05-Aug-2024
I am currently making limited edition natural wood boxes along with other boxes. This time, there are only three of them. The boxes are 4 sun in size and have a 14-move mechanism. In fact, the lid panels were prepared quite some time ago, waiting for the opportunity to be used. Since I couldn’t start for a while, those lid panels must be well dried by now 😂 Of course, this is a good thing!
When making boxes with solid wood lid panels, I always worry about the shrinkage of the lid panels. The lid panels for the Japanese puzzle boxes are very thin. it’s about 3~4mm. This thickness (thin) is necessary due to the mechanism. If the lid panels are made thicker, the moving distance of the side panels would need to be increased. If that happens, either the height of the box needs to be increased or the bonding area between the moving side parts (aruki) and the side panels needs to be reduced. This, in turn, causes other issue.
This time, the lid panels are made to be 3.5mm thick. Therefore, these lid panels need to be sufficiently dried before use. In many cases, countries outside of Japan have lower humidity, so the wood needs to be dried to ensure the lid panels do not shrink any further in those environments. In that sense, they are sufficiently dried this time!
The wood used in the outside design includes: lid panels – Keyaki, Purpleheart, and Magnolia (Hoo) / Side panels – Magnolia (Hoo) and Hinoki wood.
This time, I used Japanese Hinoki wood as the white wood for the edges of the top part of the box. I usually use a wood called Mizuki wood for the white parts, but since I had some suitable Hinoki, I decided to use it instead. It’s a white color that’s slightly beige. Normally, Hinoki wood has a very pleasant scent, but since I used only a small amount, it might not be very noticeable. However, I think it has more character than the pure white Mizuki wood.
The base coating has already been completed today. Next, I will apply the final coating and then check the mechanism😄
