15 December 2007 Sue Young

Brian’s Big Burr 2 burrs in one puzzle

Sold Out 2007 Limited Edition set of 30.
Original Price: AU$310.00

Brian’s Big Burr is a representation of an 8.5 meter burr he built for the IPP27 Giant Puzzle day in August 2007. The huge structure now stands permanently in our backyard – lucky we have 13 acres of land! It has 2 working burrs although with cross pieces of 2 meters long and 20cm thick weight over 70kg each and placed 5.5 meters off the ground it’s unlikely that the top one will be taken apart very often.

For the top part of the puzzle, Brian was looking for a complex but rare burr that could attach to the main shaft of the puzzle without coming apart accidentally. He decided to use Stewart Coffin’s design called Triple Slide. Although Stewart does not seem to have allocated this puzzle it’s own number in his system he did describe it as “having a most unusual action to assemble”. Bill’s Cutler’s analysis in the late 1980’s found it to be a unique level 3 solution.

Brian created a new design to wrap around a central post by using 4 six piece burrs that must work simultaneously. The 16 piece burr is a level 5-5-22 burr; very solvable, especially when you have 200+ international puzzlers in your backyard! In fact the giant puzzle was taken apart and reassembled by a group of enthusiastic puzzlers on the IPP27 Giant Puzzle Day. A copy of BurrSolver solution file for both upper and lower burrs can be supplied upon request.

This year has seen Brian make both the biggest and smallest burrs he’s ever tackled; the biggest being the Giant Puzzle standing in our backyard, the smallest being this lower one on this LE puzzle. To keep the general proportions of the Giant Puzzle the pieces of this burr are 12mm thick. No, he’s not trying to be the next Allan Boardman although Allan’s catchphrase of “Use finesse, not force!” certainly applies when doing this complex burr. Main shaft and Triple Slide burr – Western Australian Jarrah.

Lower 16 piece burr – Brown Quondong (from dry rainforest areas in North Queensland). The main shaft attached to the base by Stainless Steel tube which will be engraved with “Brian’s Big Burr” and the Limited Edition number. Base – The bases have been made from Spotted Gum from our own property. Brian collected what would have been the upper branches of trees left by millers between 70-100 years ago, which have been on the ground ever since. They’ve been naturally weathered by bushfire, their sapwood eaten by termites and witchetty grubs, and this very dense wood is what’s left. The wood has been cut, sandblasted and polished, then sealed with lacquer to create as series of very individual bases; each with it’s own characteristics. The base in the photo is indicative of each puzzle. Brian has included his signature routing on all pieces of each burr, including very fine detail on the small burr.

Size: Overall height including base is 660mm. The average diameter of base 140mm. Large burr made from 30mm x 30mm pieces that are 120mm long. Small burr made from 12mm x 12mm pieces the longest of which is 80mm.

Tags giant puzzle, brian young