How to attach the outer panels
This morning was very cold, like the winter weather about one month from now. I felt the cold not only in the morning and evening but also during the day. I went out for a short time today, so I could only do a small amount of work. I glued the yosegi sheets onto the boards I prepared yesterday, and I also worked on attaching the hexagon panels that were still left.
Today the air was very dry because of the cold, and the humidity was only about 40%. So I had to be careful not to glue a panel while it was bent outward. When the air becomes dry very quickly, the panels often bend by themselves. The panels for this hexagon box have some angled parts, so the direction of each panel is already decided when I glue it on. This means that even if a panel is bent outward, I cannot flip it over.
In most cases (actually almost all cases), it is better when the panel is bent inward. Of course, if it is bent too much, it cannot be used, but in general, it is much better when it is not bent outward. If a panel is bent outward, there will be a gap between the panel and the surface of the box when I glue it. On Japanese puzzle boxes, the very edge of a panel is not glued down, so a gap will appear. This is because the panel is part of the moving mechanism, and if I glued it completely, the mechanism would not move. To go back to the story, when I glue a simple square panel, if it is bent, I can flip it over and glue it so it bends inward. This way, it is less likely to make a gap.
But when a panel has angled parts like this, or when yosegi sheets are already glued on one side, I cannot flip it over. Because of that, I need to be even more careful.
Dry air itself is a good thing, but when the humidity changes too much compared to a few days ago, the box and its mechanisms can shrink. This is also not good. So from yesterday, I started keeping them in a humidity-controlled case for storage.
So what should we do if a board becomes too dry and bends in a direction we don’t want? There have been many methods since long ago, and each craftsman has a different way, but the goal is the same 😁 In short, we bend it the other way again. But some people think that boards bent in an artificial way are not very good. I also agree with that in some ways. Because of the wood grain, each board has a natural direction it wants to bend toward, and I think we should follow that when we build a box. However, when we need to make many boxes, we cannot always do that. So for a long time, craftsmen have used different methods to bend boards artificially or to stop them from bending.
I won’t explain every method, but one way is to simply place the boards on a table. This is the slowest method, but it may also be the most natural one. Wood is always “breathing,” and depending on the outside air, it releases moisture or absorbs it. When you place the board on a table, the top side is exposed to the air, so it loses more moisture. As the moisture leaves that side, the edge of the panel slowly lifts in that direction, and in other words, it bends. In reality, we often bend the boards like this or other methods and glue them in that condition.
Today the air was very dry because of the cold, and the humidity was only about 40%. So I had to be careful not to glue a panel while it was bent outward. When the air becomes dry very quickly, the panels often bend by themselves. The panels for this hexagon box have some angled parts, so the direction of each panel is already decided when I glue it on. This means that even if a panel is bent outward, I cannot flip it over.
In most cases (actually almost all cases), it is better when the panel is bent inward. Of course, if it is bent too much, it cannot be used, but in general, it is much better when it is not bent outward. If a panel is bent outward, there will be a gap between the panel and the surface of the box when I glue it. On Japanese puzzle boxes, the very edge of a panel is not glued down, so a gap will appear. This is because the panel is part of the moving mechanism, and if I glued it completely, the mechanism would not move. To go back to the story, when I glue a simple square panel, if it is bent, I can flip it over and glue it so it bends inward. This way, it is less likely to make a gap.
But when a panel has angled parts like this, or when yosegi sheets are already glued on one side, I cannot flip it over. Because of that, I need to be even more careful.
Dry air itself is a good thing, but when the humidity changes too much compared to a few days ago, the box and its mechanisms can shrink. This is also not good. So from yesterday, I started keeping them in a humidity-controlled case for storage.
So what should we do if a board becomes too dry and bends in a direction we don’t want? There have been many methods since long ago, and each craftsman has a different way, but the goal is the same 😁 In short, we bend it the other way again. But some people think that boards bent in an artificial way are not very good. I also agree with that in some ways. Because of the wood grain, each board has a natural direction it wants to bend toward, and I think we should follow that when we build a box. However, when we need to make many boxes, we cannot always do that. So for a long time, craftsmen have used different methods to bend boards artificially or to stop them from bending.
I won’t explain every method, but one way is to simply place the boards on a table. This is the slowest method, but it may also be the most natural one. Wood is always “breathing,” and depending on the outside air, it releases moisture or absorbs it. When you place the board on a table, the top side is exposed to the air, so it loses more moisture. As the moisture leaves that side, the edge of the panel slowly lifts in that direction, and in other words, it bends. In reality, we often bend the boards like this or other methods and glue them in that condition.