11-Oct-2024
This morning, I had some errands to run, so I couldn’t get much work done. However, I did manage to finish the assembly work on the drawer and the main body of the 5-sun Japanese puzzle box.
The photo shows the process of assembling the drawer. First, the frame is constructed, and then the bottom panel is attached. After that, I carefully sand the sides to smooth them out, and finally, I attach the handle and the lid panel.
The height of the main body of the 5-sun puzzle box is about 7 cm (2.7 inches). The internal structure of the box has a height of around 6 cm (2.4 inches). Since I’m making a drawer inside that space, the drawer itself ends up being quite small😄 As you can see in the photo, the height of the drawer is approximately 2.3 cm, and the internal space is about 2 cm (0.7 inches). So, if you were to store something inside, it would probably be business cards or small cards, or in the case of a gift, perhaps a small note with a message. The first storage compartment is in the upper section of the box, which results in this tiny drawer. However, the mechanism that reveals this drawer adds a small element of surprise, which makes it quite popular.
Although it’s not shown in the photo, I decided to use Rosewood for the design of the drawer lid this time. It’s not made from solid rosewood, but rather a thin slice of rosewood sheet glued onto an MDF board. Normally, I don’t prefer to use MDF board, but since this lid panel can be easily removed, using solid wood would cause it to warp easily, so I chose this method for this part. However, using MDF as is doesn’t look very aesthetically pleasing, so I apply sliced wood or yosegi on the surface for a more beautiful design.
Today, as shown in the photo, I am finishing up the main body of the box. One slight issue I encountered was that the weather today is very sunny and dry, so the box dried out more than it did yesterday when I attached the final panel, causing the panel to warp slightly. It’s still within an acceptable range, but I’m always very careful about humidity control. I did the finishing work in the evening after the sun had set, but it was still quite dry. The solid wood type I’m working on this time is especially prone to drying out, so I need to be extra cautious. For today, I’ve only done the base coating, and I’ll complete the final coating in the coming days.
