20-Sep-2024
For now, since the weather is nice but very hot today, I’ve postponed the finish coating of the 2-sun cube Japanese puzzle boxes until tomorrow or later. They are strictly humidity-controlled and stored in airtight cases.
As my last big project for this month, I’ve started making the 5-sun 27-step Japanese puzzle boxes today. This time, I will be making around 50 of them. It’s an order from an overseas store, and there are a bit more than usual. They requested it last year, but due to delays in producing the yosegi sheets (because the design of this puzzle box is traditional yosegi), production had to be postponed to this month. However, it looks like I’ll be able to meet the deadline for their Christmas sale this year, which is a relief😅
This time, I’m making 50 pieces, but as the production of yosegi sheets is decreasing year by year, I might not be able to accept this volume of work next year. For jobs destined for Hakone market, local suppliers there have a large stock of yosegi sheets, so production is possible. However, for my direct orders, it may become difficult. Currently, the decrease in yosegi craftsmen is an unavoidable issue.
Today, I prepared the material wood for the 27-step box and made the parts for the frame and axis (photos). Since it’s a 5-sun size, I use more wood (Agathis) than usual. As I’ve written before, when preparing these materials, I use the parts of the Agathis that are most suitable for each piece. Just like the Walnut wood I mentioned yesterday, Agathis wood also has variations in quality. In other words, there are parts where the grain is straight and others where it is not, as well as hard and soft sections. Therefore, I prepared the side panels of the frame from the straight sections (preferably medium hardness), the axis from the harder parts, and the sides and top/bottom “Aruki (moving panels)”from the softer, more elastic sections.
And to strengthen the adhesion of the axis, this time I am using the same Agathis wood for the axis part as the other parts. The adhesive bond is stronger when using the same type of wood.
The order is for 50 pieces, but since I always make a few extras, I would like to add some uniquely designed boxes. However, since I currently have no stock of the 5-sun 27-step yosegi boxes, I may also make a few more of the traditional yosegi design. Even though the 5-sun 27-step box is expensive, it’s popular as a gift. Structurally, it’s just larger, but the parts and the thickness of the pieces are the same as the 4-sun 27-step box. For this reason, I always make extra parts and keep them in stock so I can produce 27-step boxes at any time. However, this time I need to make more of the small stair-shaped parts, as I used them up in my previous order of 4-sun 27-step boxes for Hakone market. I expect to be working on these 27-step boxes for a while😄
