figural Combination

dropout/figural combination

A dropout/figural combination occurs when a section of the puzzle is dropped out surrounding one or more of the figure pieces.  It is an artistic way to show off one of the special figure pieces in the puzzle, since it really stands out in the completed puzzle and draws your attention to that area.

8. Sculpted Edge

sculpted edge

A sculpted edge serves a double purpose; it makes the completed puzzle more visually appealing, and it usually increases the difficulty of working the puzzle as well. If the assembler hasn’t seen pictures of the puzzle beforehand, they may be expecting straight edges. It may come as a surrprise to find the puzzle has an irregular or sculpted edge instead. An irregular edge can take on any shape at all while a sculpted edge is cut to a precise decorative pattern.

9. Split Knobs

split knobs

The purpose of split knobs is to deceive the assembler! The puzzle cutter purposefully cuts through one or more of the knobs (knobs can take on various shapes) with the intent of deceiving the assembler! When the assembler is searching for the piece with the unique knob, they may be baffled to learn later that it was made up of two pieces instead of one!

10. Double-Line Cutting

Double-line cutting occurs when the puzzle cutter stack cuts two sections of the same puzzle in order to cut them both at the same time. (Not necessarily the entire area of both sections, but at least along one continuous line.) This produces some pieces that can potentially fit into more than one place in the puzzle. It provides an extra challenge to the assembler and can be very tricky to solve.

 I hope you have enjoyed reading about advanced puzzle cutting techniques! (To comment on this guide, click here.)

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• Sculpted Dropouts: An Advanced Puzzle Cutting Technique