I had a few things to do this morning, so I started working in the workshop in the afternoon. I continued working on the 3-sun puzzle boxes as usual, but after attaching the sliding panels, I decided to pause the work and continue next week. Today, I also worked on attaching yosegi sheets for the next production. Next, I plan to make Mame 14-step puzzle boxes, followed by Mame 4-step puzzle boxes for the Japanese market, so I will be making Mame puzzle boxes twice in a row.
Today, I uploaded a YouTube video of the 21-step puzzle box. I had uploaded videos from time to time before, but recently I have been posting more often. These videos are very useful when a customer tells me that they have forgotten how to open a box. Some things are difficult to explain clearly in an email, but they are easy to understand when you watch a video. I made the 4-sun 21-step puzzle boxes in May, and the box shown in the video is one of them. When I made these 21-step boxes, I came up with a new way to make an 18-step mechanism, and I would like to try it next time. I also used parts from this 21-step mechanism for the 11-step puzzle boxes I made recently. This made it possible to create nine steps using only one side panel. One good point about this number of steps is that I can use the same 6.5 mm thick top sliding panel as the 14-step and previous 18-step puzzle boxes, without making it thicker.
To be honest, I am not sure what the traditional 21-step mechanism is like, but I do not think it opens in the same way as mine. I feel that it probably has more movements where the sliding key is moved back, which we call “Kaeshi.” I remember seeing a 21-step puzzle box made by another craftsman before, and I think it worked that way. My 21-step and 27-step puzzle boxes are simply extensions of my 18-step mechanism.
I have not made the 27-step puzzle boxes for a while, so I have recently been getting more interest in these 21-step boxes. It seems that many people are looking for puzzle boxes with more than 20 steps. At the moment, I do not have any orders for the 27-step box, so I do not plan to make it soon, but I hope to make some for stock before Christmas. One thing people often say about both the 21-step and 27-step boxes is that it does not take 21 or 27 steps to close them again. I recently spoke with a dealer in Hakone and learned that this is because the movements called “Kaeshi,” where the sliding key is moved back, are skipped when closing the box, so the number of steps becomes smaller. I had never really thought about it before, but then I understood why 😅 Because of this, you may feel a little confused when closing the box. In that case, try opening it fully again and moving the parts, or try moving one of the panels or sliding keys in the closing direction. One of them should move. For example, the 21-step puzzle box has two sliding keys and four panels, making six moving parts in total. When closing it, the sliding keys do not move during the first few steps. Only the panels move back at first, and the sliding keys begin to move later. So, when you are not sure what to do, try moving each of those six parts in the closing direction. One of them should move, and then you can continue moving the parts in order. This is why my videos also show how to close the box again.
