The Nesting Lure Puzzle

Hi Guys, been awhile.  Been spending more time in the shop than on the computer these days.  Time to catch up.

I do sometimes enjoy making puzzle boxes from found boxes, but this time I started from scratch.

It all started when I wanted to rescue 4 boards from a kindling pile outside from a certain fiery end.

At the beginning, it was just supposed to be a simple birdhouse.  I have a shit ton of birdhouse books and I found one that I resonated with.

I do love the nostalgia of it and I had a few ideas of how I could carry out something similar.

As I began building the big box and made tiny dado cuts into the side to help simulate individual barnboards, followed by my attempt to paint a barnboard coloring on the sides that I began to think that this was too nice to make as a birdhouse.   Maybe it could be more.

If I was going to push to make it a puzzle I wanted it to keep its birdhouse look as much as I could.

I remember in my younger days there being the odd antique barn that covered the front of their establishment with colourful pieces to attract the eye to the wonders you might find inside.  I wanted to feel that.

I also thought since I was building this for fun, that there were no rules artistically speaking.  I would push for wild and crazy, extremes.  I further imagined a Birdhouse with a Bait Shop theme that was secretly a puzzle box.

Wanting to be playful, I added the name of the puzzle right on the front, as if it was an old store front sign.

Inside the big ole box I pasted the walls with fish recipes from the 40's along with images from fishing magazines from '59 to '60. 

     

Something I enjoy about theme related designs is the strolling through antique markets and the like, looking for just the right ephemera.  One such lucky day I found the miniature green park bench which really helped to set the illusion.

As for the coke fridge, it was a lucky find on fb marketplace.  I did have to drag it behind the truck to make it look much older.  Lots of searching for just the right lapel pins as all had to be either fish or bird related.

I wanted to give this the feel that it was at the waters edge, waiting for boats to tie up to rush in for bait.  To weather the posts I used a brass wire wheel, filled the cracks with black paint, let it dry then clear coated them.  The post never touch the bottom, appearing to be maybe in the water.  I managed to find other cool parts like the fish hanging at yard sales and what not.  It all came together.

To hide the many dials that would be needed, I decided to use vintage advertising since this was a bait shop, on an island after all.  Add in a few chalkboards for a cute rural touch showing daily specials.  If I added a wood frame behind them, I could then use magnets and dowel pins to hold them in place to disguise the knob/dial placements.

On the reverse side I had fun there too.  Just check the guy out, how much of a challenge it was to hold it long enough to take the pic.  Of course I had to add in an advertisement beside him!

All that was fun artsy stuff, but down to the mechanics behind it all.  When building it I had to decide how the lid would function, would it just lift off, or should I hinge it.  I opted for hinging it.  I used Ziricote on the roof for that smooth black tile feel.  Most other places on the outside I used Black Limba as it went with the barnboard look well.

 

Here is what I made for the inside, pretty sure is clear enough I won't have to explain how it all works, lol. Needless to say, that a hinged lid is challenging enough, but making it a slant roof on top of that made it super challenging to the aligning of locking parts.

Now, inside of this mechanical madness needs to sit another birdhouse, one that is more finer in exotic woods.  Inside of it is a very special metal owl that dispenses wisdom, ...well if you get this far.

As you can see it juuuuuust barely fits needing a little twist and turn to get it out.

Way down in the bottom are fixtures to keep it still wile being kept inside.

It will take a vintage skeleton key and patience to open this one.  The skeleton key is hidden within here somewhere!

There have been many challenges along the way, from resourcing interesting parts, to figuring out how to adapt them.  In one such case I reused vintage pop bottle caps.  These ones still had the cork inside and the sealing part of the cap.  I had to epoxy real wood in them so I could tap a hole for a dowel shaft.  In 1920, Wishing Well Beverages rivaled Coca Cola here in Ontario.

Lastly, you can see behind the Coke panel to see the hidden knobs/dials.

Maybe for some of us older guys, we experienced hunting and fishing camps and I hope this brought a lil nostalgia.

Thanks for looking Guys, and always open to hearing what I might have done differently.