Low Number Bolt & Nipple Bolt

Name
Low Number Bolt / Nipple Bolt

Designer
Wil Strijbos. For a list of Wil's puzzle designs, click here.

Nipple Bolt left and Low Number Bolt right

Manufacturer
Wil Strijbos. Both are around 20 euros each. Not sure whether they are still available but no harm asking Wil. Please PM me via my Profile email if you wish to contact him to buy one.

Type & Classification
Take Apart

Dimensions
7.6 cm (Length) x 3.7 cm (Width)  

Materials & Construction
Steel with a shiny chrome finish although I would have much preferred a matt finish. Well made and very heavy in the hand. These are large size bolt and nuts.

Overview
These are the 2nd and 3rd bolt puzzles I have from Wil. The first was the Bolt & Washer reviewed previously in this blog.

The objective of both bolts are to unscrew the nuts and remove the washer.

Both bolt puzzles here look exactly the same with very subtle differences. The main difference is that the Nipple Bolt ("NB") has a plastic "knob" on one end.

As far as bolt puzzles go, both the NB and Low Number Bolt ("LNB") employ mechanisms which experienced puzzlers would likely be familiar with. Notwithstanding, both the NB and LNB are fairly challenging and amongst the hardest so far I have come across. For my experiences with other bolt and nut puzzles, please click on the following links to my other posts:-

1. Cross Threaded
2. Nut & Bolt Puzzles
3. Lee Valley Bolts V1
4. Lee Valley Bolts V2

I don't wish to describe in what sense it is challenging since this would be a give-away and I don't wish to spoil anyone's fun. Suffice to say, even though the LNB has a simple trick/mechanism, Wil has in fact deliberately made it rather difficult and the way it is solved would surprise you.

For the NB, it departs from the typical bolt puzzle by requiring a number of steps in the right order to solving, hence it can also be classified as a sequential movement puzzle; requiring around 4 steps to remove the washer.

Summary
If you like bolt puzzles especially ones that provide a good challenge, well, here are two you should get. For the price paid, I  would also consider them value for money.

Bolt & Washer

The Bolt & Washer puzzle was designed by Wil Strijbos. He was out of stock for quite a long time, so when it became again available recently, I snapped one up immediately.

This bolt puzzle is rather different from the rest in this genre due to its unusually large size. It measures a hefty 7.6cm long and 3.7cm wide. Made from steel, it feels heavy in the hand. Quality of construction and finish is good but don't expect it to be milled to the type of precision and tolerance as the Lotus or Cube Dovetails.

The object of the puzzle is to remove the washer from the bolt. To do this, the only obvious way is to remove the nut. The nut is also not your run-of-the-mill version as it has what appears to be a rod running through the side.

Unlike the typical bolt and nut puzzles, this one is a sequential discovery puzzle; meaning that you have to follow a number of steps in sequence with the aid of certain tools that come with the puzzle which you first need to discover.

From my perspective, there are 6-7 steps (depending on how you count) to getting the washer out. While not overly difficult, the puzzle does provide a good amount of challenge. I managed to solve mine within 15-20 minutes. The trick of the mechanism in the puzzle although pretty simple once you see it, is actually quite clever.

Overall a very nice bolt and nut puzzle with a slightly different twist. For puzzlers who like nut/bolt/washer or sequential discovery puzzles, this is a gem and definitely worth acquiring. Available directly from Wil Strijbos.

Lee Valley Burr Puzzle & Trick Bolts

Update 23 October 2017 - Dear Reader, please check out my new puzzle blog and e-store at http://mechanical-puzzles.com

Who would imagine a hardware supplier like Lee Valley Tools would have a couple of steel puzzles as part of their inventory. From Jeff Chiou, I knew that they sold the behemoth Indian Puzzle Lock. But I did not know they also sell a steel burr as well as a pair of trick bolts until I chanced upon the latter on Rob's Puzzle Page. Given my penchant for metal puzzles, I decided to check out the Lee Valley offerings.

The burr and bolts are all made in Canada. Quality of construction, fit and finish are very good. The burr is about 6.5cm all round, solid steel and zinc plated while the trick bolts are between 3.5cm to 4cm and finished with a very nice matt gray. 

The burr consists of six interlocking rods, with five of the rods each with grooves cut out while the sixth is a solid piece which locks the other five together in the solved state. The fit of the pieces is very good. Unlike aluminium which is lighter, this one being made of steel weighs a hefty 480 grams. There are very few metal burrs I have come across so far, except for Wil Strijbos' 7 and 10 Move Burrs and Charles Perry's Ball Puzzle, all of which I already own, so this was another welcome addition.

I struggled with the burr for quite some time. Although only six pieces, the burr is pretty challenging, partly because its difficult to try to handle several heavy pieces all at the same time; but mainly because I am pretty lousy with burrs. I used my Charles Perry Ball as a guide but comparing both, the Lee Valley Burr has a different design to its pieces. This made the Lee Valley Burr much more difficult to assemble. Eventually I gave up and checked the solution offered on their website. Without the solution, I would have taken a good while longer to solve.

