HOW MANY PIECES?

...William Abel tells us that when each TUCO puzzle was produced, two distinct cuts were made; see below. First the puzzle was cut into horizontal strips; then vertical strips. (Or vice-versa.)
...So if a person counts the number of pieces along one edge, there will be the same number of pieces along the opposite edge.
And if one counts the pieces along one edge, and then turns the corner and counts the pieces along the adjacent edge, when those two counts are multiplied together, the result is the total number of pieces in the puzzle.

....Large TUCO puzzles can have these numbers of pieces.
17 x 21 = 357 ______ (probably all box styles LG01 thru LG27)
16 x 20 = 320 ______ (probably all box styles LG14 thru LG27)
16 x 19 = 304 ______ (LG18,20,22 boxes)
17 x 19 = 323 ______ (LG19 boxes)

....SMall TUCO puzzles have the following number of pieces.
11 x 17 = 187 ______ (SM02,04 boxes)
12 x 16 = 192 ______ (SM04 boxes)
12 x 17 = 204 ______ (SM04,05,07,13,16,17,20,21,25,26 boxes)
13 x 16 = 208 ______ (SM26 interlocking, SM40)
14 x 18 = 252 ______ (SM07,08 boxes)
..........165 ______ (SM40 boxes)

....DUBL-THIK puzzles can have this many pieces.
10 x 13 = 130 ______ (SM35,36,38 boxes)
10 x 14 = 140 ______ (SM35,36 boxes)
11 x 14 = 154 ______ (SM31 boxes)

....King Size puzzles can have this many pieces.
20 x 25 = 500

....The Great Challenge ("2000-piece") puzzle could have 38 x 53 = 2014 pieces.

Note:
other numbers are possible, and will be included here when known.
==================================================== William Abel shares this information, and the picture above, about TUCO's method of cutting their puzzles.

"Tuco puzzles were cut by a method called strip cutting. Two dies were used in the cutting of the puzzle, one to cut the horizonal and one to cut the vertical.
This is why the pieces from one puzzle to another are not the exact same shape. Registration from one die to the next was not nessesary and not done.
I have in my possesion bed plates from the presses that were used to cut the puzzles." Attached is a scan of part of one plate.

Thanks, Mr. Abel, for sharing this with us!

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