Goldheart Woodworking

I’ve had the idea to make some nice hardwood tangrams as Christmas gifts for some folks this year. Tangrams have seven tiles that fit together into a square, or into any sort of shape you can think of. There are countless puzzles out there where you are given the outline or silhouette and have to figure out how to arrange the tiles to match the shape. I decided seven different wood species would be a little too busy, so I landed on the four you see above: maple, walnut, padauk, and purple heart. For size, I looked at how big the smallest piece should be so it wouldn’t be a choking hazard for babies, and then I sized the rest of the puzzle off that and came up with a 5″ square.

I used 1/2″ plywood to prototype and help develop a few jigs for my cross-cut sled, then started cutting out of hardwoods. As I started I decided if I was going to the trouble of making jigs and cutting one or two sets, I might as well cut a few more:

After cutting, sanding, and oiling all of the tiles, I started working on developing a case. Initially I attempted a machined case on the CNC with a locking lip, but it didn’t feel quite right, I was worried about wood movement between the two thin single pieces, and I wanted a hinge so you wouldn’t lose the lid.

Instead, I started working on my mitered box and hinge skills, which were sorely lacking. This prototype uses pine box walls with the same 1/8″ cherry plywood and magnetic closure in my final products.

With a design chosen, I started milling canarywood to build up as many boxes as I could.

As a final touch, I engraved in a few tangram patterns inside the box, then finished in shellac. All in all I was able to make four boxes I was happy with. I gave two away and kept two, that I ended up listing on my Etsy shop, which sort of kicked this whole thing off.