How Jigsaw Puzzles Are Made

A jigsaw puzzle is made by fixing an image to a rigid board and cutting the board into interlocking pieces. Four production methods dominate: traditional die-cutting for retail puzzles, printing onto pre-cut blanks for custom photo puzzles, laser cutting for wooden puzzles, and the hand cutting where the format began. This guide covers how each method works and what it changes about the finished puzzle.

The Four Ways Jigsaw Puzzles Are Made

Method	How It Works	Where You See It
Steel-rule die-cutting	A press pushes a blade pattern through the printed, board-mounted image, cutting every piece in one stroke	Mass-produced retail puzzles
Printing on pre-cut blanks	The board is die-cut into pieces first; the image is then printed onto the assembled blank puzzle	Made-to-order custom photo puzzles
Laser cutting	A laser follows a digital cutting path through plywood, one piece outline at a time	Wooden and specialty puzzles
Hand cutting	A craftsperson cuts each piece individually on a fine-bladed saw	Artisan puzzles and the format's history

The method explains a lot about the puzzle on your table: why retail puzzles in a series share the same cut, why one-off photo puzzles are affordable, and why wooden pieces have dark edges. The traditional method is the right starting point.

Traditional Die-Cutting: How Retail Puzzles Are Made

A mass-produced cardboard puzzle is made in three stages. The image is printed on paper and glued to thick chipboard. A steel-rule die then presses through the whole sheet, cutting every piece at once. The die itself is the expensive part. Sharp steel blades are bent into the outline of every piece and set into a wooden base, forming a cookie-cutter of the entire puzzle in one tool.

Because one die can cut thousands of copies, this method is economical only at volume, and every puzzle in the run shares the identical piece pattern. The blade layout also decides whether the pieces form a regular grid or a varied pattern; our guide to puzzle piece cut styles explains those patterns in detail. The die is exactly what a one-off custom puzzle cannot justify, which is why custom puzzles take a different path.

Printing on Pre-Cut Blanks: How Custom Photo Puzzles Are Made

A custom photo puzzle is usually made in the reverse order. The board is die-cut into interlocking pieces first, as an unprinted blank. The customer's image is then printed onto the assembled blank. The print is applied directly to the blank's coated surface, either with a flatbed printer or with a thermal press that bonds the image under heat. Once printed, the pieces separate along the existing cuts and go into the box.

This order solves the economics of one-off production. The die cost is shared across thousands of identical blanks, while each printed image can be unique. That is what makes a made-to-order personalized photo gift affordable as a single copy. Quality then rests on two things: the resolution of the uploaded photo and the coating that holds the print. Every puzzle in our custom photo puzzles collection is produced this way today, though production methods evolve. Wood-based puzzles solve the cutting problem differently again.

Laser Cutting: Wooden and Specialty Puzzles

A laser-cut puzzle is made by steering a focused laser along a digital cutting path through printed plywood. No physical die exists; the pattern is a vector file, so every run can use a different cut, and designers can add figural "whimsy" pieces shaped like animals or objects. The laser burns as it cuts, which is why wooden puzzle pieces typically have dark, slightly smoky edges.

Laser cutting is slower per copy than die pressing, so it suits small batches and premium wooden puzzles rather than mass production. It is also the modern descendant of the way every puzzle was once made: by a person with a saw.

Hand Cutting and Where the Name Comes From

The first jigsaw puzzles were cut by hand in 1760s London, where mapmaker John Spilsbury mounted maps on thin mahogany and cut along country borders with a fine-bladed fretsaw. He sold them as "dissected maps" for teaching geography, a history documented by Europeana's cultural archive. For more than a century afterward, puzzles stayed wooden, hand-cut, and expensive. The fuller story, from the Depression craze to today's championships, is in our history of jigsaw puzzles.

The name "jigsaw" only appeared in the 1880s, when treadle-powered saws sped up cutting, and it stuck even though the tool in question was technically a fretsaw. Cardboard backing arrived in the late 1800s and die-cutting followed, which turned puzzles from a luxury into a mass product. Whatever the era and method, the same few qualities separate a well-made puzzle from a frustrating one.

What Makes a Well-Made Puzzle

A well-made puzzle comes down to the board, the cut, and the print. The qualities to look for are consistent across production methods:

• Board thickness and density decide whether pieces feel sturdy and lie flat, or bend and flake along the edges during assembly.
• Cut precision controls the fit: cleanly cut pieces interlock snugly without forcing, and the assembled image shows tight seams. Our answer on whether photo puzzle pieces lock tightly covers what a snug fit does and does not mean.
• Print resolution and color matching determine how faithfully the image survives being split into hundreds of pieces, which matters most when the image is your own photo.
• A matte finish reduces glare under indoor light, so solvers can work without tilting pieces to read them.

The materials behind those qualities, from the card stock to the finish, are covered in our guide to what custom photo puzzles are made of.

Frequently Asked Questions

How are jigsaw puzzle pieces cut?

By one of three methods: a steel-rule die pressing every piece at once, a laser tracing each outline through plywood, or die-cutting in advance as blank puzzles printed afterward. Hand cutting survives in artisan work.

How are custom photo puzzles made?

Most are printed onto pre-cut blanks: the board is die-cut into interlocking pieces first. The uploaded photo is then printed directly onto the assembled blank, by flatbed printer or thermal press. No per-order cutting die is needed, which keeps one-off copies affordable.

Why is it called a jigsaw puzzle?

After the saw used to cut early puzzles, though the name is a slight misnomer. The 1880s treadle saws that popularized puzzle cutting were fretsaws, but "jigsaw" stuck. Before that, puzzles were sold as "dissected maps" or "dissections."

What are jigsaw puzzles made of?

Mostly printed cardboard or chipboard, the standard since the late 1800s. Premium and artisan puzzles use plywood, and the earliest puzzles were cut from mahogany. Custom photo puzzles use thick, puzzle-grade card stock with a matte-finished print surface.