re: Toddler toy

Oh, this reminds me. Have you seen the cube and dowel puzzle. I, and some students, made some, way back. Pretty cool. One cube of wood, 12 dowels, cut to length, matching the thickness of the cube.

1. Drill the first hole (Forstner Bit the size of the dowel’s diameter) in one face and insert a dowel; clamp it to prevent rotation

2. Rotate the block, to drill the next face; aligning the bit, so that the bit will drill through the first dowel, no more than 1/2 the diameter.

3. Insert the second dowel, locking the first in place; clamp the second dowel, so it won’t rotate; drill a third hole in the next face, drilling through 1/2 the diameter of the second dowel.

4. Continue the process, rotating the block so as to drill in the same sequence as the first three sides were done. It helps to number three of the faces, so that the same order can be followed.

For this to work, the holes have to be arranged, so that the holes on each side, are offset 1/2 the diameter of the previous holes.

When completed, some of the dowels will have multiple semi-circles cut out and the last dowel will have none. The last dowel is the “Key”, locking all the others in place.

Don’t remember where I got this from, I think a copy of Woodsmith, from my teaching days. Shame I didn’t steal all the issues when I left teaching. Would be great to have today.