Today is Monday and the start of a new week again. It was another calm and comfortable day, with low humidity and a nice temperature. I had something to do in the evening, so I left the workshop a bit early and didn’t do too much work. Still, I was able to finish the base coating on the hexagonal boxes I’ve been making, which was a relief. After this, I plan to work on the 5-sun drawer boxes, the 2-sun cube boxes, and either 4-sun 27-step or 4-sun 21-step boxes this month. I haven’t decided yet whether to make the 21-step or 27-step version. In fact, I do have a few orders for the 21-step boxes, so I would like to prioritize those if possible. However, I currently have no stock at all of the 27-step designs, so I would also like to add some. It’s a bit of a difficult decision. And I have a small new idea for the 4-sun box, so I’m planning to try it as an experiment. I’m looking forward to seeing how it turns out.
After finishing the base coating on the hexagonal boxes, I felt a bit concerned, so I tested the mechanism at this stage. With this hexagon type of box, once the panels are glued and coated, there is a risk that when separating panels stuck by the paint, the wood can crack. This has happened several times in the past. So it’s better to release any sticking from the coating at this stage. However, moving all the panels is quite difficult, so I usually move them up to the third step. In particular, the fixed bottom panel, where the first and second steps connect, is the part most likely to cause problems, so I make sure to move that section. As expected, even though I paid close attention to the panel lengths, one box had a panel that got stuck and would not move at all. Since it was completely stuck, I removed the panel and reattached it. As I mentioned in a previous blog, the panel lengths are adjusted very precisely, so in rare cases, a panel can be just slightly too long, causing the next panel to catch. The reason this happens is due to very slight distortion in the frame. It’s not visible to the eye, but even a small distortion can prevent part of the panel from moving smoothly. For this repaired piece, I will leave it for a day until the glue fully dries, and then redo the finishing process tomorrow. Of course, I will also need to apply the base coating again to the repaired area. Still, I’m glad I was able to fix it this time.
After that, using the MDF board I finally managed to get 😅 I made the internal divider for the 5-sun drawer box (photo), the drawer bottom panel, and the top panel of the box (which will later have traditional yosegi applied). That’s where I finished for today.
