Intended as a take-apart puzzle, disassembly is very tricky with many many false starts and dead ends. Reassembly is of course very very difficult. I don't generally include instructions, but I will gladly send the directions to this one should the buyer wish (just email me).

Here's how he describes it:
The puzzle consists of 3 parts:

1) The 'innards' - 24 pieces in the standard 24-piece burr shape 2) The 'shell' - 41 pieces, mostly surrounding the 'innards', which fill out the cube shape, and also form the locking mechanism to hold everything together 3) The 'key piece' - the cross-section of this piece is rectangular - half as thick as the other pieces which are cut from a square rod.

The workings of the puzzle are as follows:

a) The 'innards' pieces are irregularly shaped, and must be moved in some particular sequence in order to free the 'key piece' b) The 'key piece' is removed c) This unlocks the 'shell', which then comes apart d) The 'innards' come apart in a rather chaotic fashion.

I created about 6 different designs for the 'innards'. The one sold today as 'The Cube' is the third of these designs, and the one which has proved to be the most popular.

Crafting this puzzle is a massive undertaking. There are over 60 pieces and the precision required to avoid slop or tightness due to cumulative tolerances is very high. The fit turned out very very good. At 50-60% humidity the slides are smooth and effortless with no binding. I'm extremely happy with how this puzzle turned out.

38 copies made for sale; each signed and dated. Ships assembled (lucky you!)