04-Nov-2024
Today, November 4th, is a substitute holiday in Japan for “Culture Day,” since it fell on Sunday this year. This may also be the case in other countries, but in Japan, when a national holiday coincides with a Sunday, the following weekday becomes a holiday as well. Culture Day itself is on November 3rd, commemorating the day Japan’s Constitution was enacted. This holiday honors the Constitution’s values of peace and cultural promotion, which is why it’s called “Culture Day.” But since it’s Monday today, I’m still making a bit of progress with work😄
Fortunately, the weather has been very good and dry since yesterday, so I’ve started attaching the final panels (the Aruki panels with the Kannuki-slide keys) for the 5-sun 27-step Japanese puzzle box. I’ll continue attaching them today and tomorrow.The photo shows the box after attaching the “bocchi” and leveling it down. This surface is now completely flat and ready for the kannuki panel to be attached.
I attach panels to two sides of each box, and deciding the order of attachment for these two sides requires a bit of consideration. Although the structure of both sides is nearly identical, the side that moves first has a slightly narrower Aruki width—by about 2.2mm. If you look closely at the photo, you’ll notice a slight gap in some areas. This 2.2mm difference results in a smaller gluing surface for attaching the kannuki panel.
After completion, if the box becomes extremely dry, small gaps can sometimes appear at the junction between this panel and the top or bottom of the box. Most often, these gaps appear on the side with the narrower Aruki width. This reduced adhesive area makes the panel slightly more prone to gaps due to less holding power along this narrow margin.
Therefore, when attaching this kannuki panel, it’s essential to attach it to the narrower Aruki side on drier days. Although today is sunny, there is still a bit of humidity, so I went ahead and attached the panel to the side with the wider Aruki width.
Today, I also cut the outer frame for the triangular puzzle box (photo). I made this version slightly larger than previous models, but because of the size limitations of the Yosegi-sheet, the increase was minimal😅 One of the three points of the triangle is especially prone to chipping due to the grain direction, so I need to handle it carefully. I’ll be making the axis and Aruki panels to match this frame, so for now, I’ve just started by cutting the frame itself.
