A "Tool Lover" Shares

I have a lot of hobbies.  Knitter, sometimes weaver, crocheter, lego builder, Kindle reader, Audible reader and as of lately, jigsaw puzzler.  Hobby people know that the tools of a hobby often are as important as the action itself. I say all this to help introduce you to a new tool of mine.

And here it is - my new puzzle board!!

I know.  I know. 

 I can hear your thoughts.  

My . God . That . Thing . Looks . Big!!

I said the same thing when I saw the size of the box it came in and realized

.... ITS BIG!!

As you would expect, there is a story that goes with this new addition -  that stunned me at first, but won me over when I began to use it.

I previously blogged about the simple cloth puzzle saver roll.  Initially it worked pretty good - meaning the puzzle pieces stayed relatively in place and none were lost in this rolled state.

But as I began to complete more and more of the puzzle, there were problems.  More and more pieces to stabilize. Less and less stability as it grew in size.

Until finally I had 2/3s of the puzzle completed and it looked quite messy when I opened it up each time.

Many of the pieces had moved and a lot were ajar when I carefully unrolled the puzzle.  I would spend about 20 minutes getting everything back into place before doing what I really wanted to do ... adding new pieces.  Unsatisfactory.  It made me unhappy every time - and once or twice I chose not to work on the puzzle because I didn't want to spend time repairing my work.  

Obviously if I had a dedicated space where I could leave the puzzle out - no special board would be needed.  Now in this condo I don't have the floor space to set up a separate table somewhere and we use the kitchen table every single day so that could not be a permanent space either.  I needed another option.  I shopped around and fell in love with this tilt board option.  The transfer of the puzzle from the cloth to the board was time consuming.  This puzzle interlocks but not as firmly as some I have done.  Pieces came apart as I tried to lift them connected onto the board.  But finally it was transferred. I could tell as I did this part, the board assisted me with keeping pieces attached to the felting.  Nice!

This board was definitely not a cheap option, but it is a HUGE improvement in working on the puzzle!  Besides the fact it can hold larger puzzles up to 1500 pieces (this puzzle is 500 pieces), the surface felting grips the pieces in place even at an extreme tilt.  I love that it is made of beautiful New Zealand Pine wood - beautifully made.  

In addition it has a wood cover - felt on the puzzle side - that fits over the puzzle and locks in place.

The board then folds down and locks together.  It has a handle that makes carrying it easy.

And it can then be stored away for another time - not taking up any table space.

Other than its size - which still seems large to me - it is perfect!

Working on the puzzle is so much easier now than before.  It has several adjustable tilt angles and can swivel on its stand.  The swivel feature is not so important now - but who knows in the future.  

NOW THE BIG QUESTION WAS ... what will the puzzle look like when I open it up again!  So here it is the next morning - set up for puzzling.

No pieces are unlocked. No adjustment necessary.  Just as I left it - except that it might have slipped down the felting just a bit - but it did so as a solid piece.  Excellent!!

The puzzle was completed on Thanksgiving before dinner.

I made this picture big - so you can see what I didn't see.  At first I thought the puzzle had come with an extra piece!  THAT never happens.  A missing piece, maybe.  I showed it to my daughter, she was surprise as well.  So after I took the picture above, I threw the extra piece away.  I then returned to the puzzle to dismantle it - and discovered the open space.  Do you see it?  It is pretty obvious now looking at the full puzzle. Haha.  So I dug out the missing piece from the trash!  

So Here is the puzzle completely finished on my BIG puzzle board.

And BIG is good, right?  

I have heard size matters, right?

  🤣