PuzzleBox Office Newsletter for November 2020

Check out the monthly shop tour!

Here is what got done this month in the shop!

Current production: Secretum Cista/Sea Chest 
Secretum Cistas shipped in November: 6
Sea Chests shipped in November: 10
Sea Chests built in November: 11
Current puzzle in design: SunDial + [unnamed] 
Shipping goals for December: 50 Sea Chest puzzle boxes.     

Welcome to another monthly puzzle box update!


The not exceptional news is that our Sea Chest shipping numbers are down for November....but the exceptional news is I've about wrapped up the Secretum Cista puzzle chest project, Everett is coming on full time to help build puzzles, and the CNC router has had a major upgrade that turned it into a lean mean puzzle box making machine!

I'm trying to make sure that the puzzle shop continues to mature into a maker studio for puzzle boxes. This means we: get rid of any distractions or dated tools that we do not use, work on simplifying and engineering the processes to 100% repeatability, maintain and improve machinery and fixtures.

Obviously, our job is to walk in the door in the morning and make puzzle boxes, but I'm enjoying taking a step back and realizing we are making small changes on a daily basis that affect the quality of our work. 
It's good having a couple of guys from production environments come in and work on the boxes because while I've been a woodworker my whole life, Josh and Everett sometimes are the ones who get clued in that a process requires more skill and chance then it should. We are continually tweaking the CNC program and altering our jigs to cut out variations.

I can't wait to see what this month brings!

One of the last Secretum Cista puzzles to leave the shop