A scroll saw puzzle is the ideal starting project for any beginner looking to start their scrolling journey. Great for practising cuts and developing those basic skills, this simple fox puzzle is the perfect project for young scrollers or is a great make for craft fairs.

Let your artistic juices flow and use pyrography and wood stains to finish your puzzle and bring your cunning little fox to life.

Watch our Woodworking Wisdom demo or follow our step by step guide below.

Prep your workpiece

Either transfer your scroll saw puzzle design onto your selected piece of timber, or glue with rubber/latex type glue for easy removal.

Fit a modified geometry blade. They have an upwards facing tooth at the bottom of the blade, reducing breakout and sanding time.

Set the height of the hold down clamp on the scroll saw so that your workpiece moves freely around the blade, and begin to cut the outside shape of your puzzle.

Make your cuts

Once you have cut the outline, remove your whole puzzle from it's surrounding and cut in any details shown on the template, for example, the eyes and mouth.

Next, cut the puzzle pieces. There are a lot of changes in direction when cutting the individual puzzle pieces. This is great practice for any scroll saw work. Top tip: Remember to try and keep a single line when cutting, as any backtracking, or re-cutting, will be visible on the final puzzle.

Remove the template and reassemble your puzzle

Colour your scroll saw puzzle

Time to add some colour. We used pyrography as a way to stop the colours running. You could paint the top surface, but remember you can't paint between the pieces, as the paint is too thick and will stop them slotting together.

With a fresh brush for each colour, we started with the lighter colours, and finished with the darker ones to avoid cross contaminating the lighter coloured bottles of stain.

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Your puzzle is now complete.

We have cut our puzzle from 16mm thick material, which will allow the puzzle to stand freely.

Scroll Saw Puzzle final

Made it? Share it!

We hope that you’ve enjoyed learning how to create this simple wooden puzzle. If you’ve made your own scroll saw puzzle, we would love to see it!

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