For the past 15 years, Neil Puckett has made cribbage boards by hand, with each taking up to 85 hours to create and most looking like a grain elevator.
The idea to create cribbage boards came after Puckett and a friend went for coffee to discuss golf. His friend, Winnipeg native Bill Farguson, enjoyed travelling across the country to play golf. He also enjoyed cribbage.
This conversation sparked the idea in Puckett’s mind to create a cribbage board that looked like a Saskatchewan road map. He overlaid a map on a board and drilled holes where communities were located. This allowed Farguson to start the game in one community and finish near that same place.
The first board was crudely made, said Puckett. Nevertheless, Farguson and his family enjoyed it.
Puckett later created another crib board with a road map on it. He has made 12 more boards — mostly grain elevators, but also a pig-shaped board — since that first project.
“Nothing is written down. It just comes to me, of whether will this (idea) work or will that work,” explained Puckett. “If I think it does (work), fine and dandy. And if it doesn’t, we’ll change it around.”
Puckett’s favourite board is one of his most recent. He created a special cribbage board for Farguson that looked similar to a United Grain Growers elevator in Balmoral, Man. Farguson then used it in a tournament in Manitoba. Sadly, Farguson died on April 10 at age 77.
“I never dreamed (a board) would ever go to a tournament,” said Puckett.
Puckett’s most recent creation is a grain elevator made to look as if it is on fire, with sound effects to represent a fire truck’s siren. It took him 20 hours alone to get the sound effect to work and to ensure the batteries could be replaced.
The concept of how the board would look came to Puckett “out of the clear blue sky;” it took him six weeks — 85 hours in total — to complete. It took him three hours alone to drill the holes since they require precision for the pegs. The pegs each have a picture of a fire truck on them.
It also took him 15 hours to create a custom-made 1950s vintage box with pictures of past building fires on it. The cribbage board and the box are being sent to a retired firefighter in Vanguard, Sask.
“You don’t get skunked in this game; you get burned,” Puckett laughed.
Puckett, 73, is also a retired firefighter. He began working as a volunteer at age 14 in Vanguard, before becoming the fire chief in Meadow Lake at age 18. He later worked in The Pas, Man.; for the federal government; on reserves teaching fire safety; and then in Moose Jaw.
He retired at age 55 after 43 years in the industry.
Another unique feature of Puckett’s grain elevator-themed cribbage boards is there is identification on the back to represent a particular community’s grain elevator. For example, the board going to Vanguard is identified as a Saskatchewan Wheat Pool elevator, No. 2146, in Bachman, Sask.
Puckett uses as many supplies from Moose Jaw as he can to create the cribbage boards. This ensures he doesn’t have to wait on a piece before he can finish. For example, he used pieces of a file folder to create the roof of a grain elevator; he photocopied pictures of corrugated metal siding to use as siding; and he uses wood from community stores.
He has another board on the go that looks like the elevator at the Sukanen Museum.
“How much do I want (for a board)? You can’t just give it away,” he said. He thinks $25 to $30 is fair price, since he can’t charge minimum wage after working on a board for 60 to 70 hours.
Making cribbage boards keeps Puckett busy; he joked there isn’t much to do on a rainy day. With a laugh, he noted he uses “the most outdated tools” to create things. He doesn’t have modern woodworking machines since he lives in an apartment.
Puckett’s woodworking hobby began in 1958 when he became a model railroader. He created miniature buildings to surround the track, which then grew into a bigger hobby of re-creating well-known buildings — such as the Corner Gas gas station — or military bases. He built a British Commonwealth Air Training Plan model base and donated it to the Western Development Museum.
“I have to keep designing and thinking. Somehow it all turns out,” he added. “Ideas (can) pop into my head at any time.”
