A little care goes a long way with a wooden puzzle. Follow these guidelines and your Elevated Puzzles piece will hold up to years of assembling, admiring, and boxing back up.
While you're solving
- Work on a clean, dry, flat surface. A puzzle mat or folding board is great if you need to move a puzzle-in-progress out of the way.
- Keep liquids well clear. Wood pieces can swell or warp if they get wet, and a spill can be permanent. Keep coffee, wine, and snacks off the puzzle table.
- Handle whimsy pieces gently. Their irregular shapes mean thinner spots at some edges — a satisfying fit, but not a piece to force.
- Don't force a piece. With an organic, algorithm-generated cut, some near-matches will look right but aren't. If it doesn't settle in with light pressure, it's the wrong spot.
That "new puzzle" smell
Freshly laser-cut wood carries a faint toasted, smoky scent right out of the box. That's completely normal and it fades within a day or two — it's a byproduct of the cutting process, not a defect.
Storing a finished puzzle
- Store flat, not on edge. Stacking or leaning an assembled puzzle upright over time can stress the piece connections.
- Keep it out of direct sun and away from heat sources. Prolonged heat and UV exposure can fade the image and dry out the wood, increasing the risk of warping.
- Avoid damp basements or attics. Humidity swings are wood's biggest enemy — a stable, room-temperature spot is best.
- Break it back down for long-term storage. If you're not planning to display it, disassembling and boxing the pieces flat is the safest way to store a puzzle indefinitely.
Displaying your puzzle
If you'd like to keep an assembled puzzle intact for framing or display, use a puzzle-specific adhesive or mounting product designed for that purpose, applied per its instructions. We don't recommend household glue — it's difficult to apply evenly across an organic, irregular cut, and it's irreversible if something goes wrong. A puzzle you plan to solve again should stay glue-free.
Missing a piece?
If a piece has gone missing after a solve, don't worry — it happens. Visit our missing piece replacement page for how to get a free first replacement.