Melissa & Doug Deluxe Wooden 48-Piece Jigsaw Puzzle - Pirates

Melissa & Doug Deluxe Wooden 48-Piece Jigsaw Puzzle - Pirates
by Melissa & Doug

List Price: ~~$14.99~~
Our Price: $5.13
You Save: $9.86 (66%)
Availability: Usually ships in 2-3 business days
Category: Toy
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Product Summary

Manufacturer: Melissa & Doug
Brand: Melissa & Doug
Release Date: 2011-11-30
Model: 3800
Product features:

Colorful and playful 48-piece jigsaws come in wooden storage trays
Look like new even after extensive use
Bright, colorful and dynamic
Exceptional quality and value
Recommended age range from 3 to 5 years

Accessories:

Toys and Games Reviews of Melissa & Doug Deluxe Wooden 48-Piece Jigsaw Puzzle - Pirates

Customer Review: This wooden puzzle may be prone to splintering
Summary: 1 Stars

This review is about the Melissa & Doug Deluxe Wooden 48-Piece Jigsaw Puzzle - Pirates and the Melissa & Doug Space Voyage Jigsaw 48 Piece puzzles. However, this review may apply to all other Melissa & Doug 48 piece puzzles if they are constructed in the same way. I purchased both puzzles for my son based on the many positive reviews about them and on my satisfaction with other Melissa & Doug toys. I have found the puzzles to very well made but with serious and potentially dangerous flaws.

The puzzles are made of soft laminated wood. The puzzle backer board is almost 3/8" thick with about a 3/16" recess for the puzzle pieces of the same thickness. At first inspection, the pieces and the board seem very durable and likely to last a long time. The drawing on the puzzles have vibrant colors, and the paint appears to be sealed, so the painted surface is smooth and should provide good resistance to fingerprints or smudges - easy to wipe clean.

The puzzle pieces form an 8x6 grid, meaning that each piece is square or rectangular with a single tongue or groove on each side, except of course the edge pieces where one side is smooth. In contrast, there are other puzzles where the pieces have various, free-form shapes. Depending on the how the child tries to match the puzzle pieces (primarily by the drawing, primarily by the shape, or usually some combination of both), the M&D puzzles may or may not be more challenging than other ~50 piece puzzles. Note that the backer board has neither outline grooves nor a facsimile of the complete drawing to help the child place the pieces.

The primary flaw with these puzzles is that the edges of the cuts both around the backer board and around each puzzle piece do not appear to be sanded or sealed. (If they were, then the sanding and/or sealing are unacceptably poor.) Simply separating the puzzle pieces from each other for the first time can generate dozens or even hundreds of tiny splinters and wood fragments ranging from small, 1/32" sharp specs to 1/4" needles. This danger could be minimized by having an adult sand the edges and clean up the puzzles first, but the risk for further splintering would remain due to a secondary flaw.

The secondary flaw is that the puzzle pieces are cut with almost no tolerance or "wiggle room" for the pieces to slide in and out of each other. Therefore, the puzzles tend to "stick" to each other when being placed or removed. This would normally not be a problem as the "wiggle room" would be created through repeated play with the puzzles by the child. However, with the M&D wood puzzles, even applying a slight angle to the pieces while removing them can cause one of the layers of the laminated wood to get caught and be split. How likely is this? I, an adult, splintered two puzzle pieces while removing them for the very first time after purchase.

These issues may not have been a concern to the positive reviewers and may not be a concern for many others in the future. But for me, the problems were sufficiently alarming to immediately remove the puzzles from my child and check his fingers. My cautiousness was reaffirmed when I ended up with a splinter from the puzzles in my own finger while I was handling them for return.

I do not recommend these puzzles at all unless you have the time and energy to sand and seal all the edges of each puzzle and the backer board properly. This is a shame, as the puzzles are otherwise of very nice quality.

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Description of Melissa & Doug Deluxe Wooden 48-Piece Jigsaw Puzzle - Pirates

Sailing over the bounding main comes the ship in this Pirate Adventure Jigsaw Puzzle, where even the mouse is ready for adventure! Discovering all the fun details in this picture will be an adventure for the assembler! This wooden, 48-piece jigsaw puzzle comes packaged in a sturdy, wooden tray for puzzle building and easy storage.