Sep 2, 2025
The hot days continue—I think it was around 35°C today… Because of that, I try to come to the workshop as early as possible in the morning to get my work done. I do the machine work in the morning, and in the afternoon I focus on things like gluing panels and writing this blog 😊
Today, I worked on attaching panels for the 5-sun box, making and installing the Aruki parts for the 4-sun box, and attaching the top and bottom panels. I also began preparations for the next project: a 4.2-sun box. For this, I glued a checkered yosegi sheet onto the boards that will become the side panels. I plan to make about 30 of these boxes.
Half of them will be for orders from overseas shops, and the other half will use the creative yosegi I made in July for the top and bottom panels. Last time, I used this creative yosegi to make a 4-sun 18-steps box. With this production, the remaining sheets of that yosegi will finally be used up.
It has been a while since I made a 4.2-sun puzzle box. For now, since I don’t have any made-to-order requests after this project, I’m thinking of making it a limited edition in the future. The 4.2-sun size is quite similar to the 4-sun box, but slightly larger, and this added size gives the box much greater strength and stability.
Normal 4-sun box, which is made for sales, has been reduced to the smallest possible size, so it has the drawback of being a little weaker. To compensate for this, I’ve been making them with thicker panels this year. However, the 4-sun size is still easier to produce in larger numbers, so I plan to keep that one as a regular item.
This time, the 4.2-sun box design will feature my creative yosegi type and natural wood top and bottom panels type. The side panels are the checkered yosegi I glued on today. The mechanism will be a 27-steps type. Since the 4.2-sun is slightly larger than the 4-sun, the Aruki panels (moving panels) of 27-steps are also thicker, making the whole box heavier. As a result, this box has a more solid, weighty feeling compared to the smaller size.
