Cutting Puzzles

[Tom-in-Ashland]

Will be using calendar pictures but not sure of what material to attach them to.  I will be cutting them free hand not using a pattern.  These will be for my wife who is in the early stage of Alzheimers so as it progresses I may have to cut them differently over time.   I have some BB but am wondering if there is something that would be better for this purpose.

[Dan]

Baltic birch is a great choice. It's very stable. Make sure you get some with at least 5 plies. I use Alan's Tacky Glue to adhere the picture to the wood. It doesn't soak through the paper and hds well. When my mom progressed through stages of Alzhiemer's it became difficult for her to pick up small object. You should consider a size the is manageable. I think about 1" wide may be a good start. 

[dgman]

I use 1/4”Baltic Birch plywood for jigsaw puzzles. Unfortunately, because of the Russian war against Ukraine, BB will soon become unavailable if not already. 1/4” Finnish ply or MDF ply will be fine.

[John B]

I use spray contact adhesive to fix the pages to 6mm MDF.
I have cut a few from 3mm ply, but find it's pretty hard to control.

[spirithorse]

Hi, @Tom-in-Ashland

Since I imagine you will be using relatively thin material, you may want to consider
stack cutting two or three different puzzles at the same time.
I have only cut a couple puzzles for friends weddings as a memorable, personalized gift
after the wedding and I used 1/4" Baltic Birch.

Sorry to hear about your wife being diagnosed with Alzheimers.
May God Bless her, you, and your family.
God Bless! Spirithorse

[Millwab]

Cutting over 100 puzzles/year my go to method is spray adhesive and 1/4” poplar ply. I’ve found the poplar to be easier to cut than BB and a lot easier on blades.

[Tom-in-Ashland]

Thanks for all of your responses.  When my BB is used up I will try the Poplar ply.

[barb.j.enders]

On 3/14/2022 at 9:24 PM, Millwab said:

Cutting over 100 puzzles/year my go to method is spray adhesive and 1/4” poplar ply. I’ve found the poplar to be easier to cut than BB and a lot easier on blades.

Where do you get poplar ply, I haven't heard of it before

[Millwab]

16 minutes ago, barb.j.enders said:

Where do you get poplar ply, I haven't heard of it before

I order mine from Cherry Tree (cherry tree toys.com)