11-Apr-2025
Because of the rain that fell last night, today started with high humidity. So for now, I decided to work on attaching the top and bottom panels of the knock box. This step can be done without worrying too much about humidity—although lower humidity is still preferable, of course. For this box, the top panel features traditional Yosegi marquetry, while the bottom panel is made from natural wood. Since this is a slightly special box, I chose an Agathis wood base with line details for the bottom panel.
Today, I was out for a while, and there was a small issue at the workshop, so I wasn’t able to make much progress. However, in addition to working on the knock box, I also prepared materials for the upcoming production of Mame Himitsu-bako. This time, I’m planning to make a larger batch than usual, so it looks like it will be a big production run for the Mame boxes. I plan to make many 14-step boxes and some 18-step ones. All of them will feature traditional Yosegi designs, so the first step is to paste the Yosegi sheets on the wooden boards. After they are thoroughly dried, I’ll begin working on the internal structure.
Today, I’d like to talk about something a little different. The other day, I received a question, and some of you may already know this—but I have a YouTube channel. I just checked, and it looks like my last upload was 8 months ago…😅 I originally created the channel for a specific purpose. When customers ask me how to open a puzzle box they’ve purchased, I realized that it can be quite difficult to explain the steps using only words. Watching a video is much easier to understand. In fact, many people also have trouble figuring out how to close the box after opening it. Puzzle boxes usually don’t close in the same way they open. For example, a 14-step puzzle box might only take 10 steps to close. It’s often fewer steps to close than to open. So I made the videos to explain these kinds of things. They might not be flashy or very entertaining…haha😅 but I hope they’re helpful. If I have anything new to share, I plan to update the channel again—so please consider bookmarking it!
https://www.youtube.com/@okapuzzlebox
Wishing you a great weekend!
