Dachshund – Crafthub – 75 pieces

This was the best quality puzzle of the three that I purchased, and I’m glad that it was the last one I did. I think if I’d started with this one the disappointment would have been greater when I started working with the other two.

The pieces were bigger, more the size of your average wooden puzzle and much easier to handle. The fit was still loose, but somehow that seemed more manageable with the larger pieces. There were no pieces still connected together, and the colors on the puzzle matched those on the poster. Finally!

I was hoping for more dog whimsies, but at least there are a couple. They’re all cute and only a few of them seemed like they might experience some breakage if the pieces were mishandled or banged around in the box. (The chubby little unicorn is my favorite.😁🦄)

Finally, the colors on the puzzle match the poster! Bang on! Well done, whoever you are.

I started this puzzle immediately after finishing the heart because it was my intention to glue this as well. But the quality was better, and even with the loose fit I wouldn’t feel bad donating this to a thrift store or senior center; I wouldn’t feel as though I were “inflicting” this puzzle on someone. So this puppy got taken apart and brought home, no gluing necessary.

My refrain remains the same though, don’t spend your money here. If you’re taking a chance that only one out of three puzzles is good quality, you’d be better off with a company that you know has quality wooden puzzles – no betting required.

Don’t gamble with your puzzle budget, it’s a precious resource!

Blooming Heart – Crafthub – 73 pieces

This is the second of the Crafthub puzzles with the less than optimal quality. It was slightly better in that there was just one piece that was still attached to another (rather than the four sets of still attached pieces in The Bee puzzle), and there weren’t any pieces that needed to be bent back into shape. The cut was still extremely loose, and again the colors don’t match the poster – this time was even worse with the colors.

Cute whimsies, and I like the word Love spelled out in the heart. That’s everything nice I have to say about these. The pieces are so small, and some of the shapes they chose to make create such thin connections that I don’t think they will all last several assemblies, things will start breaking off.

The color differences were worse this time; the two large roses are an orange color in the poster and pink in the puzzle itself. The greens are not the same, things don’t match up.

There is no piece count on the box, so I had to count these by hand. Not a big deal if you remember to do it before you start assembling – but I did not. So, I got a pen and started marking them as I counted, those are the little dots you see on each piece. I missed one on the first count, but once it was glued and I was really looking it over I saw my mistake. 73 pieces is correct.

The gluing went really well! I just used Mod Podge and glued it like I would a cardboard puzzle – but very carefully so as not to dislodge any of the pieces. Once the first coat was on the back I was able to be a little more forceful and make sure the glue was really in there between every piece. There were two coats on the back when I took this picture, and I added a coat on the front afterward.

This puzzle was slightly better in quality than the first, but in my opinion the pieces were still too small, and the fit was still too loose. Perhaps their laser is set to a thicker width so that it creates a larger gap between pieces that causes such a loose fit? That’s my guess anyway.

I’ll say it again, please spend your puzzle budget elsewhere. There are several companies that make wooden jigsaw puzzles with excellent quality and relatively reasonable prices you can try. Don’t get your first impression of what a wooden jigsaw puzzle can be from this company – they ain’t even worth their discounted prices.