Today, the rain completely stopped, the weather became nice, and the temperature went up. I also delivered the finished custom-order boxes safely, and from now on I will focus on making the 3-sun boxes. However, because of the production schedule, it looks like I will finish only the solid wood top and bottom panel type first, out of the two types of 3-sun boxes I am making. Most of the boxes I will make this time are the type with a combination of traditional yosegi and walnut, but I also plan to make a small number of the solid wood type. I think I will finish those 20 or so boxes first. I will probably also start making the 14-step Mame puzzle boxes planned for this month in the middle of this work.
Today, I worked on making the frame panels for those 3-sun boxes. I had prepared them beforehand and kept them fixed in a vise for a long time. This part is the same for both the solid wood type and the traditional yosegi type, so I made frame panels for a total of 140 boxes. As you can see in the photo, it is quite a large number… haha. I feel that assembling them will also take quite a lot of time. The axis panels have already been made, so I will start assembling them tomorrow. They had been pressed in a vise, but I think they had absorbed quite a lot of humidity. By working on them like this today and dividing them into even smaller parts, I think much of that moisture has now come out.
Today, I also started preparing the Mame puzzle boxes. This is because I need to attach the yosegi sheets in advance, depending on the work schedule. I prepared the agathis boards for that. This time, I plan to make about 80 boxes. They will all be the traditional yosegi type. It has been since April since I last made Mame puzzle boxes. The 14-step model can be called the standard model of Mame puzzle boxes, and it is the Mame puzzle box model I have been making for the longest time, since I first started making Japanese puzzle boxes. Famous master craftsmen in the past also made this 14-step Mame puzzle box. I also have a Mame puzzle box made by one of those masters, but the first one I used as a reference was not that one… haha. It was a Mame puzzle box that I borrowed from another craftsman. I think I will also write about that legendary (?) piece now that this production has started.