On the other hand, the pair of trick bolts were pretty easy to figure out. Solved both within seconds, and that's because I have played with other trick bolts with similar mechanisms. The bolts are well constructed, so no chance of any moving parts getting stuck, unlike some other poorer quality ones. 

All three puzzles came at a very reasonable price making them excellent value for money. If you do not own a trick bolt, and not sure whether to plonk down the dough for the Rolls Royce of trick bolts; ie one of Rocky Chiaro's, well, here is a chance to own a pair of high quality ones at a very affordable price.

Nut & Bolt Puzzles

Update 23 October 2017 - Dear Reader, please check out my new puzzle blog and e-store at http://mechanical-puzzles.com

Since my review of the Cross Threaded earlier in this blog, I subsequently developed quite a liking for nut and bolt puzzles and acquired four others:-

1. 2 x Bolted
2. Schraube
3. One-Wa-Sure

Top from left: Eureka Bolted, Enigma Bolted, Schraube and at the bottom, One-Wa-Sure

Bolted
I ordered a copy from Mr Puzzle Australia and for some reason which I still cannot fathom, I ordered an almost identical one from PuzzleThis UK. Anyhow, the one from Mr Puzzle Australia is manufactured by Enigma while that from PuzzleThis UK comes from Eureka. Both are relatively large in size measuring 9.3cm x 3cm at its widest. Quality and construction for both copies are good. The one from Enigma is made of brass with a nice patina finish while the other from Eureka I think is made of aluminium with a shiny surface.

If you wish to buy one, get the Enigma one as it has got a nicer finish and looks like a real bolt. They are really more trick bolts than puzzles and I solved them (removing the bent washer) in under 15 seconds. In my opinion really not worth the money if you are looking for some puzzling.

Schraube
This one came from Hendrik Haak's Puzzle-Shop.de. Schraube is german for screw. Made of aluminium, the quality and finish is also good and with a matt surface, it too looks like a real nut and bolt. This is the smallest of the lot at around 4cm x 1.9cm. From a puzzling standpoint, this one is a bit harder than the Bolted and required more manipulation before I could get the nut off the bolt. The mechanism is similar to the Cross Threaded mentioned earlier.

One-Wa-Sure
This bolt puzzle with a catchy name (play on the word washer) came from Rocky Chiaro. In terms of size, it is somewhere midway between the Bolted and Schraube. Measuring about 6.3cm x 2.2cm, it is made of brass with a nice polished surface. Quality, fit and finish is excellent as is typical of Rocky's brass puzzles and the head of the bolt bears Rocky's signature. However, all this quality and craftsmanship comes at a price; the One-Wa-Sure is not cheap! It is one of six bolt and nut puzzles designed and made by Rocky; so if you are thinking of collecting the lot, this will definitely burn a pretty large hole in your pocket.

This is the hardest to solve compared to the other two and given the cost, I am glad the One-Wa-Sure provides reasonable challenge. It didn't take me that long but I still had to play with it for a fair several minutes before I managed to remove the washer from the bolt. I cannot comment on the difficulty of this one compared to the rest of the series as I don't have the other five, so you may want to check out Oli's review that covers all six puzzles. It was on his recommendation that I chose the One-Wa-Sure over the rest as I wasn't ready to plonk down money for all six puzzles at one go without at least trying one.

Out of the four above, only the One-Wa-Sure is really worth buying, that is, from both a puzzling and quality standpoint. But if you are a collector, well, that's a different story...no harm getting all four I guess.

Cross Threaded

This is my first bolt and nut puzzle (not counting my Hanayama Cast Nut Case reviewed earlier in this blog) and it came from Mr Puzzle Australia. Measuring 8.5 cm long with a bolt head 3cm across, the Cross Threaded is big, heavy and a real handful. Made of brass with its patina finish giving it an aged look, this bolt puzzle really looks like a genuine part from some hugh machine. My copy is from the Enigma Series and overall quality is good.

The object of the puzzle is of course to remove the nut from the bolt. It is a tricky puzzle. Initially when I first started playing with the puzzle, I could not even move the nut a bit. It was screwed tight to the point where I really thought the parts were jammed. I did not expect that the nut could be unscrewed in the normal fashion (afterall, it can't possibly be so easy right?, given that it has a difficulty level of around 7). But I did the obvious anyway, trying to unscrew it, in both directions. Nevertheless the nut refused to budge.

I tried some of the tested methods like as tapping, banging and shaking, thinking that these may help and lo and behold, after knocking the bolt a couple of times on my puzzle table, the nut moved ever so slightly and here is where I suddenly discovered the solution to removing the nut. Once I had separated the nut from the bolt, I realised that the way the nut is kept in place is actually quite simple but clever. TIP: no force is needed to solve this puzzle.

Overall a nice tricky little bolt puzzle and as stated by Mr Puzzle Australia, it is "hard but not extreme".....I agree. If you are into bolt and nut puzzles, well worth acquiring since it is also good value for money.