Hexagon 6-step box
A new week starts today, but it's been a long time since we had rain, and it's coming down quite heavily. According to my plan, I was supposed to start attaching the Kannuki (slide key) panels to the 3-sun cube puzzle box today. However, due to the high humidity, I decided to postpone it. That being said, I did proceed with making the Kannuki panels and attaching the Bocchi (inside small wood parts) . Additionally, the puzzle boxes that were under pressure with woodworking clamps are now placed in cases for humidity control during storage.
Yesterday, the temperature rose to 20 degrees, making it a very warm day. However, today is completely different, with low temperatures and rain all day. On days like this, wood absorbs a lot of moisture, so I try to avoid working on delicate parts as much as possible.
After finishing these tasks, I decided to prepare for my next project. Preparing materials by cutting them to rough dimensions is less affected by humidity, so it might be a suitable task for a day like this. For my next project, I will be making Hexagon 6-step puzzle boxes for the first time in a while. Most of this batch is an order from the Hakone market, with a small portion for my own stock. However, I had stopped making hexagonal boxes for some time. The reason is that all the hexagonal boxes I made in the past had traditional Yosegi patterns on every surface, requiring a large amount of Yosegi sheets. As I have mentioned several times before, the number of craftsmen making Yosegi sheets has been decreasing in recent years, leading to lower production volumes. As a result, it has become difficult to secure enough Yosegi sheets, and their prices have also increased. Because of this, if I were to make the same type of hexagonal box, it would become extremely expensive. So, for this batch, I will use traditional Yosegi only on the top and bottom surfaces, while the side panels will feature Ichimatsu (checkerboard) Yosegi sheets. Even with this design, the cost will still be quite high. Hexagonal boxes have a unique shape, but their mechanism involves only six steps, making them relatively simple. If they are too expensive, it may affect their sales. Therefore, I plan to keep my own stock limited to just a few pieces and treat this as an experimental project.
In total, I plan to produce about 40 pieces in this batch.
So today, I prepared the materials for the hexagonal puzzle box. I worked on the materials for the axis section and the Aruki panels (moving panels). The top and bottom panels were already prepared, and I had attached the traditional Yosegi sheets to them. This box has a slightly different structure compared to regular Japanese puzzle boxes. The top and bottom panels serve as both the internal structural panels and the outer Yosegi panels. Because of this, there are three types of materials needed for assembly. There are no intricate internal mechanisms, and no Bocchi is required. However, since there are many Aruki panels and all angles are 60 degrees instead of right angles, that part of the process is quite challenging. I will write more about this process in the coming days. The photo shows a previous "full traditional Yosegi type" hexagon puzzle box.
Yesterday, the temperature rose to 20 degrees, making it a very warm day. However, today is completely different, with low temperatures and rain all day. On days like this, wood absorbs a lot of moisture, so I try to avoid working on delicate parts as much as possible.
After finishing these tasks, I decided to prepare for my next project. Preparing materials by cutting them to rough dimensions is less affected by humidity, so it might be a suitable task for a day like this. For my next project, I will be making Hexagon 6-step puzzle boxes for the first time in a while. Most of this batch is an order from the Hakone market, with a small portion for my own stock. However, I had stopped making hexagonal boxes for some time. The reason is that all the hexagonal boxes I made in the past had traditional Yosegi patterns on every surface, requiring a large amount of Yosegi sheets. As I have mentioned several times before, the number of craftsmen making Yosegi sheets has been decreasing in recent years, leading to lower production volumes. As a result, it has become difficult to secure enough Yosegi sheets, and their prices have also increased. Because of this, if I were to make the same type of hexagonal box, it would become extremely expensive. So, for this batch, I will use traditional Yosegi only on the top and bottom surfaces, while the side panels will feature Ichimatsu (checkerboard) Yosegi sheets. Even with this design, the cost will still be quite high. Hexagonal boxes have a unique shape, but their mechanism involves only six steps, making them relatively simple. If they are too expensive, it may affect their sales. Therefore, I plan to keep my own stock limited to just a few pieces and treat this as an experimental project.
In total, I plan to produce about 40 pieces in this batch.
So today, I prepared the materials for the hexagonal puzzle box. I worked on the materials for the axis section and the Aruki panels (moving panels). The top and bottom panels were already prepared, and I had attached the traditional Yosegi sheets to them. This box has a slightly different structure compared to regular Japanese puzzle boxes. The top and bottom panels serve as both the internal structural panels and the outer Yosegi panels. Because of this, there are three types of materials needed for assembly. There are no intricate internal mechanisms, and no Bocchi is required. However, since there are many Aruki panels and all angles are 60 degrees instead of right angles, that part of the process is quite challenging. I will write more about this process in the coming days. The photo shows a previous "full traditional Yosegi type" hexagon puzzle box.
