According to my records, the looseness and chipped tips were problems right from the beginning for this particular puzzle. I suspect it has something to do with the verawood being tricky to work with.

I serviced all of the friction pin joints and added dabs of superglue in there in an attempt to help it fit a bit more snugly. This helped, but didn't really solve the issue completely.

Despite the chips and fit, it is still a lovely puzzle design, rendered in one of my very favorite woods. You can see in the photos how the woodgrain has a ropy iridescent yellowish-green color which shimmers with blue hues in places.

The puzzle itself is super cool because there are two solutions and both can disassemble on each of the four axes, or all of them simultaneously.

Many of Stewart Coffin's puzzle designs use the same permutation system as seen here, and also seen in three other of these Pursuits of Perfection resale lots such as the Triangular Prism and the pair of Twelve-Point / puzzles. It is worth noting that unlike this Permuted Third Stellation puzzle which can move on all axes in both solutions, the other three mentioned can only be assembled on one axis, and only one solution is possible.