Star Puzzle Attempt

So I figured I would try my hand at a wooden star puzzle. Christian has one at work so I stole it for a few days to mess around with, measure and use for a template. The puzzle has 6 identical pieces each with a series of 45 degree angled cuts in them.

I started with a block of walnut that I think was once a leg for a piece of furniture.


After ripping it down I put a 45 degree pusher onto the miter gauge.




These pieces seemed to come out pretty nicely.


I made a few cuts on one of the pieces and test fit it into my sample puzzle. It was here I began to notice some problems with the accuracy of my cuts.


Getting the wedges cut out was difficult. I used a brad nailer to put a stop block in place where necessary then cut all the pieces that needed that particular cut in one go.




Cutting the last little bit of wood from the wedges was a pain, probably wouldn't have been necessary if I had by blade up a touch higher.


And here it is all assembled, and as it sits today, unfinished. I realized too late that my very small deviations from the sample puzzle (I was a bit undersized on all my cuts) quickly multiplied to give me a puzzle that fits together sloppy.


It was fun to make for the most part, with the exception of the heat in the garage. Next time I do one I'll make a sliding bed for the table saw first with some hold down clamps and a better way to do the stops for repeating cuts. The angled cuts were also pretty difficult with only support on the back side of the piece, would have been much easier with full support on the bottom of the piece. I had considered putting some maple veneer onto the contact surfaces of the puzzle to tighten up the joints and give it some contrast but haven't been able to get motivated on it since putting it together :-S.