Assembly
The weather is still not good today, but the rain from yesterday has stopped, and the humidity was a bit lower in the morning.
I immediately continued working on the 3-sun cube and attached the Kannuki (slide keys) panel on the remaining side. With this, the assembly of the 3-sun cube is now complete. I plan to move on to the base coating process starting tomorrow.
Since it has been raining all week, I am a bit concerned about the moisture in the boxes. To keep the humidity low, I store them in cases as much as possible and avoid taking the puzzle boxes outside.
Now, it's time to assemble the hexagonal puzzle boxes. But before that, I need to finish making the Aruki (moving panels) panels, which I left incomplete yesterday. I carefully adjust the dimensions little by little to ensure a perfect fit.
This is a fundamental rule in all Japanese puzzle box making: when crafting parts like these, they are initially made slightly larger or a bit tighter than necessary. Then, they are gradually shaved down to fit the main body. If a part is made too small or too loose, it cannot be fixed. That’s why this step requires careful attention.
Since each box has slight variations, the Aruki panels are adjusted individually for each box before assembly. For the hexagonal puzzle boxes, each box requires five Aruki panels. Since I am making 46 boxes, I need to fine-tune and attach a total of 230 Aruki panels. This process takes quite a bit of time.
Today, I successfully completed this assembly work and attached the fixed panel, which forms the bottom of the box. This is the first panel to be attached. After that, I will reshape the remaining five sides and attach their panels.
I don’t expect to finish attaching all the panels tomorrow, but I plan to prepare everything so that they will be ready for attachment at any time.
As you can see in the photo, I am also making a few of my own products. The side panels are made with Ichimatsu Yosegi. For this production, two-thirds of the boxes are for orders from the Hakone market, a few are for overseas stores, and the rest are for my own stock.
I immediately continued working on the 3-sun cube and attached the Kannuki (slide keys) panel on the remaining side. With this, the assembly of the 3-sun cube is now complete. I plan to move on to the base coating process starting tomorrow.
Since it has been raining all week, I am a bit concerned about the moisture in the boxes. To keep the humidity low, I store them in cases as much as possible and avoid taking the puzzle boxes outside.
Now, it's time to assemble the hexagonal puzzle boxes. But before that, I need to finish making the Aruki (moving panels) panels, which I left incomplete yesterday. I carefully adjust the dimensions little by little to ensure a perfect fit.
This is a fundamental rule in all Japanese puzzle box making: when crafting parts like these, they are initially made slightly larger or a bit tighter than necessary. Then, they are gradually shaved down to fit the main body. If a part is made too small or too loose, it cannot be fixed. That’s why this step requires careful attention.
Since each box has slight variations, the Aruki panels are adjusted individually for each box before assembly. For the hexagonal puzzle boxes, each box requires five Aruki panels. Since I am making 46 boxes, I need to fine-tune and attach a total of 230 Aruki panels. This process takes quite a bit of time.
Today, I successfully completed this assembly work and attached the fixed panel, which forms the bottom of the box. This is the first panel to be attached. After that, I will reshape the remaining five sides and attach their panels.
I don’t expect to finish attaching all the panels tomorrow, but I plan to prepare everything so that they will be ready for attachment at any time.
As you can see in the photo, I am also making a few of my own products. The side panels are made with Ichimatsu Yosegi. For this production, two-thirds of the boxes are for orders from the Hakone market, a few are for overseas stores, and the rest are for my own stock.
