Corkscrew

puzzle box

Jun 29

Perfect Spiral

Ah, summer. The perfect time to kick back, relax, and enjoy a Christmas present, don’t you think? Well, maybe not, but any time is the right time to enjoy a puzzle box made by Perry McDaniel and this one is extra special.

Corkscrew by Perry McDaniel

Perry, as many know, is a master woodworker who creates some of the most surprising and beautiful puzzle boxes featuring incredibly complex and elegant mechanisms. He’s occasionally known as the puzzled baker, because his creations have often taken the form of cakes and pies over the years. These usually look good enough to eat, and Perry has a few funny stories about that too. If that wasn’t remarkable enough, he manages to shrink all the complexity into a tiny package. He has noted that the thickest cut of wood he typically uses now is only 1/8 inch. One unintended but satisfying consequence of this development is that he uses, and wastes, far less wood than he used to. He achieves all of this fine precision using the Incra tools he works with during his day job – sounds like a perfect set up to me.

Perfect down to the tiniest details

As many probably do not know, Perry also creates a very limited edition annual Christmas puzzle for close friends and family. With the fun and festivities that come during the holiday season, the task of designing, prototyping and producing a new puzzle leaves little time to make more than a handful of these each year, and that has always satisfied Perry. He relates that things went better than usual this past year, with a design that settled quickly, a perfect prototype, and rapid production schedule. As he puts it, there were “No hiccups, no backtracking, no eleventh hour design changes. In short, it was magic.” I’ve known Perry for a few years now, and have become part of the extended “Texas” family, so was fortunate to receive one of the few extras he was able to make this time. It was indeed a magical, and unusual, year. I don’t want to give the impression that these are something to be requested of him. He gave me permission to write about this one, as a way to share it with everyone.

This one is screwy

Which brings us to the “Corkscrew”, the 2018 Christmas Puzzle Box and another absolutely beautiful creation from Perry. His year-end offerings are “typically simple rectangular boxes with emphasis on the mechanisms employed for the solution. No dessert shapes here.” Each of the 16 boxes he produced for this edition feature a unique wood selection with no two alike, and they are all quite beautiful. This one is crafted from Curly Sassafrass with Wenge trim, and has Curly Wenge, Bloodwood and Holly handles. From Perry: “Sassafras was used at one time to produce Root Beer and Tea although I think there are now some concerns with carcinogens in the tree oils. It is a delightful smelling wood when machined. Quite sweet. I rarely see this wood and snatched up the board that this box came from on a visit to an Austin Wood supplier on the weekend before Thanksgiving. The color reminds me of the “crate” styled packing box series produced by Ninomiya although it has a finer texture.” It is indeed lovely. There are two hidden compartments, and there is a little hint to the unusual, delightful mechanism in the name. It took me some time to find the first compartment, and the second stayed hidden for a long, long while. It’s another remarkable masterpiece from Perry.

Corkscrew cocktail

The cocktail pairing for this toast came easily, as there happens to be a cocktail named the “Corkscrew”. It appears in quite a few references, with the earliest I can find being the 1974 edition of the Mr. Boston Deluxe Official Bartender’s Guide. However, the origins of this drink remain a bit of a mystery. There is a tangential reference to Burnett’s rum, a defunct brand of inexpensive rum from St. Croix. Sir Robert Burnett was a distiller from the late 1700’s better known for his gin, whose name is now associated with flavored vodka. The best I can do is provide you with the true and accurate history of the cocktail’s namesake – the corkscrew.

The first mention of said tool was in the 1680’s, when musket barrel cleaners were modified into “steel worms” to assist with accessing the wine. Reverend Samuel Henshall from Oxford, England improved the design and received the first corkscrew patent in 1795 – the same year our Sir Robert Burnett received his knighthood. Coincidence?!? Yes. Now before you go congratulating the good Reverend, it should be noted that “helixophiles” (that’s right, “cork enthusiasts”) insist the design existed for decades already, and he was just the first to patent.

A rum and peach martini

The corkscrew is indeed a fantastic invention, so simple, so elegant, so necessary. Unless you have a saber. The drink is a light, sweet variation on the martini, albeit with rum. The prominent flavor is peach, which is perfect for the summer. It’s an unexpectedly nice drink with rum, but would certainly work with gin, or even, if you must, vodka. So get out your corkscrew and pull the cork on a bottle of something light and refreshing. Maybe even mix up one of these, to toast the season. Here’s to it – cheers!