My Temporary Apprentice

[Jim Koepke]

Some of our grandkids have been spending time with us this summer. The oldest grandson is 11 and has shown some interest in hanging out with me in the shop. So why not put him to work. He has been happy to learn about sharpening chisels and to help build a box to hold a puzzle I made for him.

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With the top removed four pieces are visible making a square.

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There is a fifth piece hidden below to make a different square.

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Hope he doesn't get in too much trouble or try to make any money with this.

For anyone interested in duplicating this square puzzle the large square is 4-1/2" square. The small square is 1/3 of that or 1-1/2" square. Okay, let us not get into the mathmatical discusion of how it is 1/9 of the full square. The pieces were all cut from one piece.

This was all made out of wood from the firewood pile. One thing I didn't notice until taking the pictures is there are a couple of faces visible above the inclusion in the wood. One is visible when the picture is small and another appears when the image is large. If you look longer you may see a few more.

Mike, my grandson, likes this and is proud of his work helping to make it.

jtk

[Jessica Pierce-LaRose]

Neat! Looks nice.

I used to have a plastic version of that puzzle as a kid - I think it was called "Tangrams" or something like that.

It also came with a series of cards, with colored shapes drawn on them - some just interesting geometric shapes, some where stylized versions of a dinosaur or what-have-you. We'd lay the puzzle pieces on top, trying to figure out how to make the shape on the card. I think the other side of the card had the shape with all the lines through it so you could see how the small pieces made that shape. (Did any of that description make sense?)

We were weird kids and played with those for hours, and then tried to make our own puzzle shapes and trace them and see if someone else could figure them out. I think it was our favorite toy on summer.

I still credit it to my ability to pack the maximum amount of stuff into the back of a car. (I used to be able to manage to fit all the gear for my band into a Geo Prizm.)

[Jim Koepke]

It also came with a series of cards, with colored shapes drawn on them - some just interesting geometric shapes, some where stylized versions of a dinosaur or what-have-you. We'd lay the puzzle pieces on top, trying to figure out how to make the shape on the card. I think the other side of the card had the shape with all the lines through it so you could see how the small pieces made that shape. (Did any of that description make sense?)

Yes, in the shop Mike was playing with the pieces and making animal and airplane shapes with the puzzle pieces.

He also remembers how the puzzle goes together by making "Superman's symbol" and then putting the large triangle on top.

jtk